Liposuction is surgery. Therefore, the person will need to plan to spend time resting during liposuction recovery. The surgeon will give aftercare instructions to follow during the liposuction recovery.
When a patient is having a large amount of fat and skin removed, the patient may need to stay in the hospital for a few days following the liposuction surgery. This is so that the doctors can monitor the patients vital signs and make sure the healing process is beginning well.
However, most liposuction surgery is done as an outpatient surgery. This means that the patient goes to the hospital, surgical clinic, or doctor’s office for the surgery and is discharged the same day.
The nursing staff and surgeon make sure the patient’s body temperature, blood pressure, and pulse are normal. They check for any bleeding from the sutures or adverse effects from the anesthesia.
As long as the patient is showing no signs of complications, the patient is sent home to recover after the surgery. The doctor may tell the patient to call the office if the patient experiences increased redness, heat, or fever since these are signs of infection.
The surgeon usually provides a list of aftercare instructions either verbally or written for the patient to follow during lipo recovery. The patient also may receive instruction on how to lie down in order to be comfortable and not put excess pressure on the area depending on which part of the body was treated.
Patients may be told to apply ice packs to the area for the first day following the surgery. Ice packs should not be held directly on the skin or held in place for too long. The ice pack should be wrapped in a towel and placed on the area for up to fifteen minutes at a time.
A compression garment may have been put on the area immediately after the surgery. The garment is used to promote healing and encourage the skin to adjust to the new contour of the body part.
The person may experience swelling, numbness, and bruising from the surgery. During recovery from liposuction, these side effects should diminish. The side effects are often completely gone within four weeks after surgery.
The person will likely experience soreness and pain while recovering from lipo. Medications for pain to be used during recovery from liposuction may have been prescribed.
The patient generally has a follow up appointment scheduled with the surgeon so that the surgeon can check the results of the liposuction and make sure that the patient is healing normally. Some surgeons will schedule more follow up appointments while others will instruct the patient to call and make an appointment if there are any problems.
Lipo recovery takes time. The surgeon may instruct the patient to take a leave of absence from work for up to six weeks following liposuction surgery.