Fluer de abdominalplasty and SWELLING
The only tip on swelling I have heard is to have patience. Some people have swelling for a year. :( I'm right there with you though. I am 18 weeks out from my LBL and sometimes at the end of the day I still look 4-5 months pregnant. I think the swelling seems less if I wear the compression garments, so I wear them more often than not.
As kate said, patience. I'd swell for the first year, although it was pretty minor towards the end. I used my compression garment on and off for that time. Don't know if it helped, but it made me feel better. Otherwise, keep hydrated and get horizontal as often as possible to keep it from getting bad.
Hi Cheryle, I am 5 weeks and 3 days out so far and had a LBL with Fleur de lis. Ive been drinking lots of water and eating pineapple and drinking pineapple juice. I read that it has an enzime that helps with swelling. I seem to not have too much swelling so not sure if that might help with you too? I also am still wearing my compression garment. I switched to a binder for a couple of days but the garment just seems to help alot better. One thing i do have is numbness in one of my outter thighs...might make a post to see if anyone else has numbness too.
Good luck!!
I am 3 weeks from an LBL and have numbness on pretty much everywhere including the outer thighs and hips. And around the tummy. The only part that isn't numb is my butt and that pinches and hurts and pulls at the incision but not too bad.
5ft0; highest weight 222; surgery weight 208; current weight 120
Seems that some of the numbness in my legs were worse. But now my left upper leg is back to normal but my right leg above the knee on the top area is still numb and of course alot of parts around my insicion/hips are too. I seem to have swelling in the upper crotch area, but every night i try to massage the area to try to get the tissue to relax and hopefully go down. Seems to be working becuase it doesnt seem as poofy/swollen as it was. The part that is most frustrating is when i feel an itch and cant get to it, i try to just walk around and forget about it..lol.
Glad to know someone else is experiencing the same feelings. 
on 4/16/14 4:02 am
You should check back with your plastic surgeon for you may have a seroma! Continue to wear an abdominal binder/compression too. The swelling does usually take a long time to go down but if any patient has questions, they/you should always go back and see your doctor!
