FAQ

Your general health on the day of the procedure must be good. Chronic diseases may coexist, but they must be well-controlled, and an opinion from your treating physician is required stating that the disease does not constitute a contraindication to surgery.

Test results and consultations should be performed 3 weeks before the procedure date.

Final confirmation of the date after consultation with an anesthesiologist 2 weeks before the date.

Blood tests:

• Blood type (every procedure carries the risk of needing a blood transfusion);
• Complete blood count;
• ESR or CRP (can detect inflammation in the human body that has no symptoms);
• APTT, INR (blood clotting system);
• Sodium, Potassium;
• Glucose (to detect possible hidden diabetes);
• Creatinine (assessment of kidney function);
• HBS-Ab, HCV-Ab, HIV to identify patients who may be infectious to others;

General urine test only in case of: 1. operations involving implants and 2. in case of a positive history of urinary tract diseases. Very important – correct urine collection and a short time from collection to examination!

Other tests:

• ECG (important for patients over 40 years of age, as cardiovascular diseases begin to appear at this time);
• Breast ultrasound – for all breast operations!

Specialized tests depending on the patient's health condition (most often TSH in case of thyroid diseases);

1. For a procedure under general anesthesia, you must report 6 hours fasting;
2. GLP-1 medications that delay gastric emptying (Ozempic, Saxenda, Wegovy, Mounjaro) – must be discontinued. Daily medications minimum 24 h. Weekly medications minimum 7 days.
3. Before arriving at the clinic, take a shower, wash your hair, do not apply any cosmetics to your body, do not wear makeup;
4. Please bring basic toiletries, a towel, front-buttoning pajamas, and slippers.
5. A woman who could potentially become pregnant should perform a pregnancy test;
6. The procedure must not be performed during an infection (e.g., common cold, herpes; if prone to herpes, prophylactically take Heviran 1×1 tablet 400 mg 7 days before and 7 days after surgery);
7. Before the procedure, you should discontinue: 1. Dietary supplements 1 month before (they have an unpredictable effect on blood clotting and anesthesia); 2. Blood thinners: A. Most often these are drugs with acetylsalicylic acid, e.g., Aspirin 2 weeks before the procedure; B. Oral anticoagulants affecting INR should be discontinued in consultation with the treating physician!
8. Chronically used medications (e.g., for hypertension, hypothyroidism) should be taken continuously and brought with you to the hospital (you must not discontinue them yourself before surgery);
9. Blood clotting-enhancing medications should sometimes be discontinued before prolonged surgery under general anesthesia in consultation with the treating physician (e.g., oral contraceptives, hormone replacement therapy);
10. In the case of long operations under general anesthesia, to prevent venous thromboembolism, it is advisable to wear graduated compression stockings for the procedure and administer a prophylactic subcutaneous injection, e.g., Clexane 40mg 12 hours before the start of the procedure (very important for abdominoplasty, extensive liposuction)
11. Departure from the clinic with an accompanying person;

General health on the day of the procedure must be good. Chronic diseases may coexist, but they must be well-controlled, and an opinion from the treating physician is necessary stating that the disease does not constitute a contraindication to surgery. Test results and consultations should be delivered to the clinic 2-3 weeks before the scheduled procedure;

Blood tests:

• Blood type (every procedure carries the risk of needing a blood transfusion);
• Complete blood count;
• ESR or CRP (can detect inflammation in the human body that has no symptoms);
• APTT, INR (blood clotting system);
• HBS-Ab, HCV-Ab, HIV to identify patients who may be infectious to others;

Other tests:

Specialized tests depending on the patient's health condition (most often TSH in case of thyroid diseases);

1. For a procedure under local anesthesia, you do not need to fast;
2. Before arriving at the clinic, take a shower, wash your hair, do not apply any cosmetics to your body, do not wear makeup;
3. Please bring basic toiletries, a towel, front-buttoning pajamas, and slippers.
4. A woman who could potentially become pregnant should perform a pregnancy test;
5. The procedure must not be performed during an infection (e.g.: cold, herpes, etc.);
6. Before the procedure, you should discontinue: 1. Dietary supplements 1 month before (they have an unpredictable effect on blood clotting and anesthesia); 2. Blood thinners (drugs with acetylsalicylic acid, e.g., Aspirin 2 weeks before);
7. Chronically used medications for co-existing diseases (e.g., arterial hypertension, hypothyroidism) should be taken continuously (they must not be discontinued on your own before surgery);
8. Departure from the clinic with an accompanying person – recommended
9. To reduce the risk of swelling and bruising, it is recommended to take arnica preparations (Boiron Arnica montana 9CH 4g – 3x/day 5 granules sublingually) and rutin with vitamin C (Rutinoscorbin 3x2 tablets daily) for 2 weeks prior;

1. arrive well-rested, take a shower beforehand, do not wear makeup, do not drink alcohol for several days prior, do not take blood-thinning medications for 2 weeks prior (acetylsalicylic acid – found in Aspirin, Acard, Polopiryn), discontinue dietary supplements for 2 weeks prior (they have an unpredictable effect on blood clotting);
2. The procedure should not be performed during any infection;
3. The procedure should not be performed on pregnant women;

Before every operation assisted by an anesthesiologist, an anesthesiological consultation is required. The anesthesiologist assesses and weighs the risks associated with surgery under general anesthesia and makes the final decision on the possibility of performing general anesthesia in a given specific case.

Risks associated with general anesthesia:

Side effects and complications associated with a procedure under general anesthesia: they can be divided into very common (1 in 10); common (1 in 100); rare (1 in 1,000); very rare (1 in 10,000) and exceptionally rare (1 in 100,000);

Very common and common: 1. Nausea and vomiting (may be caused by medications; usually relieved by antiemetics, may last several hours; or even several days); 2. Sore throat (results from the presence of an intubation tube during surgery; lasts several hours to several days; is relieved by lozenges and gargles); 3. Confusion, visual disturbances (may result from the action of anesthetic drugs; may last several hours); 4. Chills (may be a result of body cooling during surgery, stress, and certain medications); 5. Headache (may result from the procedure itself, medications, stress, dehydration; usually subsides after several hours; responds well to typical painkillers; if persistent, requires further diagnosis and treatment); 6. Itching (may be a reaction to painkillers, e.g., morphine; may be a reaction to sutures, disinfectants; itching subsides after using other medications); 7. Pain in an area other than the operated one (usually in an area where pain previously occurred, e.g., back pain; this may result from prolonged immobile lying on a hard operating table); 8. Pain at the injection site (intramuscular and intravenous drug injection may cause pain in this area); 9. Bruising, swelling, and tenderness at injection sites; 10. Confusion/memory loss – this is a common symptom in older people (usually temporary but can also last several days or weeks);

Rare side effects and complications associated with general anesthesia: 1. Respiratory tract infection leading to respiratory failure (occurs more frequently in smokers and patients with lung diseases, e.g., asthma); 2. Bladder problems (urination problems sometimes occur after general anesthesia; sometimes this requires bladder catheterization); 3. Respiratory depression (too shallow breathing caused by the action of anesthetic or pain medications); 4. Damage to a tooth, lip, or tongue during intubation (occurs during difficult intubations in cases of jaw joint stiffness, short and stiff neck, or other anatomical obstructions); 5. Worsening of chronic diseases that the patient had before surgery (the anesthesiologist should be informed about all current and past diseases before surgery; these diseases must be well controlled; the most common are: arterial hypertension, heart diseases, strokes, diabetes, thyroid diseases); 6. Awareness during the procedure (patients usually remember the period just before and just after the completed procedure – this is normal; it sometimes happens that patients claim to remember something from the operation itself); 7. Venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism (any procedure under general anesthesia lasting over 2 hours, associated with bed immobilization, especially in older people, is associated with a higher risk of venous thrombosis; this can be limited by prophylactic administration of anticoagulants, but these drugs increase the risk of complications in the form of hematoma, which in plastic surgery can negate the outcome of the operation, so the use of these drugs is not routine but should be individualized);

Very rare and exceptionally rare side effects and complications associated with general anesthesia: 1. Eye globe damage (during the procedure, special care is taken to protect the eye – special drops, taping with plasters, but there is a possibility of disinfectant leaking into the eye, which will cause corneal irritation; treatment involves eye drops); 2. Severe drug allergy (exceptionally rarely, very severe allergic reactions occur, which can even lead to death; all allergies should be reported before the procedure); 3. Nerve damage (paresis or sensory disturbance) can occur during regional anesthesia (administering drugs with a needle near a nerve or as a result of chronic pressure during surgery); symptoms usually resolve spontaneously within several weeks or months; 4. Death due to general anesthesia – it is estimated that in the UK these are single cases per million operations – the reason is the simultaneous occurrence of several complications; 5. Anesthetic equipment failure.

The appearance of the scar improves for at least 1 year after the procedure; eventually, the scar becomes pale and loses its pink color, before that it becomes soft, elastic, and achieves the level and texture of the surrounding tissues.

Wound and scar care:

Do not use any scar ointments until the stitches are removed;

After removing the stitches, lubricate the scar for about 1 week (2x daily Dermosan, Linomag, Alantan or another neutral ointment bought at the pharmacy);

Do not apply makeup to the scar until the wound is fully healed – in practice, this is about 1 week after stitch removal. When there is no scab left along the scar.

After a week of lubrication, silicone ointments for a minimum of 2 months or silicone patches if they can be applied;

In some cases, other scar ointments depending on the local condition;

The scar should be protected from UV radiation for a minimum of 1 year from the healing of the wounds;

In case of hypertrophic scar or keloid formation – see scar correction