What the heck was I was thinking.....


You did your research. You talked to friends. You waited years to save enough money and have it be the “right time”. Hell you even checked the internet and as we all know that is the holy grail of legitimate verified and accurate information....

You had your cosmetic procedure done and you’re not happy. What now?

I tell every patient at his or her pre-operative evaluation, you are going to hate yourself, you’re going to hate me and everyone around you you’re first few days after surgery. You will wonder what you were thinking and why you did it, to yourself, electively and had to pay for it.

Time. This one thing helps all post-operative patients. With each day, swelling will decrease and the patient will gradually feel better. However, it is not unusual for patients to have little to no pain in the first couple of days only to have pain increase 1-3 weeks after. This is due to the nerve endings being irritated. As the feeling comes back, it initially will be a burning, tingling, electrical impulse like nerve pain. This resolves over a few weeks to a couple months.

The difficult thing with surgery is that we as surgeons are anticipating what a procedure will look like weeks to months after the procedure has healed. Therefore, the immediate appearance right after surgery is nothing like what the final appearance will be and this can be hard as a patient to envision as well as believe. Please be patient and fair to the process, allowing the procedure to heal and settle out. Often friends, family and the internet only further patient’s angst by passing along information or recommendations that are not medically based.

Ultimately, the biggest factor to getting through the post-operative period following a surgery is being patient, allowing time for the procedure to heal and having an open and honest line of communication with your surgeon. I can guarantee you that no one wants you to do better and be happier than the surgeon who did your procedure. In addition, I can’t emphasize enough that the best way to avoid confusion and stress after a procedure is to make sure you as the patient fully understand the procedure, risk, benefits and likely outcomes of the procedure and the expected recovery process prior to the procedure.

Do your research, pick a surgeon you are comfortable with and whom you feel like you can communicate well with, and then trust the process.