We found the following messages on a cosmetic surgery expert information site where two patients talked about their experiences with drains that were inserted after each had a tummy tuck from other plastic surgeons. This dramatically illustrates why our progressive tension suture – also known as the No Drain Abdominoplasty – has been so well accepted by our patients and by other plastic surgeons, too. Our experience and data show drains are unnecessary after the tummy tuck procedure, eliminating the problems that these two patients publicly discussed online.

The first tummy tuck patient posted this message a few days before Thanksgiving:

drain in 13 days post op!
So annoying – I am still draining about 70 cc’s per day. With the holiday approaching the earliest I would be able to get it out would be next Monday (almost 3 weeks post op).
My plastic surgeon wants it under 30 cc’s per day for 2 days.
Is this normal??? It seems way longer compared to others ??

Here is the reply from another patient (who also had drains for a long time):

The longer the better in my opinion! My drains were taken out 10 days post op and I was at about 25 cc’s. I ended up developing 2 seromas. One is gone and the other we’re working on. I wish I would have kept my drains longer. I know they suck but in the long run it pays off! Hugs Sweetie….

For more information from North Dallas Plastic Surgery about Tummy Tucks and the No Drain Abdominoplasty:

• Promises and Pitfalls: Abdominoplasty (Dallas No-Drain Tummy Tucks)
• Progressive Tension Sutures – this is procedure described for a facelift but it works just as well for a tummy tuck (abdominoplasty)