Are You Medically Ready to Undergo Plastic Surgery? Part One

As I’ve discussed before, it’s imperative that you’ve been in good health prior to having any kind of cosmetic procedure. The following is a list of evaluation criteria that your doctor should assess to determine whether you are in good enough health to have a procedure. This doesn’t mean that you have to be in “perfect health.” If you scan the following checklist, you may wonder what it means for you if you have diabetes, for example, or asthma. The answer is that having one of these conditions doesn’t mean you can’t have an elective procedure. What it does mean is that your health condition must be under control (i.e. “optimized”) and both your primary physician and your plastic surgeon are well aware of it prior to surgery.

• Cardiac evaluation: A cardiac evaluation should be done and, if indicated, an EKG test. This tells the doctor if your heart is healthy enough for you to undergo surgery. This is a major risk factor when undergoing surgery because some of the medication given to you for anesthesia can have various effects on your heart. If your heart is not strong enough, or has other issues such as arrhythmias, you could have a problem with anesthesia. If you have a history of heart attacks, high blood pressure, any kind of chest pain with exertion, or an abnormal heartbeat, you need to bring it up with your doctor prior to surgery.
• Vascular evaluation: A vascular evaluation is one way of checking to make sure you are not at risk of having a stroke during surgery. If you have had any of the symptoms of TIA (transient ischemic attack) or stroke, then this should be brought up with your doctor prior to surgery.
• Pulmonary evaluation: This is to make sure that your lungs are in good working order. Most doctors will listen to your lungs and make sure you don’t have any pulmonary issues such as asthma COPD. If you do, your doctor may have you get a chest X-ray prior to surgery. You should also stop smoking and avoid nicotine for a period before and after a surgical procedure. Refer to my previous posts on this topic.
• Diabetes evaluation: Diabetes is a huge problem for postoperative healing. If you have a problem with diabetes, your healing will be slow or problematic. That doesn’t mean you can’t have surgeries, but you must have your diabetic care optimized beforehand. One way a doctor knows that your diabetic care is optimized and that your blood sugar is under reasonable control is by performing a blood test called the HgA1c. In our practice, we like to see the HgA1c level under seven to feel reasonably safe that you will have good healing after surgery. If there’s any indication that your blood sugar is not under good control, you should get it under good control prior to surgery.

Be sure to read my next post for additional areas you should have evaluated. In the meantime, prepare yourself by getting a copy of, “Making the Cut” found here.

---