Microsoft word - adbominoplasty pre-operative instructions.docx

Liposuction and/or Lipoabdominoplasty (Tummy Tuck) Pre-operative Instructions
Our office wants to provide you with the very best surgical care. You can help to minimize the risk of complications by carefully reading and following your pre-operative and post-operative instructions. Please ask us to clarify anything you don’t understand. ONE – TWO WEEKS PRIOR TO SURGERY
 DO NOT take ASPIRIN (Anacin, Bufferin, or Baby Aspirin) IBUPROFEN (Advil, Motrin, or Nuprin),
NAPROXEN (Aleve) or any other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) similar to these
medications for 10 days before surgery; these will promote bleeding and bruising. It is permissible to
take acetaminophen (Tylenol or Anacin-3). Check the labels of all you medications, even those which
you purchase without a doctor’s prescription, to be sure you are not taking any aspirin or aspirin-like
substances. Remove any products containing aspirin from you medicine chest so that you do not
inadvertently take it during the week before your surgery. Consult your physician before you stop taking
any prescribed medicines. Please inform us if you are taking any medications to treat arthritis, or any
blood-thinning (anti-coagulant) medications. Below is a list of medications that must be stopped:
 DO NOT drink alcohol for one week prior to surgery. This might cause excessive bleeding.
 DO NOT fast or undergo dramatic weight loss just prior to surgery. You should be on a stable,
healthy, well-balanced diet for at least 2 weeks before surgery. Liquid diets, extreme low calorie diets, and rapid weight loss diets may predispose you to cardiac irregularities, surgical complications, or poor wound healing.  DO NOT take decongestants such as Sudafed or Actifed for 5 days before surgery.
 DO NOT take appetitie suppressants such as phentermine (Fastin) for at least 2 weeks before
 DO NOT take Zoloft or other antidepressants and all herbal remedies, unless specifically approved
by your surgeon, for two (2) weeks before surgery.  DO NOT use moisturizers or soap that contains moisturizers for one week before surgery. The ink
markers used to outline the areas on your body to be treated by liposuction will rub-off too easily if you have recently used a moisturizer.  Antibiotics, such as cefadroxil (Duricef), cephalexin (Keftab) relatives of penicillin, doxycycline
(Monodox), or ciprofloxacin (Cipro) are to be taken twice daily in order to minimize the risk of a surgical
infection. Antibiotics should be taken with food to reduce the risk of gastric upset. Start taking you
antibiotic the day before surgery, and continue until the entire supply is completed. If you surgery is
scheduled to begin in the early morning (before 9:00 am), taking your antibiotic and eating should be
postponed until after surgery.
 Lorazepam (Ativan) is a mild sedative and sleeping pill that does not make one feel “drugged.” Surgery
is more easily tolerated if you are well rested and relaxed. We suggest that you take one Lorazepam the night before surgery.
DAY OF SURGERY
DO NOT wear unnecessary jewelry, perfume, and minimize use of cosmetics. You may use deodorant.
DO NOT drive home. Arrange to have someone drive you home after the surgery.
Diet: You should eat a light, low fat meal, such as toast and juice, fruit, dry cereal and/or non-fat milk no less
than two hours prior to surgery. Avoid whole milk, cream, butter, cheese and other foods that are high in fat
content as dietary fat slows digestion and delays stomach emptying. Minimize caffeine intake the day of
surgery. You will be given a snack as soon as surgery is completed.
Wear loose clothing. There is usually quite a lot of drainage of slightly blood-tinged anesthetic solution after
surgery. Since this drainage might stain clothing, choose your clothing with this in mind. Because we will
apply elastic support garments on top of some bulky absorbent gauze padding, your clothing should be very
loose and comfortable.
Women: Wear a comfortable bra that you would not mind getting stained from the blue ink that is used to
mark the surgical areas. Do no wear an exercise sports bra if you are having liposuction on your abdomen or
torso.
Men: Speedo-type swim trunks are the easiest type of garment to wear into the operating room for surgery.
Jockey-type underpants are acceptable. Boxer-type underpants are less convenient, and may prevent optimal
results. Bring extra underpants to wear after surgery.
Bring warm socks to help keep you feet warm during surgery. If you tend to get cold hands, you are welcome
to bring clean mittens (no leather gloves) to wear during the surgery. The operating room is kept relatively
warm at 71 – 74o F.
Towels & Plastic Sheets. Plan ahead to avoid staining the car seat with blood-tinges anesthetic solution: Bring
a towel and a plastic sheet (such as a trash can liner) to cover the car seat during your ride home. Prior to
surgery pad you bed at home and your living room chair with towels and plastic. Be careful to avoid allowing
drainage to stain carpets.
Music to relax by: Patients usually enjoy listening to soothing quiet music during surgery. If you have an
MP3 player or IPOD, you are welcome to bring it with you.
What to Expect on the Day of your Combined Liposuction/Tummy Tuck Procedure

If you arrive during regular office hours, please check-in at the reception desk in the waiting area. If you
arrive before office hours, please take a seat in the waiting area until the staff member greets you.
Upon arriving at Dr. Greenberg’s reception area, you will be greeted and asked to sign your surgical consent
forms if you have not already done so. You will then be escorted to the operating room. After one last trip to
the bathroom, pre-operative photographs will be taken and, finally, the areas on your body that are to be treated
with liposuction are marked with a felt-tip pen. It usually takes about 30 to 45 minutes after arrival before the
surgery begins. You will take a sedative by mouth after Dr. Greenberg has marked your abdomen.
For safety purposes we may place an intravenous (IV) access catheter in your arm; it consists of a small plastic
IV tube with a rubber stopper on the outside through which medications can be injected if needed. A blood
pressure cuff place on your arm and pulse monitor is placed on your finger.
Next, a large volume of anesthetic solution is carefully and gently injected into the targeted fat. Once an area of
fat has been well infiltrated with the anesthetic solutions, the fat is usually completely numb. The infiltration of
the local anesthetic is a slow, careful process that can take as long to complete as the liposuction itself.
Following the completion of the liposuction phase of the surgery (usually upper/lower abdomen, flanks and
hips) the marking of the skin incision for the tummy tuck procedure is performed while standing up.
Next, you will lie down on the surgical table, the surgical site is scrubbed and the surgical drapes are placed.
The tummy tuck surgery is then carried out. At the completion of the surgery, absorbent pads are placed over
the incision. Surgical drains are used when necessary.
Finally, after the IV-line is discontinued and the post-liposuction compression garment is applied, you are ready
to go home. Because some of the local anesthetic remains in the area that was treated, you may not feel any
significant soreness until several hours after the procedure is done. Although you will feel well enough after
surgery to drive yourself home, you must not do so because large amounts of local anesthetic may cause some
drowsiness.
The Tumescent technique that we use minimizes post-operative discomfort. Because the residual local
anesthesia lasts for 18 to 36 hours, regular Tylenol is often sufficient to treat post-operative discomfort. You
will have been given a stronger narcotic prescription in case you need something stronger to control your pain.
With the Tumescent technique there is usually no post-surgical nausea, nor the unpleasant feeling of a
“hangover” usually associated with general anesthesia.

Source: http://www.northtexascosmeticsurgery.com/pdfs/forms/Adbominoplasty%20Pre-operative%20instructions.pdf