How to Reduce Side Effects After Plastic Surgery

While plastic surgery can be very effective and can help you look your best, it’s extremely important that you follow our instructions for post-operative care. Doing this will help you avoid complications and adverse side effects. There’s quite a bit to cover where these matters are concerned, but the team at our San Francisco plastic surgery centers would like to take a moment to cover some of the basics. This will give you a little understanding of what to do and what’s at stake.

Common Complications After Plastic Surgery

There are a number of common complications associated with any sort of surgery, whether it’s medically necessary or elective/cosmetic. These include:

• Infection
• Poor healing
• Blood clots
• Extreme discomfort
• Excessive scarring
• Incisions reopening

As for elective surgeries, patients should be aware of scar tissue compressing breast implants (capsular contracture), extreme sensitivity of the nose, ruptures/leakages in breast implants, and so forth. Should you experience any kind of problem as you heal, you should contact a plastic surgeon serving the San Francisco Bay Area right away. However, if it’s an urgent medical matter, call 911.

It Starts Before Surgery

One way to avoid side effects and complications after surgery is to follow our instructions before surgery takes place. This can mean anything from exercising, improving your diet, avoiding alcohol and tobacco products, and taking/not taking certain medications. This will all be done to ensure you heal efficiently.

Get Rest and Rest Right

After surgery, especially in those first days, you will need to get a lot of rest. That means after a breast augmentation or an eyelift. Don’t exert yourself, don’t strain yourself. Stay well hydrated, and make sure you’re resting in positions recommended by your surgeon.

Lay Off the Smoking and Drinking

Even after surgery, you will want to stay away from alcohol and tobacco products for a few weeks. Both can adversely affect the duration of your healing. It’s better to get healthy sooner than to needlessly prolong the process.

You May Need to Get Moving

After you undergo a San Francisco tummy tuck, we usually recommend that patients engage in very light activity to promote circulation and blood flow. This isn’t anything major: just light walking around the home and possibly some very delicate stretching. We’ll go over suggested activities during the consultation process.

Don’t Strain Yourself

Even though some activity may be suggested, don’t put too much strain on your body for the first week or so after surgery. Sometimes you will need to wait a few weeks to return to normal physical activities, which is especially true of major surgeries or involved treatments.

Saunas and Steam Baths Should be Avoided

For facelift and other facial surgery patients, we generally advise avoiding steam baths and saunas for several weeks after surgery. These can both cause complications due to the heat and humidity.

Keep Us in the Loop

Most importantly, however, is to communicate with us while you’re healing. If you notice anything that seems not quite right, give us a call. It may be the sign of a potential complication, and it’s better that we address it sooner rather than later. Better safe than sorry.

Learn More About Cosmetic Surgery and Aesthetic Enhancement

To learn more about your options for aesthetic enhancement, contact our plastic surgery centers in Greenbrae, Petaluma, and Davis today. We all look forward to your visit and the dialogue we’ll have about plastic surgery. We’re here for you.