There are many things a patient can do to speed their...

There are many things a patient can do to speed their recovery after plastic surgery.

1. Get your life in order before surgery - bills paid, shopping done, home cleaned, and care assistance arranged. This relieves the stress early after surgery and allows the patient to relax and focus only on their recovery.
2. Avoid all products that enhance bleeding such as aspirin, Motrin, Vitamin E and many herbals. Your doctor should provide you with a list, which grows regularly as more herbal products are discovered that affect blood clotting. These products should be avoided for 2 weeks before AND after surgery so that your blood platelets (the factors in blood that cause clotting) will function normally.
3. Avoid all activities after surgery that increase your heart rate and blood pressure for 2 full weeks. Delayed bleeding can occasionally happen up to 2 weeks after surgery, requiring surgery to drain it. If this happens, your recovery will be significantly longer that if you had followed these activity restrictions.
4. Stay calm and positive because those who do will always have a dramatically better recovery than those who are high strung, anxious or negative people. Surround yourself only with positive people; negative individuals can make comments that hurt you during this fragile phase of recovery.

After any type of plastic surgery on the face there is going to be approximately two weeks of some degree of swelling and bruising located in the facial areas. It is recommended that patients do not go back to work for at least two weeks post-operatively, or have any social engagements, because the incisions, swelling and bruising will be detectable during that time.

Within two weeks after the surgery, makeup can be applied and most patients are able to return to their normal lifestyle of exercise, social activity and work environment.

Aspirin, ibuprofen, Vitamin E, and herbal supplements have blood thinning properties and should be avoided two weeks before and after surgery. Additionally, smoking retards the healing process and is discouraged. Arnica is acceptable in the postoperative period.

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