Does your tummy go back to normal after a laparoscopy?

[16yearsofpainsofar]

I know the surgeon will do a few incisions on your tummy including your belly button. These incisions look larger than I thought they'd be. Does your tummy eventually go back to normal once healed, or will you forever be scarred and have an odd looking belly button? How long did it take you to heal eg. Pain stops, bloating goes down and the incisions heal?

I'm waiting for a laparoscopy.

[R_elep]

Hi. Your tummy will go back to normal - don’t worry! My belly button scar healed the fastest and now (1.5ish years post-op) I can’t see it all (tbh I’m sure after just a few months I couldn’t see it). My other two scars can still be seen as small dark patches but I think I just heal poorly with scars etc haha.

The gas pain usually takes a few days to settle - I’d say mine took a week or so to completely go! Lots of peppermint tea and movement helps!

Pain wise - I’d say 2-3weeks for it to fully disappear, but a week after my surgery I was able to do a gentle walk and go out for a meal at a restaurant etc so not too bad! I personally found it took me ~4months to feel 100% myself (I play football a fair bit and to get back to pre-surgery fitness took 4ish months), and I was also adjusting to the mirena coil.

Hope this helps and best of luck with the lap!

[16yearsofpainsofar in reply to R_elep]

Thank you for sharing! I'm scared the scars will be there forever and my belly button will never go back to normal! I already struggle with gas pain at times so I'm not looking forward to that. I have a baby who will be around 9 months old when I have my meeting with the gynae and then a bit older than that when I have a laparoscopy. That will make recovery difficult. Did the surgery improve your endo pain?

[R_elep in reply to 16yearsofpainsofar]

Your belly button will be fine - that’s the scar that heals the fastest! Surgery definitely helped with my pain 🤞🏽. I get odd twinges here and there but nothing major! I have the mirena too so not sure if it’s the combination of both surgery and mirena or just the surgery that’s helped.

[poinai]

I'm nearly 4 years post op. My bellybutton looks the same, just a little white scarring from where the stitches were that's easy to miss. My other incision sites are still visible but they don't stand out much and I've never done anything to help them heal/get rid of the scars. I think it'd be different if I had but I really don't mind them.

I think the pain and discomfort really differs from person to person. I'd say a week after excision surgery I was already in a lot less pain, I was walking about after 2 weeks but it probably took 2-3 months for pain from surgery to go. Pain from the gas gets better with each day, maybe took me under a week. It's worth speaking to your surgeon about all of this if you haven't already as well.

Good luck with the lap!!

[16yearsofpainsofar in reply to poinai]

I was hoping the cuts would go did the surgery improve your endo pain and heavy periods? It took me ages to recover after giving birth (I was rather damaged). My baby will probably be close to a year old by the time I have the lap so I think it'll be difficult looking after an active mobile baby whilst recovering! Oh well as long as I get some answers and hopefully some relief from the excruciating pain and heavy periods I experience every month!