How Long To Wear an Abdominal Binder After Surgery

People undergo abdominal surgeries for both medical and cosmetic reasons. Those who want to lose weight can undergo a tummy tuck or liposuction for slimmer, more defined stomachs.

Proper recovery is essential after abdominal surgery. Medical professionals often advise or require patients to wear stomach binders while recovering. But what are abdominal binders, and how long should you wear one after surgery? Keep reading to find the answers to these questions.

What’s the Purpose of Stomach Binders?

As the name implies, an abdominal binder wraps semi-tightly around the stomach area. These tummy tuck compression garments can help with post-surgery comfort and potentially prevent hemorrhages. Depending on the procedure, a binder can also help hold tubes that drain fluid from your body after surgery.

Benefits of Abdominal Binders

Abdominal binders like the ones we offer at Leonisa have a variety of uses for someone recovering from surgery. Here’s a closer look at why they’re so beneficial.

Encouraging a Safe and Full Recovery

Considering the time and financial investment required to undergo surgery, it’s wise to do everything you can to promote a quick recovery. Fortunately, an abdominal binder can speed healing by firmly holding your skin and muscles in place. This tight hold gives your body a great environment to promote natural healing without costly or painful recovery-related setbacks.

Easing Your Pain

As you likely know, dealing with varying degrees of pain is common after surgery. An abdominal binder helps keep your muscles together. When you prevent these muscles from drifting or pulling apart, you should notice less pain than if you weren’t wearing an abdominal binder. This will help you to rest and recover, so you can resume your regular activities as soon as possible.

Increasing Your Mobility

After surgery, most medical experts advise you to rest. However, most patients won’t be able to stay still in bed for days or weeks while they recover from surgery. Without an abdominal binder to hold your abdominal skin and muscles together, moving around could cause a lot of pain. Fortunately, wearing an abdominal binder typically helps people maintain improved mobility as they recover from surgery.

How To Wear an Abdominal Binder

Fortunately, wearing a post-surgery binder is easy. Depending on your immediate post-recovery process, medical professionals might even put an abdominal binder on you while you’re still under anesthesia.

If you need to apply a binder by yourself, wrap it around your abdominal area. Aim to wrap your binder around you snugly but not so tightly that it’s painful or inhibits your breathing. It’s advisable to wrap your binder where its clasps or closures are, on or near the stomach. Placing the clasps in front of you makes removing and adjusting your binder easier than reaching around your back to make adjustments.

Recommended Time To Wear a Stomach Binder Post-Surgery

Generally, expect to wear an abdominal binder for up to six weeks after stomach surgery. However, every body is unique. Your surgeon should specify the ideal duration for you to wear a post-surgery abdominal binder. 

You will need to schedule and attend post-surgery check-ups to let your physician monitor how well your wounds heal. If your doctor notices that you’re healing well, they may require you to wear your binder less frequently.

Find Abdominal Binders at Leonisa

Considering the importance of comfort after abdominal surgery, it’s crucial to ensure you find high-quality shapewear for women. Leonisa designs intimate apparel for people, including a line of stylish and functional post-surgery shapewear.