Post-Operative Management For Breast Surgical Patients
Posted On: March 02, 2024 Author: The Office of Dr. Stuart Linder Posted In: Breast Surgery, Plastic Surgery
I’d like to talk a little bit about post-operative management of our breast surgical patients. That’s all of our breast patients, breast revision, primary breast augmentation, breast cancer reconstruction, breast reduction, and breast lift, all of our breast surgical patients.
Post-operatively, the two important things not to do after the surgery, number one, is not to be heavy lifting. Keep your arms down so you don’t tear any of the muscle or any of the breast tissue. To prevent hematoma, arms should stay down for three to four weeks.
Number two, infection. If you have an implant in your body, in my practice, 14 days, you need to keep the incisions dry to prevent an infection.
Let’s talk about medications. We give all of our patient’s medications post-operatively. One is for pain control. That would be Norco, or a narcotic, in order to reduce the pain. Number two is antibiotics. We usually use Keflex. If they’re allergic to penicillin, we may give Cipro or a different antibiotic. Zofran is used for nausea. Usually that lasts one to two days and then you’re done with that. Next, I’d like to talk a little bit about post-operative management. In terms of compression garments, we put all of our patients in the LinderBras, which are wonderful for compression and for reducing edema and swelling. I like our patients to wear the LinderBras for three to four weeks in order to reduce swelling and to allow for compression as well.
Lastly, once your stitches are out, if we’re doing breast lifts or reductions, we like to use Skinuva, which is a wonderful scar cream. This has both silicone gel and growth factors, and this has been shown to really reduce redness quite quickly. Also, used for at least three months, twice a day, will help to reduce keloids and hypertrophic scarring.
For more information regarding post-operative management for breast surgery or a consultation with Dr. Stuart Linder in Beverly Hills, California, give us a call at (310) 275-4513 or contact us via email.