3 Ways Your Allergies May Affect Your Plastic Surgery
Posted on: 3 June 2016
If you suffer from hay fever or other allergies, you may need to watch for certain signs and symptoms following your facial plastic surgery. Allergies can lead to a number of systemic physiological changes in your body, which can affect how well you heal after a surgical procedure. Also, the medications that you take to manage your allergies can also affect your recovery from a cosmetic procedure. Here are three ways your allergies may affect your recovery after your plastic surgery and what you can do about them:
Increased Inflammation
Allergic reactions can cause your body to release substances known as pro-inflammatory cytokines. These chemicals often lead to an inflammatory response and can heighten the risk for increased swelling at the surgical site. To reduce this risk, it is important that you keep taking your allergy medications per your doctor's orders, keep your doors and windows shut when pollen, mold, and ragweed counts are high, and take anti-inflammatory medications to relieve facial swelling as directed by your plastic surgeon.
Severe Nasal Congestion
If your facial plastic surgery procedure is rhinoplasty, allergies may slow your recovery. Nasal surgery can disrupt the lining of your nose and sinuses, as can allergies. The combination of the two might lead to an increase in nasal congestion and breathing problems.
To reduce the incidence of excessive nasal congestion after your surgery, apply ice packs to the bridge of your nose to help decrease swollen tissues inside the nasal passages and to better facilitate an optimal breathing pattern. Your doctor might also recommend that you take an oral decongestant to further reduce swelling inside your nose.
Visual Disturbances
Allergies often cause watery, red, itchy, or swollen eyes, all of which can worsen after plastic surgery, especially if the surgery was to improve the appearance of your eyes. Taking antihistamines help relieve these symptoms, as do over-the-counter moisturizing eye drops.
The eye drops help flush out allergens from your eyes so that they are less likely to react to what you're allergic to. If your plastic surgeon has prescribed an antibiotic eye drop to use after your surgery, do not use the non-prescription moisturizing drop unless your doctor allows it. Doing so may flush out the antimicrobial medicine from your eyes, which may raise the risk for infection.
If you have allergies, discuss the above conditions with your plastic surgeon prior to your procedure. The earlier you and your doctor develop a treatment plan, the more likely you are to enjoy an uneventful recovery. Contact a company like SPECIAL SURGERY to learn more about this process.
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