Can someone with HIV have cosmetic procedures?

Hello and thank you for your question.  The
best advice you can receive is from an in-person consultation.  As long as your counts are stable and you are able to obtain medical clearance from your primary physician, then HIV patients can safely undergo cosmetic surgery.   Make sure you specifically look
at before and after pictures of real patients who have had this surgery
performed by your surgeon and evaluate their results.   The most
important aspect is to find a surgeon you are comfortable with. I recommend
that you seek consultation with a qualified board-certified plastic surgeon who
can evaluate you in person.
Best wishes and good luck.
Richard G. Reish, M.D.
Harvard-trained plastic surgeon

The answer to this depends on many factors, most importantly your health status.  Consult with your physician to determine your specific situation.  In general, it is not a contraindication to have plastic surgery with HIV+ status.

There are no contraindications to cosmetic surgery if you have HIV.  You do need to be be in an antiretroviral regimen and have stable lab work as well as clearance from your doctor managing these medications. 

Thank you so much for your question! I've had several patients in the past with HIV that I have treated for cosmetic concerns. It did not cause any issues with healing and the patients had outstanding results. Don't let anyone tell you that you're not able to have surgery with HIV. The only concern is the CD4 count, which if low, can impair healing. Make sure you consult with a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon. 

Hi, and thank you for your query. There is no reason as to why you cannot undergo plastic surgery, as long as all routine HIV testing parameters are within limits, and your HIV specialist is in support. Wishing you the best of luck!

Absolutely! CD-4 counts and viral load are labs that are significant to clearance for a procedure. Typically your plastic surgeon and your infectious disease doctor will rule out whether or not you are a candidate based on what your counts are.Best of luck!

This is not a contraindication for surgery.  If you are in good health and your primary doctor gives you clearance, then there should be no contraindication to surgery.  Ultimately, your plastic surgeon and your primary care physician will decide what is best for you.  I generally perform facelifts on all patients without and healing problems.  In fact, if patients have lipo atrophy, they are usually a very good candidate for facial fat transfer.  I routinely perform fat transfer at the same time as a facelift with long term results.  Fat transfer works very well in all patients including HIV patients as well.  The volume replacement is usually necessary in all patients undergoing facial rejuvenation.

We do the same procedures in the same way in our HIV patients as in our non HIV patients and the results are the same.  Of course, we assess the usual markers (CD-4, viral count, etc) prior to surgery.  For the safety of our staff as well as our patients, we assume every single patient has the potential to have one type of communicable blood disease or another (HIV, hepatitis B,C etc) and we use the necessary precautions.  

There is no reason that someone with HIV can not have cosmetic surgery provided they are healthy enough to do so. (adequate CD4 counts and low viral load)  I have done many HIV patients in my practice and their outcomes are no different than anyone else. 

Yes, patients with HIV can have cosmetic procedures. It's best to have clearance from your primary care physician and you're in excellent health.