What to do about abdominal bulge after successful (open) aaa surgery?

When to get checked: Okay to check in with your doc about this bulge. An incision from prior AAA surgery carries some risk for a ventral incision hernia. Your doc's exam will be the first step in getting to a diagnosis. If you are symptom free then your evaluation is elective.

Incisional hernia : The risk of an incisional hernia from any abdominal operation (laparotomy) is about 10%. In the setting of doing an open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair there's about a 30% risk of developing an incisional hernia (a type of ventral hernia). See your surgeon. Depending on how big and the symptoms you're having, and also how long ago the AAA surgery was, fixing it may be relatively easy.