Beauty Doc Blog

Make plans for an after surgery driver, an escort and a caregiver after your plastic surgery procedure. Forget about acting tough. Assistance from people in these key roles should be considered essential for health, safety and comfort for most, if not all patients.

Right after surgery a patient is simply not safe to drive. Would you want someone on the road in control of a motor vehicle whose judgment is impaired by medication? Of course not, just as you don’t want someone driving if they are under the influence of alcohol. It is not safe for the patient who is driving, nor is it safe for other motorists or for pedestrians. Setting aside the very real physical safety concerns, if a patient is stopped by law enforcement officers while driving under the influence of pain relieving medication, the legal penalties are very stiff. Fines, community service and loss of driver’s license privileges are very real possibilities. Getting home from the hospital safely is important to you and to those who care about you, including your physician. Make sure you have a driver. If no driver is available, take a taxi or ask the hospital staff if they can provide a driver.

When you leave the hospital and go out to the car to go home, you will need an escort. Many times the medical facility will have a nurse, a nurses aide or another health care professional available to help you and they will probably insist that you ride in a wheel chair as you exit. Don’t argue, just get in the chair and ride. The last thing that you want, or that they want for that matter is for you to trip and have an accident on the way out of the hospital, requiring a longer stay to recover from a new problem. Besides, often times the hospital or surgical center has an insurance policy clause that requires existing patients to be escorted and to ride in wheel chairs.

When you get home you will probably not be up to your old self for a few days. Having a caregiver available is essential. Someone who can help you with trips to the bathroom, getting in and out of bed, and to fix your meals and bring them to you is truly needed. This can be your spouse, an adult child, another relative or neighbor, or a paid professional such as a home duty nurse. Determine the right caregiver for your situation and make sure that you use one.