Can I smoke after Plastic surgery?

Yes. “can I smoke after plastic surgery?” This is the question that a lot of people ask, and this is the topic that I would like to discuss today. First, I would like to provide you with a common sense answer.

One must take care of her own body. Everyone knows that smoking is bad for your health. Even a child knows that one must not smoke after a surgery. However, I would like to analyze this problem and share if this is medically not good for your health.

This is a happening that took place a few years ago.

I was going to take a look at a patient who just had nose correction surgery but the door was locked. 
I knocked the door and it opened after a long time.
The room was filled with smoke. 
The patient and her friend had smoked in the room. 
As a doctor, do you think that I was angry or not? 
I was really angry that a small smile appeared on my face.
I gave a ridiculous look and the patient apologized and told me that she wanted to smoke because she was feeling some pain. If she was hurting, she should have asked for a pain killer but instead she smoked.
She apologized again and she told me that she would throw away the bud. 
This made me laugh.

1. Smoking after a plastic surgery

Actually smoking is bad for the health if you smoke a regularly for a long period of time. It is not as harmful for the body if you smoke at the short time span of the recovery.

Cigarette has nicotine in it. Nicotine causes contraction of the blood vessels therefore it could have a bad effect on the scar. This is the reason why we did not allow the patients to smoke.

Nicotine has a wide, complex influence on the body. We cannot simply say that is delays the scar that is being healed. I tell my patients to not smoke for about two weeks after the surgery

However, there are no findings or reports that those patients who smoke after a surgery suffer side effects such as infection, scar not disappearing, pain, and those who do not smoke do not suffer such side effects.

I do not think that one should tell another not to smoke just because it is bad for health. Scientifically, there is no result that shows smoking causes delay in the scar being healed.

So I tell my patients this;
Just quit smoking. Then you would not have to worry about what could happen in the future. But, if you smoke again after a week or two, everything would be nullified. Smoking leads to bad health if you do it for a long period of time. It does not cause bad health all of a sudden.

Of course smoking is not good for the health after the surgery, but it does not cause a bad effect all of a sudden.

However, smoking is bad if you do it for a long term,
therefore, it is recommended that you quit smoking if you are concerned about your health.

2. Drinking after the plastic surgery

A lot of patients who have surgery close to the end of the year ask me this question a lot.
I need to meet my friends during the weekend, so can I drink?
I have year-end party and so it is difficult for me not to drink. Will it be OK to drink?
I am sure that these patients enjoy drinking. I am quite surprise that a lot of female patients rely on drinking as well. When I was in the 20’s, the ladies drank very little. So it was an insult to some if you said that a lady was a good drinker.

Anyway, I would recommend you to not drink after a surgery. 
Alcohol enlarges the blood vessels. Alcohol has an effect on the body right away compared to smoking that takes some time. The enlargement of the blood vessels leads to reddening of the face and the body. It also caused the heart to beat quicker. Alcohol also has a diuretic effect causing thirst.

After a surgery, we try to contract the blood vessels near the scar with ice in order to stop the bleeding however this would be no good if the patient drinks causing the enlargement of the blood vessels.

This might cause infection on the scar and other problems which we may not be able to find out properly. Therefore, it would be good for the patient not to drink any alcohol after a surgery.

There was a patient who had fat transplantation on the face. 
She drank right after the surgery and after a week, there was much inflammation on the face.
She took antibiotics for a few days however the transplantation had no effect on the face.

We cannot say for sure that the drinking was the cause of the inflammation however, if you are concerned about something similar happening to you, then you might want to avoid any activity that may be the cause.

Appropriate amount of drinking is good for the health in the long term compared to smoking which is not.

In summary,
First, smoking does not cause big problem in the first 1 or 2 weeks of the surgery however, smoking is not good for you in the long term. (Especially for those corrections that need good blood circulation such as nose and wrinkle correction, fat transplantation)

Second, it is a principle that you avoid drinking after the surgery. However, in the long term, an appropriate amount of drinking is good for you.

If you had a plastic surgery / correction recently, why don’t you quit smoking? Smoking is not good for the skin and also shortens your life.
Have a good day.
Thank you.