Email - asksurgeonkzn@gmail.com

Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon

MBChB [UCT] FC Plast Surg [SA] Fellow [Oxford-UK]

Now that we have met, and gone through what the surgery entails, here are just a few guidelines on the upcoming weeks prior to your surgical day

1 month prior to surgery

-Refrain from smoking completely, it impairs healing, can cause stretched, widened, elevated and thickened darker scars, as well as causing skin death.

2 weeks prior to surgery

--avoid anything with aspirin, or any flu medication combinations-these contain blood thinning drugs

1 week prior to surgery

-Stop all over the counter medications including vitamins and avoid anything over 1 unit of alcohol[a glass of wine/ a beer] per night

-Stop all health and gym supplements completely

-Stop any tea preparations[green tea/health tea] other that the normal varieties.

-Avoid anything with aspirin, or any flu medication combinations-these contain blood thinning drugs- this is for 2 weeks prior to surgery.

[any other blood thinning medication must be reported to Dr Singh if you happened to omit this on my information/consult form]

-Continue taking all other medications

The day of surgery

-Anxiety is expected, mixed with excitement, but most importantly, a feeling that you are in the best hands and will be well looked after throughout your whole surgical experience.

-Chat to me about any last minute questions you have, I pride myself in being an approachable person, not just an approachable surgeon

-You will be allowed to eat and drink as stipulated on our admission slip, and come through to day ward.

-You don’t need to organise someone to drive you back home, however if you can-it is preferable- especially if I am operating around your eyes, your hands or legs.

You will have a few “steri strips” directly over the suture line, and an occlusive dressing[we will supply you with more of these]

Persistant bleeding must be reported to me immediately-I use a specialised cautery device to perform my surgery so bleeding and bruising is minimal.

You will be discharged with some painkillers, and antiinflammatories, and some antibacterial ointment

The local anaesthesia wears off in approx 3 hours so please take as much meds as you require to alleviate the symptoms

Antibiotics are not recommended as apart from the side effects, the type of procedure does not warrant it-I will however prescribe some if your lesion was offensive,ulcerated or infected.

Do not smoke, take any alcohol, or start any over the counter meds or any other of the blood thinners as set out in my preop form

Do start your chronic meds[besides blood thinners] the day of surgery.

When you get home, if I have operated on your legs- it is of utmost importance that you elevate your legs if you are sitting –for the first 3 days after surgery.

In most cases- you may shower normally[you may get the area wet the day after surgery]-remove the outer dressing[leave the steristrips on]apply some antibacterial ointment over the steristrips, and reapply an occlusive dressing

In most cases- all the stitches are deep and buried so you will not require to have them removed- they will dissolve.

If your wound was infected/ulcerated or under tension- I will remove the stitches 7-10 days after surgery in my rooms[it takes 2 minutes and is not painful

If you have had a skin graft-I will remove the dressings 5 days after surgery- it will look a bit sunken in , purplish or pale,  a simple daily antibacterial ointment and occlusive dressing is all that is required, and it can be cleaned in the shower with any antibacterial solution . The colour and contour does improve and match with surround ing tissue fairly well after approximately 6 weeks.

Start gym at 2 weeks and progress as tolerated.

I will see you again in a month, then 3 months post op.