How a Post-Operative Strategy Will Help Your Recovery

If you are planning to have surgery, there may be some interest in how to ensure the healing process is as successful as possible. Whether to make it quicker or more effective, the quality of your recovery should be paramount.

An excellent place to start your healing journey is with your discharge instructions. Read them carefully, ensure you understand every detail, and call your surgeon’s office if you have any questions. In the meantime, here are some selected post-operative tips that will serve you well:

Keep Your Follow-Up Appointments

Too many patients don’t keep all their surgeon’s follow-up visits. If you feel good and your incisions are healing, an appointment may seem unnecessary, and why spend the time and money?

Yet, your surgeon needs to check your incisions and understand how you feel. They also must check for signs of infection. Your medications may also need adjustment based on what your surgeon learns during the time after surgery. So, please don’t miss your follow-up appointments.

Prevent Infection

Preventing infection is vital for an optimal outcome from your procedure. Therefore, washing your hands before inspecting your incision is one most important things you can do during your recovery.

Incision infections after surgery are rare and typically occur within thirty days of surgery. Still, it’s worth asking your surgeon what you can do to keep your body up to the task of preventing infection.

Inspect Your Incision

Inspecting your incision may not be the most favorable thing to do, but you must take a good look at the wound several times a day. Are your incisions pink or red? Is the wound draining, and if so, what color is the fluid? Are the sutures intact?

These questions are fundamental. Incision inspection will help determine if your surgical site is continuing to heal or has become infected.

Care for Your Incision Correctly

Many patients go overboard in trying to keep their incisions clean. For example, they scrub and remove crusting or scabs that form. Or they use alcohol or peroxide to keep the area germ free. However, unless your surgeon explicitly instructs, a gentle soap wash with water is optimal for your incision needs.

It may be unsightly, but crusting and scabbing are expected around the wound and its sutures. Removing them could slow the healing process and increase the risk of scarring. Similarly, soaking the wound may weaken the line.

Good surgeons recommend showers, not baths, following surgery. No hot tubs or saunas or swimming during the early stages of recovery. Check your surgeon’s post-surgical instructions or call their office.

Control Pain

Keeping discomfort to a minimum is critical after surgery. Unfortunately, some patients fear the opioid crisis and avoid taking prescribed drugs for pain.  

But, if you’re in too much pain to cough, you risk pneumonia. And if you’re in too much discomfort to walk, you are at risk for a blood clot and pneumonia. So keeping your pain levels tolerable will support the natural healing process.For more information about post-surgery recovery, call (818) 981-3333 to schedule your consultation with board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Stephen Bresnick in Encino.