You have an important part to play in making sure you get the best face lift results. One part of your role is getting yourself ready for face lift surgery. This is a basic summary of things to do before your face lift surgery. If you are a current patient, please consult your more specific preoperative guide or call us at 727-895-1515 with specific questions.
About a month before face lift surgery, you should quit smoking. Smoking can interfere with healing and increase your risk of serious complications. It is also not a bad idea to consider quitting altogether, since smoking can diminish the lifespan of your face lift results.
You should also arrange for a ride home from surgery and someone to stay with you for the 24 hours after surgery. This is generally long enough in advance to respect people’s schedules, but if you know your family and friends have very full schedules, you might want to arrange this a little early.
This is a good time to plan your menu for the recovery period. You will likely not want to be cooking, but eating nutritious food is essential to a speedy and complete recovery. You can either plan to utilize healthier types of convenience food, have someone cook for you, or prepare a number of nutritious freeze-and-eat dishes beforehand.
About two weeks before surgery, it’s time to stop taking aspirin, ibuprofen, and vitamin E supplements. Also stop taking herbal medications and supplements unless specifically allowed by your surgeon. This is also the time to prepare your recovery space with lots of comfortable pillows, reading material, and other entertainment. You won’t be confined to bed, but resting helps recovery, so make your recovery space comfortable.
The week of surgery, start using a germ-fighting soap if your skin tolerates it. Also, be on the lookout for signs of a cold or infection and let your surgeon know if you see any. Stop taking over-the-counter cold medication. Pick up your prescriptions from the pharmacy. Make sure you have enough button-up tops for the recovery period—you won’t want to be pulling anything over your head during recovery.
The day of surgery, do not wear makeup or jewelry. Shower the night before and the morning of surgery and use the germ-fighting soap. Do not eat or drink anything. Do not wear contacts. Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothes. Take only medications explicitly cleared by your surgeon. Get a good night’s sleep and wake up refreshed and ready for your rejuvenation!
If you want to talk to board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Antonio J. Gayoso about scheduling a face lift surgery, please contact Gayoso Plastic Surgery in the Tampa, Florida area.
