When you come out of the anesthesia after your procedure, you will be wearing a dressing which can be large and bulky. This will remain in place for about 24 hours after your procedure. If your dressing feels too tight or uncomfortable, please let our office know. It is normal to feel discomfort, nausea, disorientation, or fatigue and it is best to prioritize rest. We will encourage you to be as quiet as possible during this time and restrict visitors.

The day after your procedure, we will change your dressing and check your surgical sites. We will also teach you how to take care of your incisions. Swelling and bruising typically increase over the first 48 hours before coming down, and we will inform you ways to minimize it. You should feel much better after this visit. 

After 24-48 hours, you may get your incisions wet (bathe/shower). You may also apply mineral-based powder makeup or concealer around areas of bruising, but not near incisions. 

During the first 1-2 weeks, you will need to clean and treat your incision sites multiple times per day. We will see you several times to assess your healing. On some visits, we may remove sutures. If suture removal is planned, it is advisable that you try to eat or drink something high in calories before coming into the office and take 1-2 pain pills. After suture removal, less incision care is required. 

After incisions heal, we recommend a daily sunscreen and moisturizer. You may apply mineral-based powder on the incisions. It is normal to feel numbness around incision sites. You will see most of the swelling and bruising come down in the first two weeks. Residual swelling is usually not as noticeable to others. Rest is essential during this time to prevent prolonged swelling. We do all we can both before and during your procedure to minimize nausea, but unfortunately you may experience nausea and vomiting after your procedure. For those who have a history of nausea and vomiting or are undergoing an especially lengthy procedure, we offer a medication called Emend. One tablet is taken before your procedure and helps considerably. 

We will see you again in 1-2 months. At this point, less incisional care is required and 90% of your swelling will have resolved. Generally, incisional firmness and numbness take months to resolve and we will instruct you on how to massage incision sites to hasten softening. Your incisions may still appear pink or red for many months yet, but this is normal. Continued daily sunscreen will be essential to prevent prolonged incisional inflammation. The appointments will then be spaced months apart, and you will continue to see improvements from six-months to a year after your procedure.