Belly Button Problems After a Tummy Tuck

Having issues with the belly button after a tummy tuck is a relatively common complaint. These aren't problems that show up right after surgery — they're things we see many months out. The good news is we almost always have a solution, and the fixes are typically straightforward.

The small circle of scar around the belly button can become thick and hypertrophic, actually closing off the belly button opening. When this happens:

• Things can get trapped inside
• The area can become infected, irritated, or develop an odor
• Some patients even experience bleeding from the irritation

If you notice your belly button opening getting smaller or harder to clean, it's important to have your surgeon evaluate whether the scar has become stenotic (narrowed).

• Steroid or chemotherapy injections to soften the scar tissue
• Gentle stretching with Q-tips as the scar softens
• Small silicone plugs that sit inside the belly button to keep the space open

During a tummy tuck, the surgeon often repairs the rectus abdominis muscles (a diastasis repair). This requires big, heavy-duty stitches — either dissolvable or permanent sutures.

The knot from the upper portion of the muscle repair often sits right above the belly button. If that knot picks up bacteria — even without a full-blown infection — it can create a small, slow infection that eventually drains to the skin surface as a sinus tract.

This can happen with either type of suture, but it's more common with permanent stitches.

The surgeon needs to open a small portion of the incision and remove the problematic stitch. For dissolvable sutures, whatever remains is taken out. For permanent sutures, the stitch is removed entirely.

The concern with permanent stitches: the problem may not stay isolated to one spot. Permanent sutures run along the entire length of the repair, and any of them can develop this issue. While it's most common near the belly button, Dr. Killeen has seen patients with draining sinuses in multiple locations along the upper abdomen. This is one of the reasons she personally uses dissolvable stitches.

If you've had a tummy tuck and you're experiencing bleeding, drainage, or irritation around your belly button — especially many months after surgery — it's important to see your surgeon. These problems are diagnosable and almost always treatable with relatively simple solutions.