Tuesday, 10 January 2012

Plastic Surgery - Risk Factors

Plastic Surgery - Risk Factors

If you are considering an elective cosmetic surgery, the important thing to keep in mind is the fact that it may be cosmetic, but it is still a surgical procedure, and as such it carries with it some risk factors that shouldn't be glossed over. Your cosmetic surgeon will no doubt go over the risk factors of any surgery with you during your initial consultation and again before you actually have the procedure performed, but here are some basic facts to consider.

Any surgical procedure carries the risk of a blood clot forming in your body and traveling to your lungs or brain. Blood clots are not common, but they can occur and the best way to prevent them is to keep your body active after surgery. Your doctor will no doubt give you some simple hand and foot exercises that you can do even on bed rest that will keep your blood flowing and help prevent clots from forming.

After surgery, you will probably experience bruising and swelling at the surgical site. As your body heals, the bruising and swelling will decrease and you should be able to see the results of your procedure. There will also be some discomfort or pain associated with your surgery -- how much will depend on a wide variety of factors, including what you have done, your overall health, and if you have multiple procedures at once.

Some patients will have a reaction to the general anesthesia, and sometimes the reaction is caused by a patient's failure to disclose medications they are currently taking such as Viagra or heavy alcohol or drug use. What your anesthesiologist doesn't know could kill you, so it is vital to be upfront and honest when you go in for your evaluation with the doctor. Even under the best of circumstances, patients can experience an unexpected reaction to anesthesia such as nerve damage from the injection site being to close to a nerve and subsequent pain due to the nerve damage.

Other risk factors include uncontrollable bleeding and infections at the surgical site. Of course these risk factors are controlled as much as possible by following procedures that guarantee a patient is operated on in a clean, sterile environment by highly trained doctors and nurses. Every step of the procedure from the initial consultation to getting your medical history are all steps geared to not having anything go wrong.

So although you should be aware of any risk factors associated with a cosmetic surgery, you should also have confidence that your doctor has taken the appropriate steps to ensure your surgery goes off without a hitch and you are satisfied with your results.

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