Will Smoking Hookah Negatively Effect my Nipples During Surgery?

Thank you for your question.
You should refrain from smoking 3 weeks pre surgery and 3 weeks post surgery. If you have only smoked 3 times in the last 6 months you should be fine. Reach out to your surgeon for clarification and guidance on this. Best wishes!

Hello! Thank you for your question! The issue with nicotine and any inhalant is that it
also acts as a vasoconstrictor, clamping down of blood vessels. Blood
supply is always of great concern during any surgical procedure, but
especially in such a procedure as a a breast procedure where the viability of the
nipple-areolar complex is obviously important. Since the vascularity to
the area is already tenuous since it will be raised by cutting around
the area, maximizing blood flow to the tissue is critical. Typically,

we recommend at least 6 weeks of smoking cessation prior to and at
least 6 weeks after any surgical procedure. The longer, the better.
Nicotine always increases the risk for infection, nipple necrosis, poor
scarring, and
wound complications, as well as other health consequences including blood clots. The
anesthesia risk is greater with general anesthesia as well as pulmonary
issues/lung infections postoperatively. I would
discuss this with your surgeon prior to your procedure. Hope that this
helps! Best wishes!

Normally when having surgery it is recommended to stop smoking four weeks before and two weeks after surgery to aviod complications.  The nicotine in cigarettes or hookah constricts blood vessels which can affect healing especially in procedures like breast reduction or tummy tuck.  The fact that you are not an everyday smoker and only smoked hookah three times should not effect your healing process as long as it has been more than one month.  It is always best not to smoke anymore of it for health reasons.  If you have any other questions or concerns I would contact your surgeon.

You should be fine, three times should not have any effect, however patients are warned that they should not smoke at all 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after surgery as it can cause complications. And then we hope if a patient has stopped smoking for those 4 weeks they won't start again! Good Luck!

Occasional smoking of anything is really not harmful and will not jeopardize the viability of a nipple at the time of breast reduction.  Chronic smokers should stop several weeks before surgery to minimize the risks of the operation.