Plastic Surgery Recovery Tips

Considering plastic surgery, but don’t know what to expect or where to start? See the below tips to help start your journey!

Plastic surgeries are on the rise in the US. In 2016 the number reached over 1.7 across the most popular procedures[1] and it doesn’t seem to be stopping. With advances in technology facelifts, breast augmentations, eyelid surgery, liposuction, tummy tucks, and more are becoming more available to the general US population.

Like with any surgery recovery, you need to plan ahead and make sure that you have covered all your bases. This includes pre-surgery preparations as well as for post-surgery recovery. Even when you are undergoing minimally invasive surgery, the physiological trauma to body tissue is no joke. You’ll thank yourself later and may even recover faster from your plastic surgery procedure if you treat it like any other major surgery.

So if you have decided to undergo a plastic surgery procedure, here are some tips you should consider to help you during recovery.

Tip #1: Prepare to take enough time off work!

Surgery is no small feat. The speed of your plastic surgery recovery will be affected by the type of plastic surgery you have as well as your healing capacity.

Make sure to take enough time off work so that you don’t feel stressed about getting back to work. This is especially true if your work has a physical component and requires a lot of movement. If your occupation does involve strenuous physical activity you may want to add more time to the numbers in the table below.

Suggested recovery time durations for common plastic surgeries:

Although technology and physician training has improved drastically over the past decade, minor post-surgery complications do still occur. While we hope you don’t experience any surgery complications, it’s always wise to budget in time for a full recovery.

Please note, that sometimes you may feel ready to resume work, but your post-operative symptoms may not be fully resolved. For example, it can take several months for pain and swelling to completely dissipate even if the majority of it resolves within a few weeks.

As part of this rest period, make sure to get your life affairs in order. This includes that bills are paid, kids are taken care of, the home is cleaned, and shopping is done. It’s best to take care of as many outstanding tasks as you can before surgery. Recovery time is not the time to catch up on life, and you don’t want to be stressed out with tasks (especially physical ones). You will need as much rest as possible for your body to heal.

Tip #2: Nutrition is critical for optimal recovery.

This is because the trauma caused rapidly depletes the body of any natural reserves it had of key nutrients and thus quickly sends the body into a state of nutritional deficiency. Even if you normally maintain a great diet; during post-surgery recovery, it might not be enough to supply your body with optimal levels of nutrition to ensure your best recovery.

As the recovery science on this topic is conclusive, your body can seriously benefit from supplementation of critical nutrients during surgery recovery. So consider a supplement, ideally starting several days before the surgery and then continuing post-surgery to fill any nutritional gaps you might have. Per the 5-stage model of healing[2], it is particularly important to ensure strong post-surgery nutrition within the first 10-20 days after an injury or surgery as the foundation of your recovery is laid down.

So stay hydrated, eat adequate amounts of protein and complex carbohydrates.

Tip #3: Control the pain.

After your plastic surgery, your physician will prescribe a pain medication to help with the post-operative pain. Take only enough so that your pain is bearable and tolerable, and don’t try to make the pain go away completely.

While this may seem against your “best interests”, remember that the more you take, the greater the medication’s side effects will impact you. Some of the common side effects that can arise include constipation, nausea, breathing difficulties, sedation, and drowsiness.

Tip #4: Arrange for help.