Question:
I had a large hernia repaired and now my abdomen looks deformed

I'm almost nine months post-op from open RnY, and I developed a large hernia. I had surgery to fix the hernia a week ago. The surgeon had to open up the entire length of my RnY scar plus a couple more inches below my belly button. He said I had one large hernia, and one smaller one above it. Plus, he said I had a wide separation of my abdominal muscles (diastasis recti). He pulled my abdominal muscles back together and overlapped them a little then sutured them together. He says this will make a good strong repair and prevent the hernia from coming back. But, by pulling these muscles in toward the center of my abdomen, it caused all the overlying fat to "bunch up" on top of it. Now I have a large protuding area all along the length of the incision that is worse than the original hernia. The surgeon didn't seem at all concerned. He just said that when I lose some weight the bulge will smooth out. Then he pointed out that I still have some fat on my abdomen that needs to go. His comments annoyed me greatly, but I was too stunned to say anything. He is not a bariatric surgeon, and doesn't know a whole lot about WLS. But, I know that I am less than twenty pounds from my goal weight, and losing very slowly now. I also know that even if I manage to lose twenty more pounds, it won't all come off of my abdomen as I would like, and I will probably still have a little excess fat on my abdomen. I can live with that, but not with this "deformed" appearance. I bought a swim suit for the first time in many years, and now I am wondering if I will even get to wear it this summer? Has anyone else had a problem like this, and did it really "smooth out" over time, or do I have to have liposuction to get rid of this?    — Lynn K. (posted on June 13, 2000)

June 13, 2000
I don't know about your RNY but with mine, I had a very lopsided area beside the incision. It took several weeks before the swelling from surgery went down. I think if you give it some time you should be fine. If it is still "strange" after a couple of months then you may have to have something done with it.
   — S S.