Should I Stop Aspirin ?, and How Long Should I Stop It Before Surgery?

Aspirin is recommended on a daily basis by many primary care physicians and cardiologists to help prevent heart attacks and emboli related to blood clots. Aspirin's effectiveness comes from its ability to inhibit proper function of the platelets that are circulating in your blood system.  Platelets are one of the main ways your body stops prolonged bleeding and help blood to clot.  Without them, bleeding can be persistent.  Once you take Aspirin, all the circulating platelets in your body become disabled. Then, your body needs to make new platelets which are functioning properly when there is no exposure to Aspirin.  Your body will make new platelets at such a rate that it takes about 10 days to replace all the disabled platelets. That means, once you stop taking Aspirin, the proportion of functional platelets in your body changes by 10 percent a day. The first day you have 10% normal functioning platelets and the third day you have 30% normal functioning platelets.  Until day ten, when all (100%) of your platelets are functioning normally again. Therefore, a patient preparing to have surgery, would want to stop taking any Aspirin 10 days before a surgical procedure to avoid potential bleeding complications either while in surgery or after surgery.  You may want to discuss this with your rheumatologist ahead of time.

You should talk to your surgeon about this. Aspirin shouldn't be taken for at least 2 weeks before your surgery.  

You should definitely stop aspirin 7 to 10 days before surgery. The greater concern is that if you take other Lupus medications they may cause issues. Particularly if you're taking prednisone or some type of immune suppressing medications.  You should visit with several BC PS to see if you are a suitable candidate for cosmetic surgery.

Dr. ES