Post Op Instructions Liposuction

Hi, I'm Dr. Erica Anderson of the Nadiri center and I'm the breast and body specialist. And what I want to do, what I will tell you, is that take them if you need to. You don't have to take them, just if you need to. So if you're uncomfortable, you'll never be. You won't be pain free in those first couple of days. But if you're uncomfortable, take the pain medication. If you're feeling nausea, the worst thing to do is to vomit after you've had liposuction. So take the anti nausea medication. If you're at high risk for nausea and vomiting after anesthesia, you probably have a little patch behind your ear that usually can stay on for about 72 hours. But be careful touching that and then touching anywhere else on your body. Make sure if you've touched the patch to either remove it or to check to make sure it's in place that you wash your hands for sure. If that's making you feel at all uneasy or jittery, you can remove that patch at any point in your recovery. But again, wash your hands anytime that you use that. Those are your only medications. Now, if you feel that the narcotic is not necessary, please, as soon as you're ready to transition to Aleve, Motrin or Advil, that's fine after liposuction, any day that you want to transition is fine. Also things to think about is if you're taking that narcotic, you will get constipated and so right away over the counter. Miralax is usually what I recommend as a laxative, but any laxative that you know works for you or food substances that you know will keep your bowels working is something good to have on hand and start taking right away so that you don't get that constipation as far as what to eat. So immediately after surgery, you're going to want to start with a light diet, even liquids. So soup is a good thing. And then after that you really can eat whatever you feel up to eating, but the risk of again, that risk of nausea and vomiting. So be careful with what you're eating. But there's no, there's no dietary restrictions after surgery as far as activity. So you're going to hurt and you're going to hurt all over. And it's important that you use extra pillows as you're laying down to help support your body to keep your arms elevated. But I don't want you just laying in bed. It's important that you get up and that you walk around, that you take care of yourself in any way that you can. But going for a walk the next day after surgery is totally fine. There's no restrictions on your activity. Just do what you think you can do. But don't just lay around because complications can happen with that sedentary picking up your children. There's no restrictions as far as if you've had liposuction alone. I'll go through other restrictions if you're having multiple procedures combined. But again, no activity restrictions. If you feel like going for a walk or even a run, you can do all of that showering so that you can bathe however you like. I prefer a shower in the first couple of days. Once I see you in your post operative time, then we can go back to bathing in a bathtub. But for right immediately post up, I want you to just shower. The incisions are all covered, so they have a brown tape over the actual incision so you won't see the incision sites. You'll see a brown tape and then a clear plastic dressing over top of that. Now, now the brown tape can become blood tinged or even a little blood can collect underneath the dressing. It's not a problem. Over top of the areas that have been liposuctioned, there then will be a white foam that you're going to see in place that has a tacky surface on one side so that it can easily be removed. And then the garment goes over top of all of that. And this is an example of a compressive garment that I use for, for body, for tummy and back liposuction. It has basically zippers on either side with hook and eyes. And then it also does not have a crotch so that it's easy to go to the bathroom with this in place and not have to take it every time you have to go to the bathroom. So you'll have all of this in place. And then when you go to shower for the first time, you don't have to shower the first day after surgery. Waiting till the next day is totally fine. The first thing I will tell you is don't shower alone. Make sure there's somebody at the house or someone, he's even closer than that. So that if you were to feel lightheaded during that first shower, that there's someone there to help you. You'll take off your garment. If you have toppy foam in place, you simply remove that, place that off to the side, the waterproof dressing and the tape stays in place. You don't take that off and then you can take your shower and then rest or whatever kind of requirement you need. Take your time and put your compressive garment back on. Now if you want to choose to wash that at this time, go ahead and wash it when you take your shower and then let it air dry and you'll go a little bit of time without the garment on. Everybody needs a rest every once in a while. And speaking of the garment, try to keep it on as much as you can for day and night for that first week and into two weeks. By week three you can start taking some breaks. Usually people will take it off to sleep at night or they'll take a couple of hours break during the day if they feel like it. You'll you'll find a system that works well for you. And if you've transitioned back to work and this is too bulky, it's easy to transition to a spanx like garment or something to have some compression, but maybe it's a little bit easier to have it underneath your work clothes. So as far as pain with liposuction, it's a tough first three to five days, but typically after that it really starts to improve and you're feeling much better. Now I'll remind you that that swelling can persist three months. So I'll see you at week one, everything should look great. Then I'll see you again at one month post op to again make sure that you're moving in the right direction. But be prepared for that swelling to persist three months. Additionally, if you wanted to get a massage or some deep tissue massage that can help with some of that swelling, I'll leave that sort of up to you. But that is something that some of my other patients have told me is quite beneficial things that I would worry about. With liposuction, it's pretty straightforward. You can have some bleeding the swelling we expect there can be areas that are hard to the touch or that maybe feel different or even the contour may look a little different. Don't judge too early. These will all likely resolve over time. You just have to give it enough time to heal. Just imagine that even though there's little incisions, the work that's been done is far more extensive underneath. So give your time body to give your time for your body to heal and don't judge your result too soon and I'll see you at your post op visit.