Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism in Abdominoplasty

Abstract

Introduction:

Venous thromboembolism is an important and life-threatening complication associated with abdominoplasty, a common cosmetic procedure.

Materials and Methods:

A retrospective study of 100 consecutive patients who underwent abdominoplasty in an outpatient setting.

Results:

The complication rate was 35%. The most common complication was wound separation. No patient developed deep vein thrombosis, although 2 patients developed postoperative abdominal hematoma due to Lovenox prophylaxis.

Conclusions:

Abdominoplasty was found to be a safe and predictable outpatient procedure in our patient population.