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Supplements and Surgery

asked 1 year ago by haleysmith in santa cruz,ca
Latest answer by Steven Wallach, MD
Question viewed 149 times
Tags: food, supplements, vitamins

What supplements, vitamins, herbs, foods and ect do I need to get off of before surgery? What supplements help after surgery?

4 answers to Supplements and Surgery

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Supplements and surgery

I amnot a big fan of aspecific supplements except for maybe a Multivitamin or Vitamin C. ISupplements are not well regulated and many of them have blood thinner like effects on patients.
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Herbal medications and plastic surgery

A majority of otherwise healthy individuals currently are regularly taking herbal medications. This may be with multivitamins and or the usual heart or blood pressure etc medications. I myself regularly take glucoseamine and multivitamins. Although many associate these herbs with being more natural with less side effects than pharmaceutically manufactured prescription medications that is not actually true. Especially in the high doses frequently taken these herbs can thin the blood... more
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Taking supplements can definitely affect your surgery and its results

This is an excellent question. In general, before surgery, you want to be sure you have no nutritional deficiencies (such as vitamin C, iron, etc.). You should also avoid any supplements that thin the blood (making bleeding during and after surgery more likely), especially Vitamin E, ginkgo, ginger, garlic, ginseng, fish oil, dan shen, dong quai, and echinacea.  After surgery, I generally recommend vitamin C and Arnica Montana, which can help the healing process and reduce bruising,... more
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Supplements in the Perioperative Period

Many supplements have subtle anticoagulant properties, which can be beneficial for every day life, but can introduce problems in a surgical procedure.  Therefore, I ask my patients to continue taking a multivitamin if they so desire, and stop all additional vitamin e, fish oil, ginkgo, echinaciae, st. john's wort, and discontinue any herbal teas.  Bromalin is thought to be helpful for purposes of wound healing and is found in large amounts in pineapple.  Arnica Montana can... more

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