• Feel free to ask any questions about your proposed surgery or our policies. During the evaluation, it is necessary for us to know all your questions about the surgery you are requesting.

   

•  Please advise us of any medical condition you might have: medications you take, possible allergies to drugs, ointments, soaps, etc.

   

•  Smoking is known to delay healing. When you smoke the blood supply to the skin is reduced. To minimize possible complications such as skin loss, lack of healing and bad scarring, smokers must refrain from using tobacco one week before and two weeks after surgery.

   

• If you are having facial surgery bring a hat, sunglass, sunblock and a scarf (women).

   

• Overweight patients usually have not as good results as normal weight people. If you are obese or overweight, you are in more risk of having complications, the surgery is more difficult and the results will be inferior and less lasting. In order to achieve the best results it is highly advisable to lose weight before the surgery.

   

• We request no drinking alcoholic beverages, avoid smoking, and no sun exposure one week before and two weeks after surgery.

Scar formation in smokers and Second hand smokers

The smoke of tobacco and nicotine alter blood circulation all over the body. Singularly one cigarette causes 90 minutes of vascular spasm which diminishes blood circulation in the skin. Following this principle, it negatively affects scarring process.

Tobacco inhibits the production of a natural blood vessel opener, nitric oxide.  Therefore produces blood vessel narrowing in arteries, veins and capillaries.  This specific reaction reduces circulation in the regenerating tissues and slows down regeneration.

Several investigations have proved that smoking leads to a greater frequency of scarring problems in the areas behind the ears in facelift patients.  Similarly to what happens with skin layers lifted during Tummy Tuck, Breast lift or breast reduction.

Second hand Smokers are those people that even if they do not smoke they live or spend large amounts of time surrounded by cigarette smoke.  The smoke that these people breathe is far more harmful than first hand smoke because it comes mixed with residues and waste from the smoker’s lungs.

It is vitally important that smokers and second hand smokers are very well informed about their greater healing and scarring problem risk.

Perioperative smoking results in significantly higher complication rates (specifically, wound healing complications) that are unrelated to the number of cigarettes smoked. Our experience has shown that we cannot turn a smoker into a nonsmoker. Our experience, however, suggest that extreme discretion should be exercised when offering plastic surgery procedures to smokers. Smokers must know about their possible higher risk for wound healing problems. As we perform the operation we try to be more conservative, mobilize less, remove less tissue, and immobilize the patient in the critical first 3 days to prevent them from smoking. With reference to our anecdotal evidence, we have since noticed a significant reduction in the incidence of wound healing problems