Outpatient surgery for plastics?

Me too! I have allergies to many kinds of adhesives. We areadly knew that I was alergic to the glued tape she used so this time they used about a million tiny pieces of some type of paper tape.

I had incisions from hip to hip, under each breast, up the bottoms of the breasts and then all the way around my nipples. Her assistant Ashley laughed because she was the one to have to put those on me and it took her nearly an hour just to get all those tiny pieces of tape all over.

They did not bother me at all thank goodness. I never want to go through the hell I went through with my first surgery which should have been so much easier.

Having them try things on you might be best.

About a year ago I had to have an EGD test. Where I live they knock you completely out for that test. All I literally had was 1 IV with the usual tape on it. The test probably took 10 minutes. I woke when I was being moved from the OR to my recovery room and there was all this commotion around me. The anesthesiologist was freaking out and keep asking me if i have ever had an allergic reaction to anesthesia. Of course I said no and she showed me the giant hives all over my right arm. I laughed and knew right away it was the tape they had used for the IV. They quickly removed the tape and got some paper tape and it began to clear right away.

I have never seen people run around like their house was on fire. I guess the hives always tell them the next thing to go is tongue and throat and I have had that happen. They gave me benedryl via intravenous and it disapated quickly.

I am allergic to neosporin/triple antibiotic cream. I tried Bacitracin as an alternative, while the reaction wasn't as quick, can't use that either. Dr M had me buy something called silver gel. I could only find it at CVS.

I Had to keep reminding him not to use it. As that is the standard.

When I had an open suture line spot he also had me buy medicinal honey.

Having plastics is very invasive and people really underestimate it because they think it is superficial. Skin is the largest organ on your body. That coupled with the length of time you are under anesthesia make these surgeries major. Anyone that tells you that they are not, have no idea what they are in for.

Also, if you do research and talk with surgeons some will underplay the amount of time it takes to recover and the risks. You really have to do good research and find a doctor that is going to keep your goals and your safety in mind. Thankfully my surgeon was upfront and even when it was week 6 post abdominalplasty I was frustrated and she reminded me that I had 4 surgeries all at the same time and it would require some time before things felt better. That made me feel better because I thought I was having problems. I hate taking pain medications and tried to stop taking them week 2. When talking with several surgeons they all said it made sense that I was still taking them and should stop trying to back off too soon. I was completely done with pain meds at week 5.

I had RNY. I have a very high threshold for pain. I have had 7 back surgeries that fused my spine. Very big surgeries and lots of pain. I also had a hysterectomy, an open gall bladder removal and surgeries on my joints.

With my RNY and hysterectomy, I literally felt good enough to go shopping the very next day.

These surgeries take weeks and months to fully recover. With my arms, I felt severe pain until the end of week 3 and then it just changed to discomfort. Even now, my incisions are sensitive and I have a lot of numbness. They look fantastic in clothes and I can even wear sleeveless now so I am thrilled I had it done.

My abdominalplasty, breast lift and augmentation has taken 11 weeks before I no longer have pain. I now only have some discomfort when turning over in bed. My tummy muscles still pull some and under my breasts, the incisions are tender but I feel great again and my body looks great.

I had a tummy tuck and liposuction as an outpatient surgery. I was uncomfortable but not really in pain. I was thrilled with my results so it was definitely worth it for me. The draining pumps were a little awkward but nothing I couldn't handle! Best of luck to you!

There are levels of out-patient.

1-In hosp main op suite, with option to be kept over night if needed. ($1000 is typical charge for overnight hosp stay). Whether you stay or not, you have full access to hosp-quality staff, oversight, inc cardio drs etc if emergency, equipment, pain meds-esp important, as you will see below. This is what I had with Dr Michaels and Sibley Mem Hosp. I was mucho-well taken care of for my 8hr UBL (arms and breast lifts).

2-Hosp-affiliated out-patient surg suite. These are generally run by the hosp and have hosp oversight, when I had shoulder surgery, the out patient sur center was attached to the hosp by a enclosed walkway, so emerg staff was very close by. Several surgeons operate at a time, so there is safety in numbers and staff. Had access to hosp staff and pain meds. AOK for my 30 min shoulder bone spur removal. Was much happy with St Luke's - Phillipsburg, NJ.

Also, Not as much sign-in stuff to deal with (and 30 min surgery is much less than 8 hour UBL).

3-Dr operated stand alone facility. Less expensive, but no back-up or oversight near by. If there is an emergency, the dr will ambulance you to local hosp where they have admitting priviledges. You should know where they might take you in case of an emergency. Typically there is one, or maybe 2, doctors operating at a time but there is no back up staff, like cardio drs if emergency.

This is where I had my face work done - about 7 hours. The major problem was that I was lied to and told that I would be given medications and made comfortable on my way home. BIG FAT &%^&*(*ING LIARS. I woke up from anesthesia in PAIN (did not with other surgeries), complained about it while still very groggy, but the staff somehow got me into my friend's car and on way home before I could say NO - I NEED PAIN MEDS. 50 miles of NJ rush hour traffic and almost 3 hours later before I got home - I WAS IN AGONY!! It took days before the Percoset helped, asshole doc refused to help me when I went back for 24 hour check-in. I was still in extreme pain. I told him - I need a pain shot to get it under control. He told me that I would be so happy with the results that I would forget the pain. What an egotistical asshole!!!!!!!! I still remember every minute of the pain. I should have said, FYou - meet me at the Emergency Room, and should have gone right there. I believe my results are worse because of the extreme untreated pain - swelling, numb spots, etc. I think that for them to carry real pain meds is added complication that they do not want to deal with. No excuse for lying to me - I could have brought the percs with me to take in car and maybe could have stayed on top of pain. I prob really needed dilaudid. That was with Dr. Andrew Miller in Edison, NJ. I can't even stand to see him for post-op care - such an asshole.

Use Dr operated stand alone surg center at your own risk. There is a board that provides accreditation, but seems to be weak, in my experience and opinion. Staff leaves at 5pm, so if you have a long surgery, may expect crappy care so they can get out on time. Emerg issues - transport to hosp. Dr should not have operated on me if this was his standard procedure - pain mgt was too big of an issue.

It sounds as though some people are happy, but I would never again go to a Dr operated facility even to have a hangnail removed.

General

For plastics, there is no change to the functioning of your body as like WLS, so complications are different. For some plastics, there is no muscle work involved, so the pain is a different type of pain. If you have help to go to bathroom and eat at home, you will prob be OK. Because I had such a bad exp with a Dr operated surg center, that I wanted real med care for the UBL. So I was relieved that Dr Michaels operates out of a Johns Hopkins affiliated hosp and I had the option of staying overnight if I was in really bad shape. I did not stay overnight, but I did have a few hours in post-op.

The at-home pain mgt regime that I had for Dr Michaels was perfect. First, while in post-op, I got some oxy when pain returned after anesthesia started to wear off. Then I alternated oxy with valium and tyenol so I took something every 2 hours, if needed. This got my through the first 48 hours and then I tapered off to Ocy/Ty and valium but 4-6 in between.

Hope this helps answer some of those questions you had.