Recovery Tips After Cosmetic Surgery

What to buy before surgery

A little preparation makes the first week after surgery far easier. When you get home you will be sore, swollen and tired, and the last thing you want is a trip to the shops. This guide covers the practical side: what to buy, how to set up your home, what to wear and who will help you, with a printable recovery kit checklist at the end. For the medical side of getting ready, such as medicines to stop and your pre-op assessment, see preparing for plastic surgery, and for the recovery itself, recovery after cosmetic surgery.

The post-surgery essentials most people find useful are:

• Comfortable clothes that open at the front, and loose trousers that fit over your garment.
• Pillows, or a wedge pillow, to keep your head and back raised.
• A water bottle with a straw, so you can drink without sitting right up.
• A long phone charging cable, so your phone reaches the bed.
• Easy food: meals cooked and frozen in advance, and snacks within reach.
• Your compression garment, and a spare. Garments and prescribed medicines are bought separately and confirmed with you before surgery.
• Lip balm, tissues and something to read or watch, as you will spend a lot of time resting.

On the day of surgery itself, see what to bring on the day of surgery.

How to set up your recovery space

Before you leave for the hospital, make up the place you will rest, whether that is your bed, a recliner or the sofa, with clean sheets. Put everything you will need within reach: drinks, snacks, your phone and charger, the TV remote, books and your medicines. Clear the route to the bathroom of rugs, cables and clutter, and leave a night light on.

Move everyday things, such as mugs, toiletries and clothes, to waist height, so you do not have to bend down or reach up in the first weeks. Old, dark towels on the bed for the first few nights save worrying about marks.

Remember that you are resting, not on bed rest. Get up and walk around your home for a few minutes every hour or two while you are awake, from the first day: the NHS advises moving around as soon as you can after any operation^[1], and it helps prevent blood clots. Our guide to exercise after plastic surgery explains how to build up from there.

What to wear after surgery

• Tops and pyjamas that open at the front. Lifting your arms over your head is uncomfortable after breast, chest and many body operations, and dressings and garments are easier to manage.
• Loose, soft trousers with an elastic waist that sit comfortably over your garment. After a tummy tuck, high-waisted, loose styles avoid pressing on your scar.
• Slip-on shoes, so you do not have to bend to tie laces.
• After a BBL, loose dresses or long tops that do not press on your buttocks.

After breast surgery you will usually wear a surgical bra day and night for the first weeks; see compression bra after breast surgery. After a tummy tuck, see compression garments after a tummy tuck, and for how long to wear yours, how long to wear your compression garment. You wear it most of the day and night at first, so a second garment makes washing much easier.

Pillows and your sleeping set-up

Most people sleep on their back with their head and shoulders raised for the first week or two, so extra pillows or a wedge pillow are worth having ready. After a tummy tuck, a pillow under your knees keeps you comfortably bent at the hips. After a BBL you avoid lying or sitting on your buttocks at first, and your surgeon will tell you when a BBL cushion can be used: read BBL pillow and sitting after a BBL. For positions by procedure, see the sleeping positions after surgery.

Who will help you after surgery?

A responsible adult must take you home and stay with you for the first 24 hours: we cannot discharge you without one. Choose someone calm and organised, and give them a copy of your aftercare instructions. Their jobs on the first day and night are to:

• take you home by car or taxi, not public transport;
• keep track of your medicines, with a written log or phone reminders;
• help you to the bathroom on the first night;
• call us, or 999 in an emergency, if they are worried about you.

After a tummy tuck or mummy makeover, plan for help at home for a week or two. Whatever your operation, it helps to arrange:

• Children: childcare for a week or two, as you cannot lift children or do their daily care. Cuddles on the sofa and reading together are fine.
• Pets: someone to walk the dog for a week or two.
• Meals: cook and freeze meals before surgery, stock up on ready meals, or set up a meal rota with friends and family.
• Getting about: most people cannot drive for about a week, and longer after a tummy tuck, so arrange lifts, including to your nurse check-up around five to seven days after surgery.

If you are looking after someone, read caring for someone after surgery.

Pain relief after surgery: a simple routine

We combine TIVA with local anaesthetic, and our regular pain audits show this keeps the need for strong opioid painkillers to a minimum, even after larger operations. At home, most people manage with simple painkillers. A few habits help:

• Take your painkillers regularly in the first days, exactly as directed, rather than waiting for pain to build. Pain is easier to keep down than to bring down.
• Keep a log of what you took and when, or set phone reminders. Your carer can help on the first day.
• Check before taking anything else. Anti-inflammatory painkillers such as ibuprofen can affect bleeding, so ask your surgeon whether and when they are right for you, and never take more than the stated dose.
• Call us if your pain is getting worse rather than better, or if you are running low on prescribed medicines.

This is the approach reviews of pain relief in cosmetic surgery recommend: regular simple painkillers as the backbone, with stronger medicines kept for when they are really needed^[2]. Painkillers and moving less can also cause constipation, so eat fibre, drink plenty and keep walking; call us if it lasts more than a few days. Read bloating and constipation after surgery.

How to heal faster after surgery: small things that help

Nothing makes healing happen overnight, but these habits help your body do its work:

• No smoking or vaping for four weeks before and four weeks after surgery: nicotine narrows the blood vessels that heal your wounds.
• Eat well and drink plenty. You need more protein and energy than usual while you heal; the recovery guide covers diet in more detail.
• Walk a little and often, and rest in between.
• Wear your garment as instructed: it helps control swelling.
• Avoid alcohol for at least five days, and while you are taking prescribed medicines.
• Do not overdo it on a good day. Many people feel at their lowest around the second or third day, when swelling peaks, and then improve steadily.
• Go to every check-up, and ask about anything that worries you.

Our after-surgery FAQs answer the everyday questions, from showering to driving.

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Video: Mr Metin Nizamoglu on why follow-up appointments matter after surgery (50 seconds)

When to start scar care after surgery

Scar care starts once your wounds have fully closed and your nurse is happy, usually a few weeks after surgery, and carries on for months. Do not put creams, oils or silicone on a wound that is still healing.

• Silicone sheets or gel. A 2013 Cochrane review of 20 trials ↗ found that silicone gel sheeting reduced the chance of thick, raised scars in people prone to them, and improved the thickness and colour of existing scars, although the trials were of limited quality^[3]. Read silicone scar sheets.
• Massage. Gentle scar massage, once you are shown how, can help soften a scar. A 2012 review in Dermatologic Surgery ↗ found improvement in 27 of 30 surgical scars treated with massage, although the evidence overall is weak^[4]. See scar massage.
• Sun protection. Keep scars covered or use SPF 50 for at least 12 months: read protecting scars from the sun.

For the full picture, including what to expect as scars mature over 12 to 18 months, see scar care after surgery.

Recovery kit checklist

Tick things off as you get them ready, choose your procedure to add the extras for it, then print the list or copy it to your phone. Your ticks are saved on this device.

The patients who find recovery easiest are usually the ones who prepared their home, stocked the freezer and lined up help before they came in. Do it the week before, then you can simply rest.

Dr Spyridon Vlachos, Specialist Plastic Surgeon and medical reviewer

References

Guidance comes from the official sources listed.

1. NHS. Having an operation (surgery): getting back to normal ↗.
2. Schoenbrunner AR, Joshi GP, Janis JE. Multimodal analgesia in the aesthetic plastic surgery: concepts and strategies. Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2022;10(5):e4310. doi:10.1097/GOX.0000000000004310 ↗
3. O’Brien L, Jones DJ. Silicone gel sheeting for preventing and treating hypertrophic and keloid scars. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013;(9):CD003826. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD003826.pub3 ↗
4. Shin TM, Bordeaux JS. The role of massage in scar management: a literature review. Dermatol Surg. 2012;38(3):414–423. doi:10.1111/j.1524-4725.2011.02201.x ↗