I like to think of surgery recovery as three phases based on what the patient will experience during each specific phase. How you feel, what you can do, and what is happening with your surgical incisions make up each phase. When talking about body contouring surgery, we need to be specific as to what procedures we are talking about. For the sake of this discussion, I am referring to the procedures of circumferential body lift, thigh lifts, or a combination of other body procedures which may add up the size of a procedure such as a body lift.
The first phase of recovery from coolsculpting surgery is right after the operation. It is a phase of pain, dressings, drains, and more limited physical activity. Surprisingly, body contouring surgery is not acutely painful but has more of a dull discomfort and some stinging along the incisions. In my practice, I glue on tapes over the incisions so there is no care needed. One can shower after 48 hours and feel free to get the incisions and drains wet, it will not hurt them. You can do whatever you feel like doing but most patients will be fairly limited to sitting around and walking about the house. Phase one is obviously the most difficult, generally lasts from 7 to 10 days, and is what most patients envision it to be.
Phase two in body contouring surgery recovery is when the drains come out, the tapes are removed, and you are getting back to some normal activities of daily living including driving and some out of the house events. You are still sore but no longer in any severe pain.
Some external stitches are removed, if present, as well body contouring West Palm Beach
This phase is from 10 to 21 days. You may return to work if your job is a sit down one with minimal strenuous activity. You are not ready to return to any physical activity, particularly any form of working out. Your incisions may start to turn more red by three weeks after surgery as they start to heal. The red color is normal.
Phase three is what I call the nuisance phase of recovery and it is between 3 and 8 weeks after surgery. During this phase, you are really recovering, feeling much better, and by the end of this phase are almost or are back to all of your pre surgery activities. This is also the phase when small 'problems' will develop at your incisions which will surprise patients as they think they should be completely healed by now. This includes extrusions or reactions to dissolvable sutures, known as 'spitters', which the body is pushing out as they dissolve. It is also the time when seromas of fluid collections may occur after the drains have been removed. These are minor problems but are common delayed issues that will occur in most body contouring patients.
In summary, recovery from body contouring surgery takes longer than most patients think. Complete recovery, including the full healing of all incisions, can take up to two months. Patients should be aware and prepare accordingly for their work and lifestyle.
