Breast Augmentation: A Speedy Recovery

Taking good care of your body could speed up your recovery from a breast augmentation. Staying within your physicians guidelines and paying attention to the signals your body is sending could be the difference between getting back to your regular schedule or spending time at home waiting to feel better. Check out these tips for a speedy recovery.

Ask Your Doctor About Anesthesia Options:
Today, patients undergoing a breast augmentation have the option of general anesthesia or sedation with a local anesthetic. Both are currently used for plastic surgery patients. While the results are usually the same - you don't feel the pain and you are relaxed (or completely under) - there is a major difference in the way a patient recovers. General anesthesia usually takes more recovery time than the alternative. Patients with local anesthesia and sedation often come to quickly and spend less time recovering from the effects.

Reduce Pain Immediately Following the Procedure:
Without pain as a hindrance, the body has more of an opportunity to begin adjusting and repairing. A person is more relaxed when not in pain and the body isn't as tense. Once a patient gets settled in at home, it is important to keep on top of the pain medication. Often a person begins to feel better and assumes that she no longer needs the medicine. In a few hours, the pain is back full force.

Reduce the Swelling:
Physicians often suggest keeping ice packs on the area to reduce the swelling. Typically the schedule involves using the ice, removing it for a set length of time, and placing it back on again. The amount of swelling will depend on the type of breast augmentation as well as how the procedure went overall. In some cases, swelling can last several weeks. If something doesn't seem right or the swelling is becoming a real problem, contact the plastic surgeon for another follow-up appointment.

Reducing Activity:
It isn't always easy to sit around and relax after a breast augmentation. Patients want to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, going back to regular activity levels too soon could cause recovery delays. This is especially true for activities and movements that involve stretching this area of the chest. Incisions could still be tender and overextending could lead to complications. Taking it easy and following the physicians instructions about physical exercise and activities give the body a chance to recover as quickly as possible.

There is no way around recovery time. The body needs time to adjust and begin to heal. Patients that resign themselves to the fact that their lives will be temporarily limited tend to speed up their recovery. They aren't pushing to try and get back to normal before their bodies are ready.