Tips for Before and After Surgery - Nutrition & Scar Help

Hi - I'm planning extensive surgery probably next month - TT, Arm&Thigh Lift & Breast Lift in 2 separate operations.

Whilst I've found a great surgeon who is very experienced with the surgery side of things - he does not have a lot of experience in terms of advising on people who have had weight loss surgery in terms of nutrition etc

Please can you share any tips you have before after surgery for the following :

Nutrition - any nutrition tips for better healing? eg did you increase your protein before/after surgery etc

Scars - what did you find helped with your scars?  I am reading lots on the benefits of silicon sheets etc - did you use them? - were they worth the money ? anything else you would suggest?

Any tips on surgery prep/recovery gratefully received.

Thank you

My surgeon was very versed on bariatric patients.  I was advise to UP my protein before surgery for a couple of weeks and to keep it at a higher level (100g or so) daily for a few weeks after.

As far as scar treatment.  Your Dr should tell you what he wants you to do.  My Dr wanted me to use Vit E oil and RUB RUB RUB it in.  I don't heal well and so now we're trying some silicone sheets. He was skeptical about them because some people have reactions to the adhesive.  I've used the CVS ones and didn't really see much improvement, but some people swear by them. 

My surgeons recommended that I follow my regular nutrition plan in general, but up the protein to between 125-150 g per day for a couple weeks before and at least a couple weeks after surgery, and to be sure to take vitamin C and zinc post-op to help with healing.

For scars, my guys say that the only things they've found to help are hydration (which is where the silicon strips come in - they keep your scar area from drying out) and massage after you have definitely healed, again for hydration (rubbing in the moisture). They prefer something like aquaphor or petroleum jelly because those seem to stay best, but have no problem if I want to use something else.

You'll hear that there is no reason to use silicon because there are no solid studies on it. I did ask, and my surgeon's response was that the only way to get a reliable control group that is a match to the experimental group is to have people use it on one half their scars, and not the other half. Realistically, ain't gonna happen. People will either use it all over or not at all, and then you have no idea if the differences are due to individual differences or the silicon.

For me, it does make a difference so I use it daily.