A sufficient abdominoplasty recovery will be an important factor in achieving your final results and avoiding complications. Knowing what to expect and how to prepare before beginning your surgical journey can make your recovery period much simpler.
In this blog, we’ll give you a guide on how to prepare for your recovery and the steps you’ll need to follow. Overall, an abdominoplasty procedure involves removing excess skin and fat and tightening the muscles of the abdominal wall, but every procedure is tailored for each patient. Therefore, you’ll essentially need personalised advice, which Dr Anh will provide during your consultation.
How to prepare for your abdominoplasty surgery
Before it’s time to complete your abdominoplasty pre-op period, you’ll have enough time to prepare for your procedure and prepare for what will be required after surgery.
Firstly, you’ll need to make sure that you maintain good general health before surgery. We recommend maintaining a balanced diet, with healthy, home-cooked meals. You should also stay hydrated, and maintain good activity levels.
A large part of taking care of your health before surgery will be following Dr Anh’s instructions, which will be specifically tailored to your individual health and needs. These instructions may include stopping certain medications or supplements, as some types of medicine can influence your body’s healing after surgery. If you’re a smoker, you should expect to be instructed to quit before your surgery, as smoking can significantly slow down your healing process.
Next, we highly recommend arranging for a trusted family member or friend to help you recover after surgery. It’s always a good idea to make these arrangements before undergoing your surgery so that you’ll have your transportation home and post-surgery support covered.
It’s normal to have limited mobility, so having support in the earlier days of recovery can be particularly helpful. Recovering alone straight after surgery can make tasks like cooking, cleaning, and even possibly getting dressed more difficult. As your body heals and normal post-surgical discomfort and swelling start to subside, you should be able to move around more and care for yourself for the rest of your recovery period.
Another step you can take to organise your recovery ahead of time is to make sure that you can recover comfortably in your home. It’s a good idea to set up a comfortable recovery area that will allow you to get plenty of rest, as well as arrange your home so that everything you’ll need will be within easy reach. You should also make sure that you’ll have all of your essential supplies, including medications, any additional wound care supplies you’ll need, comfortable clothing, and healthy food.
If you’ll need to follow any other important steps before the day of your abdominoplasty, Dr Anh will let you know during your consultation. You’ll also be able to ask any and all of your questions about the procedure, such as how it will be performed, and about the recovery process.
What to expect during your abdominoplasty recovery
What you can expect after your abdominoplasty will depend on how your procedure is performed – essentially, the extent of the procedure. Some patients may have a less extensive procedure, like what is often referred to as a mini abdominoplasty, while others may require a more extensive approach to achieve their goals. Other factors, like your individual healing abilities and how well you recover from general anaesthesia, can also come into play.
Generally, your abdominoplasty recovery will involve some expected post-surgical discomfort, such as tenderness, swelling and bruising. Pain medication will help manage discomfort, and Dr Anh may sometimes recommend taking prescribed antibiotics to prevent infection.
As you rest, lower activity levels, manage discomfort and follow your recovery instructions, swelling and bruising will subside, and you will begin to feel better. You can expect to take some time off work or your typical daily routine for up to one to two weeks, depending on your needs. You’ll also have some post-operative appointments so that we can check on your healing progress.
How you can care for your body after abdominoplasty surgery
Now that we’ve covered how to prepare and what to expect during recovery, let’s get into the typical instructions that you can expect to follow.
As we mentioned earlier, you’ll have your own, personalised list of instructions from Dr Anh, that will be designed to best support your body after your personalised abdominoplasty procedure. However, there are some important instructions that are commonly given, as well as some helpful tips that can be followed after most types of abdominoplasty procedures.
Especially early on in your recovery, the first instruction will be to rest. Take the initial stage of your recovery slow, be gentle with your body and aim to get enough sleep. Crucially, you’ll have to avoid any heavy lifting, bending, or strenuous activities that may put a strain on your abdomen, to prevent injury and overexertion. When you can, taking short and slow walks regularly throughout the day is best, as this will help to encourage blood flow, prevent blood clots and reduce stiffness.
Compression garments are one of the most important items you’ll have during your abdominoplasty recovery. After your surgery, you’ll typically need to wear the garment over your abdomen, full time earlier in your recovery and slowly wearing it less. The garment helps to minimise swelling, support the abdomen and encourage healing.
We mentioned quitting smoking during surgery preparation earlier, but it will also be highly important to continue avoiding smoking during your recovery. Smoking can impair your body’s healing after surgery and even raise the chance of experiencing complications, so you’ll need to stay clear of smoking until your body has healed.
While we’re on the topic of general health, we recommend maintaining a healthy diet during your recovery. Staying healthy during recovery will be just as important as during surgery preparation. You should also make sure that you stay hydrated, and we recommend avoiding alcohol, as this can interact negatively with your medications.
During your recovery, you’ll need to care for your incision sites, making sure that you don’t encounter infections or experience delayed wound healing. You’ll have detailed instructions on how to care for your incisions, which may include keeping the area clean and dry, avoiding soaking in baths until the incisions are completely healed and changing dressings.
Throughout the entire recovery process, you’ll need to listen to your body and make sure that you don’t ignore any concerning symptoms. If you notice increased redness, swelling or discharge around the incision sites, it could indicate an infection, and you should contact our team as soon as possible. You should also contact us or seek medical attention if you experience excessive pain, an increase in swelling, a fever, or any other change in comfort levels.
Essentially, while following your recovery instructions and taking care of your body will help to prevent complications, acting on any possible complications early can help to prevent further issues and ensure that you get the right treatment.
Book your abdominoplasty consultation in Perth with Specialist Plastic Surgeon Dr Anh
Your consultation process will help you understand everything you need to know about preparing for your abdominoplasty, what to expect after the procedure and how to best support your body to heal.
Located in Perth, your consultation will allow you to ask any questions and receive personalised preparation and recovery advice.
Please contact our team to discuss how to book your consultation with Specialist Plastic Surgeon Dr Anh.
