Smoking & Cosmetic Surgery, Why to Steer Clear of the Combination

With nearly 20 million people receivingcosmetic surgery in the United States per year and 31 million people smoking orvaping a year, there is bound to be some overlap. Outside of alreadyaccelerating the aging process by damaging the skin and causing wrinkles, thehabit can be life threatening during an operation and cause poor healing afterwards.Here are three reasons why Grossman | Capraro Plastic Surgery ensures that ourpatients are avoiding nicotine prior to their procedure.

It Causes Complexities with Anesthesia

During an operation, it is theanesthesiologist’s priority to make sure a patient is stable and breathing.When their lungs have been put at risk due to nicotine inhalation, this taskbecomes significantly more difficult. Often a ventilator is required just tomake sure the patient is breathing throughout their time in the operating room,and that’s not to mention the higher probability of obstacles like pneumonia orlung collapse during the healing process.

The Heart has to Work Harder

Nicotine causes the narrowing of bloodvessels, meaning that circulation is not at its optimal level. In everydayactivities and especially in an operation, this can be problematic. Duringsurgery, this means that a patient will have higher blood pressure incombination with 37% lower blood flow (oh, and that’s only from one cigarette),creating a high risk for complications either during or after the procedure includingheart attacks or strokes.

Healing Becomes More Challenging

In line with the stress smoking places onthe heart, the lack of blood flow in addition to lower levels of oxygen (causedby an increase of carbon monoxide in the body), means healing turns into aslower, more complicated process. In other words, nicotine can cause high riskof infection and poorly healed scars, not necessarily what one would wantfollowing a cosmetic procedure. This majorly applies to operations that arehighly invasive such as Tummy Tucks, Breast Reductions, Breast Lifts, andFacelifts.

If I’m a Smoker, What Should I Do?

While all this information can be daunting,you can still achieve your cosmetic goals! Dr. Philippe A. Capraro insiststhat, if a patient does smoke, they must stop for 3-4 weeks before surgery aswell as 3-4 weeks after. Allowing this time for your body to recover willgreatly reduce the likelihood of any of the aforementioned risks. If anycosmetic side effects do occur, like raised or dark scarring, we have asolution for that! Geri Dellacroce, our medical aesthetician can treat withPotenza Radiofrequency Microneedling and/or cosmetic tattooing to reduce theappearance of unwanted scars.