How Long Is Recovery After Liposuction?

Have you tried every diet under the sun to budge stubborn pockets of excess fat? Have you been exercising diligently for years without sculpting your ideal contours? If so, you may be an excellent candidate for liposuction, a body contouring procedure offered at the office of Dr. Bruce Kadz in Beverly Hills, CA. However, people have a lot of questions about this cosmetic procedure. In this comprehensive guide, we answer them.

How Long Is Recovery After Liposuction? 

The liposuction recovery process can take a couple of months, but you shouldn’t need to take more than a few weeks off from work to dedicate to your recovery. As a general rule, you can expect to take a week off from work if you have a sedentary job. You can expect to take two weeks off from work if you have a physically demanding job. However, if you can work from home, you shouldn’t need to schedule more than three days off to recover.

Note, even though you won’t need to take a lot of time off from work to dedicate to your recovery, it is of the utmost importance that you make rest, hydration, and nutrition your top priorities for the first couple of weeks post-op. The reason why you shouldn’t have to take more than a few days off from work if you can work remotely is that it is very important that you nap whenever you feel particularly tired during the first week or two of your recovery.

What Restrictions Will I Need To Adhere to During My Recovery? 

Don’t Smoke

For the smoothest possible recovery, it is crucial that you do not smoke or consume any other product containing nicotine. Nicotine elevates your blood pressure, making it harder for your heart to circulate crucial, healing nutrients throughout your body. In other words, if you smoke or consume other forms of nicotine during your recovery, your body will take longer to heal than it should. Excessive caffeine consumption also elevates your blood pressure.

Don’t Drink Alcohol

Drinking alcohol, like consuming nicotine, elevates your blood pressure. However, alcohol can be seen as worse than smoking for your recovery, because it doesn’t just make it harder for your heart to circulate blood. It also dehydrates you and causes your body to flush out essential nutrients. Additionally, alcohol impedes your ability to get deep sleep. Unfortunately, plenty of deep sleep, adequate hydration, and optimal nutrition are all required post-op.

Don’t Forget To Eat Your Vegetables

Remember, it is very important to not smoke because nicotine consumption makes it harder for your skin to get the nutrients it needs. If you fail to eat nutritiously, however, it doesn’t matter much whether you consume nicotine or not. Just like you can’t draw blood from a stone, your skin can’t create the collagen it needs to heal itself if you are not eating nutritiously.

Make a point to consume at least 14 ounces of fruits and veggies per day, focusing on vegetables that are high in protein, vitamin C and water. Such foods are ideal because your skin needs protein, vitamin C, and water to create the collagen it needs to heal itself. Examples of great vegetables to incorporate into your post-op meal plan include:

• Kale
• Broccoli
• Spinach
• Brussels sprouts

Don’t Skip Your Naps

It is also very important that you don’t fight to stay awake when you feel tired. If you feel tired, your body is trying to tell you that it needs rest, and you should heed its plea for the sake of your recovery. Whenever you feel particularly tired, take a nap. Ideally, your brain should wake you up once your body has had enough rest. However, this isn’t always the case, especially if you have pets or small children in the house.

In addition to napping whenever you need to nap, it is highly advisable to aim for nine consecutive hours of sleep nightly. Most of the time, adults can get only 7.5 hours of sleep nightly and be healthy. However, most of your body’s healing occurs during the final stage of the sleep cycle, so you want to spend as much time as possible in this stage. Typically, sleep cycles last around 90 minutes, so you should get six or seven full cycles if you nap, too.

Don’t Forget To Hydrate

Allowing yourself to become dehydrated during your recovery period will slow your skin’s collagen production process to a crawl. Depending on the scope of your lipo, your health, and your personal preferences, you may receive general anesthesia or local anesthesia. If you receive general anesthesia or intravenous sedation, it is highly advisable to have someone stay with you during the first 24 to 72 hours of your recovery period.

During this time, you may feel so tired that you don’t feel like going to the kitchen to make yourself a glass of water. However, it is crucial that you drink water regularly throughout the whole recovery process. If you have someone stay home with you during the first few days of your recovery, you can have them bring you cold water every hour. Some people hydrate better when water is cold because they find it more palatable.

More Tips for Staying Hydrated

Colder water may be more palatable to you, but it can still get boring. You should aim to drink around three quarts of water per day. If you find yourself getting bored of plain water, try to tantalize your taste buds with fruit-infused water. Just have your partner fill a pitcher of water roughly three-quarters of the way to the top. Then, have them fill the rest of the pitcher with your favorite fruit, like mango chunks, orange slices, and strawberries or blueberries.

You also may find it easier to stay hydrated if you snack on fruits throughout the day when you’re feeling peckish. Most fruits, like many vegetables, are rich in water. You can also meet your hydration goals by eating a bowl of broth-based soup every day. The great thing about soup is that you can vary the ingredients to prevent boredom. For instance, you can eat a chicken broth-based soup one day and a beef broth-based soup the next day.

Don’t Exercise Too Much

Avoiding vigorous exercise is also very important during your recovery period. Depending on the scope of your procedure and how well you care for yourself overall during your recovery period, you may need to avoid intense physical activity for six to eight weeks. Adhering to this restriction can be tricky, especially if you have a physically demanding job.

If you can’t take two months off from a physically intense job, speak to your supervisor about modifying your duties temporarily. Alternatively, let them know that you will need to decrease your rate of production temporarily, but you can still get some of your work done. You may want to wear a smartwatch that monitors your pulse while you’re working to ensure you’re not exerting too much effort.

Don’t Be Too Sedentary

Moderation is an important part of life, but it is a particularly important part of lipo recovery. While it is important that you do not exercise intensely to the point of high blood pressure, profuse sweating, and an extremely elevated pulse, it is also important that you don’t spend your entire recovery sitting or lying down. Don’t feel any pressure to get a lot of exercise during the first 24 hours of your recovery period.

However, the day after your liposuction, do your best to perform gentle exercises, like walking laps around the inside of your house. It may take a couple of weeks for you to feel like you have your old energy levels again. It’s okay to break your exercise up into 10-minute sessions if that is all you can manage before you start to feel too tired. It is highly advisable to get up for at least a couple of minutes every hour when you are not sleeping.

Schedule Your Initial Consultation Today

All told, lipo recovery takes several months. However, you should feel like your old self in just a couple of weeks, and if your supervisor is flexible, you will only have to take a few days off from work. Are you interested in learning more? If so, contact us today at the office of Dr. Bruce Kadz in Beverly Hills, CA to schedule your initial liposuction consultation and learn more.