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If you’re about to embark on your recovery after surgery, it can be a daunting time. You’ll likely have read a whole host of dos and don’ts and it can feel a little like you’re treading on eggshells.
But don’t worry, the main thing is to ensure you’re living a healthy post-surgery lifestyle. This way, you’ll give your body everything it needs to recover from its recent shock to the system. To make things even easier, we’ve summarised everything into 4 steps to ensure a healthy post-surgery recovery.
1. Maintain a healthy weight
Maintaining a healthy weight is one of the most important things you can do post surgery. As it’s unlikely you’ll be doing anything too strenuous after surgery—it should be between 1 and 2 months before you even consider any form of heavy lifting—this makes your diet all the more important.
Consuming nutrient-dense, protein-rich foods can aid a quick recovery. Some of the best foods you can eat after surgery include:
- Fresh fruit
- Vegetables
- Eggs
- Fresh fish
- Potatoes
2. Look after wounds
As well as looking after yourself, you’ll also probably be looking after your wounds caused by surgery. One of the most common problems encountered after surgery is infected wounds.
It goes without saying that you’ll have enough to worry about without a wound infection; taking the following steps helps reduce the risk of infection.
- Stop smoking
- Wait 24 hours before showering
- Change dressing when required or when it becomes wet from blood
- Take showers instead of baths in an attempt to keep wounds dry
It’s also important to note that if you have undergone treatment that impacts your immune system, such as chemotherapy, you will be even more susceptible to infections and will need to take extra precautions.
3. Look after your mental health
Research shows that stress and other negative emotions can have an extremely damaging impact on recovery. That’s why it’s important not just to consider your physical health but also your mental health. This includes taking steps to limit stress as much as possible.
Ways to keep stress under control include things like meditation, maintaining a balanced diet and learning a new skill/hobby.
Hobbies that can be undertaken from home whilst recovering include:
- Improve drawing/painting skills
- Complete jigsaw puzzles
- Learn how to sew or knit
- Learn a new language
- Start a diary
4. Get some rest
One of the big questions after surgery is when should you go back to work? The answer is, it depends on a range of factors including the type of surgery you’ve had, your age and health and also the type of work you are returning to.
But whether you’ve had a mini boob job or a craniectomy, any type of surgery is taxing on the body and it’s vital you give your body time to rest and recover instead of rushing back to your pre-surgery lifestyle.
The NHS website indicates that taking 4-8 weeks off work is typical after something as serious as mastectomy surgery. However, this will vary from one patient to the next and it’s best to only return to work once you feel physically and mentally ready.
Following these 4 tips should help to keep your recovery on track. If you’re currently pre-surgery, whether that be plastic surgery Manchester, cosmetic surgery in London or neurosurgery in USA, ensure you put just as much thought into your healthy recovery following surgery as you do the surgery itself.
