What Should Your Hemoglobin Be for a TT?

Hi there-

For some people, a hemoglobin of 10 is normal, while for others normal is 12-13...

The number is not as important as your overall health, whether or not you have symptoms or limitations from your blood count, and the details of your planned surgery.

Your best bet is to meet with your chosen plastic surgeon about the surgery and discuss whether you are healthy enough to proceed or if further testing and optimization of your condition may be appropriate.

As long as your levels are 12 or higher, you should be okay.  Check with your internist if you have any questions about this.

The accepted value for a hemoglobin level will vary based on age, gender and certain other factors.  I have no issue on operating on a below normal patient as long as they are non symptomatic and the reason for the low H/H is explained. I lose minmal blood during the surgey. Many women suffer from chronic anemia which minimal effect.  These people are still candidates for surgery.  Most gastric bypass patients find it extremely challenging to get close to a normal hemoglobin prior to surgery.  Ususally we put the anemic patients on B12 shots, iron pills and vitamin C(after we know the reason).

 

Good luck and thank you for your question.

 

Sincerely,

 

Los niveles indicados de hemoglobina de cada persona dependen en la edad, sexo y algunos otros factores. Yo no tengo ningun problema en operar a un paciente que tenga bajo nivel de hemoglobina siempre cuando no sea sintomatico y haya una razon que justifique los numeros. La sangre que se pierde durante mi cirugia es minima. Muchas mujeres sufren de anemia cronica sin que les afecte demasiado. Estas personas son todavia candidatas a cirugia. La mayoria de los pacientes bariatricos encuentran extremamante dificil llegar al nivel normal de hemoglobina antes de su cirugia. Usualmente les prescribimos a estes pacientes inyeccionens de B12, pastillas de hierro y vitamina C (despues de conocer la razon de la baja hemoglobina)

 

Suerte y gracias por la pregunta.

 

Atentamente,

Anire Okpaku MD

The optimal hemoglobin level for any type of surgeries specially if it is done under general anesthesia is above 12 grams. If the hemoglobin level of any given prospective patient is around 12 grams we routinely ask our patients to take iron pills to elevate their hemoglobin as a preventive measure, not to compromise their healing and  not to prolong the recovery time.

 Yes, there is a increased risk of complications with to low of a Hemoglobin with an Abdominoplasty especially, a Lipo-Abdominoplasty. Many plastic surgeons utilize crtical pathways to check such matters. We start all our Abddominoplasty patients on Iron & Folic acid 3 to 4 weeks pre-operativily BEFORE the procedure. Normally, this will boast the patients HGB to an acceptable level before surgery and help decrease the risk of perioperative DVT/ PE.

 Hemoglobins of 10 to 12 or higher are normally considered acceptable for an Abdominoplasty. But, this can also depend upon how extensive a procedure you are requiring/ requesting. Conside discusing the matter with your surgeon. Best,

 

Gary R Culbertson, MD, FACS 

 Normal haemoglobin varies with gender, ethinicity. usually normalvalues are given with the reports.  low haemoglobin poses risk of anaesthesia and wound healing. as it is a plan surgery  better to go for TT after coorrection of haemoglobin level 

Thank you for the question. Always best to check with your plastic surgeon about his/her guidelines. Generally speaking a hemoglobin of 12 or above would be considered “normal”. Slightly lower hemoglobin could also be acceptable depending on the specific patient...

Best wishes.

Dear Saint Joseph1404,

Anemia is one of the most common causes for last minute cancellation of an abdominoplasty procedure.  In our office, we check the hemoglobin of every patient at least a week (preferably 2-3 weeks) prior to surgery and if their levels are low, we will place them on iron supplements and recheck their numbers later or if needed, cancel and move their surgery.  Severely anemic patients are referred back to their primary doctors for an evaluation for the underlying cause(s).

Ideally, every patient should be 12 or above but we have been able to operate on patients with levels as low as 10 if we can get them started on iron and can see their numbers rising on their repeated labs.

Please discuss this with your plastic surgeon and if you have any concerns, ask to get your hemoglobin checked early so that you can avoid the last minute cancellation.

In most cases with a tummy tuck you do not lose over 2 units of blood, but if you happen to be anemic that could put you a little behnd and I would recommend not doing a tummy tuck with a hematocrit of 10 with a low hemoglobin to go along with it.