Your surgeon will give you a list of items to keep on hand and things to do, but the better you prepare and care for yourself, the better your surgical outcome will be.

Think of the surgery as an athletic event for which you must prepare the body!

Before surgery, make sure your nutrition, sleeping and exercise are up to par. Your diet should include healthy amounts of protein which provides the building blocks for cells.

Being in good physical shape helps you heal faster because the increased circulation brings more blood and nutrients to the surgical area.

So, in the weeks before surgery, you’ll do yourself a favor if you can just find a half an hour daily to walk.

Insufficient sleep is hard on your immune system. Do whatever it takes to get optimum Z’s in the weeks leading up to your rejuvenation surgery.

Due to some longer incisions, those tips are especially useful for body procedures including:

• Tummy tuck
• Breast reduction
• Breast Lift
• Body shaping after gastric band weight loss

Afterwards, your healing will be helped if you continue your surgeon’s pre-surgical smoking ban. Also, stay away from products like aspirin and herbs that increase bleeding.

Plastic surgeons require you to give up smoking before operations because tobacco injures the blood vessels and restricts healthy blood circulation. In fact, smokers require more anesthesia during their surgery.

Unless your surgeon says otherwise, many experts recommend some movement after surgery. Just walking around will aid blood circulation, stimulate your appetite and help other body functions.

Another standard tip is having somebody with you during your healing time to help with bandages, dressings and surgical drains, if any.

If you have flown in for plastic surgery, your surgeon has probably given you post-op instructions.

Flying just after surgery can be problematic, depending on the procedure.

For instance, recent breast augmentation patients would not want to reach up to the overhead bins on a plane. Rhinoplasty patients are sensitive to the pressure changes experienced in air travel.

What are your tips for caring for yourself before and after surgery?

But plastic surgery can also enhance a person’s general well-being. Plus, in many cases, health insurance covers the charges.

To be known as a plastic surgeon, a physician must have:

• Two to three years of general surgery training under his or her belt
• Another three to five years of training in plastic surgery

Some even spend yet another year at the side of a Master Surgeon to become expert in a difficult area of plastic surgery like rhinoplasty.

All that training often includes reconstructive surgery like the procedure to recreate normal-looking attractive breasts when a cancer patient has had a mastectomy.

In some places, the plastic surgeon steps in to rebuild breasts while the patient is still on the table after the breast removal procedure.

Many plastic surgeons perform hand surgery due to the delicate and intricate nature of the wrist and hand.

Would you believe a face lift may extend life?

The Mayo clinic once surveyed 250 women who had face lifts in the 1970s and compared their averages ages with similar women who had no face lifts. Results? The face lift group lived an average 10 years longer.

Other health conditions related to cosmetic plastic surgery include:

• Upper eyelid surgery

The surgery to repair drooping upper eyelids can often be covered by insurance if you can show your eyelids are sagging over your eyes to block vision.

• Rhinoplasty

Plastic surgeons often perform a rhinoplasty far inside the nose — known as a septoplasty — to stop chronic sinus woes. (Read more about  nose jobs for sinus relief.)

• Breast reduction

Surgically reducing the size of overly large, pendulous breasts is often performed by plastic surgeons. Insurance may kick in due to back and shoulder pains. In some cases, the weight on the bra straps put notch-like grooves in the woman’s shoulder bones.

Have you ever had surgery? Leave a comment!

1. The acceptance of facial fillers like Juvederm and Restylane will continue as more products like Reloxin are tested and enter doctors’ office.
2. All types of bariatric procedures will increase – including lap band surgery — leaving more people needing body shaping procedures to get rid of excess, hanging skin.
3. Even more men will embrace cosmetic plastic surgery when they realize that many women now have money and power and can select a mate with appearance first in mind. For instance, 39-year-old actress Jennifer Aniston and 31-year-old John Mayer are an item.
4. Until the economy picks up, more patients looking for bargain cosmetic procedures will suffer bad outcomes.
5. Later in 2009, consumers will become more sophisticated and learn to seek board certified plastic surgeons.
6. The trend of more ethnic groups seeking plastic surgery will grow. For instance, more African-American women will request breast augmentation from surgeons who know the special requirements about scarring on darker skin.
7. The use of fat grafting will grow and be used more widely as a facial and body filler like in buttocks augmentation.
8. More teenagers will have rhinoplasty. Already, the offices of facial plastic surgeons are crowded with teen patients during the summer. Those young people want an enhanced appearance before they start a new high schools, colleges or first jobs.
9. Breast augmentation will continue its popularity, with more women selecting silicone breast implants due to a more natural feel.
10. Patients in their 20s will continue seeking an enhanced appearance with Botox and other facial fillers. More teens will consider having gynecomastia surgery.

What do you think the next big wave in plastic surgery will be?

Some are just born small, some suffer loss of tissue through nursing, some gain and then lose massive amounts of weight while yet others lose breast tissue due to natural aging.

But drinking coffee? Yes, it can reduce bosom size. It’s been scientifically studied!
(We are NOT making this up! Read the lowered breast volume study.)

The research says, as little as three cups of java a day can reduce your other cup size!

The Swedish study was performed at Lund University on 270 women and printed in the British Journal of Cancer. Researchers noted how many cups of coffee the subjects drank and then measured their breast sizes.

However, not every woman is affected. The researchers found that half the study subjects carry a gene that is affected by caffeine. Then the gene takes it out on innocent breast tissue. The affected group had an average size 17 percent smaller than those who drank less than three cups daily.

“Drinking coffee can have a major impact on breast size,” Professor Helena Jernstrom told The Telegraph, an English newspaper. (But if you want to reduce your breast size, ask about surgical breast reduction.)
Of course, the news about caffeine is not all grim.

Another study in Brazil found that a cream containing seven percent caffeine can reduce the thighs. The thigh study was printed in the Journal of the Cosmetic Dermatology.

Moral of the story? You win some, and lose some!

Another proven way to reduce thigh size is through a plastic surgery procedure technically known as Thighplasty, or simply, a thigh lift.

But there are some exceptions like:

• Rhinoplasty – If your breathing is obstructed, your health insurance may cover all or part of surgery.
• Breast reduction – If very large, heavy breasts cause other health woes, help may be at hand.
• Upper eyelid surgery – When upper eyelids fall across the eyeballs, insurance may kick in.

It’s always best to check with your health insurance company first. They usually need to see a doctor’s letter or report that your breathing is obstructed, that you have back and neck pains or that your vision is affected by sagging eyelids. The key to coverage is the term, medically necessary.

Of course, the plastic surgeon’s first task in, say,  rhinoplasty is repairing breathing. But in performing the surgery, the patient’s nose often looks better afterwards. (Read more about nose surgery.)

Very large, pendulous breasts usually cause neck and back problems, among other health concerns.  Some patients  have such heavy breasts that the bra straps actually create notches in the shoulder bones.

Of course, the breast reduction patient looks much better after healing but her health is also improved; she will very likely avoid future treatments for neck, back and shoulder pain. (View some breast reduction before and after pictures.)

An eye care professional usually must provide a letter about the patient’s vision being obscured.  Then, insurers may cover the procedure.

Other cosmetic plastic surgery procedures that may be covered include:

• Face lift after a terrible accident
• Breast reconstruction after mastectomy due to cancer
• Ear deformities or injuries
• Hand surgery because of carpel tunnel syndrome

See our post about young children having otoplasty, or ear pinning, before starting school.

Have you ever had insurance help with a plastic surgery procedure? Leave a comment!