Infection After Plastic Surgery

Plastic surgery is a life-changing experience. Women can experience fuller breasts or reduce the appearance of stretch marks. Men can have well-toned midsections or eliminate their “man boobs.”

Like all types of surgery, plastic surgery has its potential risks and complications. Infection is a common risk following plastic surgery.

Causes and signs of infection after plastic surgery
The presence of an opening in the skin (via an incision) puts you at risk for infection. This opening serves as the entry point for bacteria during and after plastic surgery. Although your immune response fights possible infection, your immune system is stressed already by recovery and that further increases your risk. The classic signs of an infection include redness, pain, warmth, fever, and/or presence of discharge in the incision site.

Reducing your risk
Although the actual risk of infection following plastic surgery is low — only one to three percent of surgeries — it makes sense to do everything you can to keep any infection from happening.

Your surgeon and the rest of the surgical team will make it a point to keep everything under sterile conditions during the procedure. As a patient, it is crucial to maintain an environment for recovery that is less conducive to bacteria-causing infection. This includes keeping the incisions clean and dry, changing bed sheets often, and getting enough rest to strengthen your immune defenses. Having someone to help you with housekeeping is recommended following surgery. And you need to keep your follow-up visits after surgery. Finally, getting in touch with our surgical team should be a priority in cases of irritation, discomfort, or sudden change in color or odor of discharge in the incision site.

Would you like to learn more about avoiding complications after plastic surgery? Call us at 508.334.5990 today!