Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Articles

Have you entered our CoolSculpting contest yet? You’re always putting everyone else’s needs ahead of your own. With Valentine’s Day approaching, how about throwing some love your way for once?

We have just the way to do it: We’re running a CoolSculpting Valentine’s Day contest. One lucky winner will receive two free CoolSculpting sessions, valued at $1,500, with us here at Davis CPS. CoolSculpting is the top nonsurgical treatment for permanently getting rid of stubborn body fat. More on that in a moment.

To enter, all you need to do is fill out the short form on this page with some basic information about yourself and upload a photo, or photos, of the areas you’d like to treat with CoolSculpting. (Please know, your photos will not be shared in any way without your written consent.)

Easy, right? We’ll be selecting a winner on February 13. [Enter Now!]

We’ll notify the winner by phone and then make a public announcement via email using only their first name and last initial. (No photos will be used in the email.) The winner, however, needs to be willing to share one post each on their Instagram feed and story with the following caption: “I won two free CoolSculpting sessions from Davis CPS in Cherry Hill, NJ.”

Now, what exactly is CoolSculpting? It’s an innovative procedure that uses controlled freezing to eliminate unwanted fat. And it requires little to no recovery.

Years back, a couple of Harvard scientists noticed that some kids got dimples in their cheeks when they ate popsicles. They later came to realize that the popsicles were freezing and eliminating small pockets of fat cells. Simplistic as that sounds, that’s the premise behind CoolSculpting.

The procedure delivers precisely controlled cooling to a targeted area. The treated fat cells are frozen, then die. There’s no damage to the skin or the surrounding tissue. Over time, your body will naturally process the fat and eliminate the dead cells, leaving a more sculpted you.

You won’t be put under. In fact, you can catch up on emails while you undergo the treatment. Come in for a session in the morning and head straight into the office as soon as you’re done.

So, what are you waiting for?
Go register, and make this a Valentine’s Day—and bathing-suit season—to remember.

Knowing How to Speed Up the Cosmetic Surgery Recovery Process is a delicate balance. The prospective cosmetic surgery patient is much better educated than they were even just a few years ago. They’re entering the initial consultation with a pretty clearly defined idea of the procedure they want and what it’s going to entail.

By that I mean they understand that there’s going to be a certain degree of bruising and swelling. That knowledge, however, doesn’t always soften the shock.

Even in the hands of a skilled, board-certified plastic surgeon, a cosmetic procedure is still a type of trauma from which the body must heal. Your body can’t distinguish between tripping and scraping your knee and a doctor taking a scalpel to your chin. Which is to say the bruising and swelling can be expected. But there are a few things you can do to ensure a speedy recovery.

Self-care after surgery
Let me preface the tips that follow by saying that the single-most effective thing you can do to ensure a complete recovery is to follow your doctor’s post-care recommendations. That means keeping dressings and compresses on until you’re told to remove them. If you had a procedure performed on your face or neck, you may be told to sleep with your held elevated for the first few weeks. Stop taking any blood-thinning medications or supplements. It also means, above all, being a diligent observer of what you’re seeing and feeling.

Beyond that, simply take care of yourself. Don’t smoke. Avoid alcohol for at least the first few days. Drink lots of water. Stay out of the sun (exposure can deepen the color of bruises). Avoid strenuous activity, including exercise, for the first few weeks after surgery. And get plenty of sleep. Again, your body needs time to recover fully, and to enable your immune system to work at its full capacity.

When to return to normal activity
You may have a ready-made excuse for avoiding the gym for a while, but you’ll want to get out of bed and at least walk around the house a bit as soon as you feel up to it. It’s essential to promote healthy circulation and discourage the development of clots.

If the bruising makes you self-conscious, you should be able to mask it with makeup after a few days, but clear it with your doctor first. And steer clear of open wounds and stitches.

It’s a natural concern ahead of any situation where we anticipate some level of physical or emotional pain, as if we could somehow brace ourselves, mentally, and blunt it just a little bit.

So, let’s address the elephant in the room: How Long Will it Take to Recover from Plastic Surgery?

Unfortunately, there’s no precise way to answer that question in the context of cosmetic plastic surgery (or, really, any other context) because pain is subjective. But I can give you a general sense of what you can expect. We’ll get to that in just a moment.

More importantly—because this is something you can control—so much of recovering from plastic surgery comes down to having a plan and following it. Your doctor’s going to provide you with a set of post-care recommendations before your procedure. But, treating them more like hard and fast rules is the surest path to a speedy recovery.

Your mobility’s going to be very limited for the first few days, so stock up on everything you’re going to need, from bandages to groceries. And schedule more time off than your doctor estimates your recovery time will be. That’ll alleviate the stress that could crop up with unexpected delays. Stress hinders the body’s ability to heal. Ideally, put yourself in a bubble for a week or two and focus solely on your recovery.

Pain & Discomfort
One patient’s post-operative ache is another’s throbbing. Pain is personal, and for that reason, it’s never discounted. Appropriate pain medications are prescribed to help minimize the discomfort.

Generally, the discomfort is fairly minimal with cosmetic facial procedures and slightly more with liposuction. Operations that require elevation or tightening of the muscles, such as a tummy tuck, have a post-operative pain level that many equate to a C-section.

Bruising and swelling
In the first few days following surgery, the bruising will be a dark black, purple, or blue—which can look even more traumatizing when it’s in a highly visible place, like the face. But it should begin to lighten up by the fifth or sixth day and subside completely within two weeks.

The swelling, similarly, is going to be its worst over the first few days after the surgery. It’ll begin to go down after a week, and within two weeks, the swelling should reduce by about 75 percent. Six weeks out, almost all of it should dissipate. Any lingering swelling will go down over the next few months.

The recovery period
The length of the recovery period following plastic surgery depends on the procedure and the patient. Most will need assistance for the first couple of days. They should be able to manage on their own from that point, but they may still need help caring for small children.

To give you a basic idea, these are approximations for a few popular procedures:

Breast surgery — Almost everyone is able to move around on their own by the second day after the operation. And, as long as their job doesn’t entail heavy lifting, they should be able to return to work within a week.

Liposuction — It depends on the number of areas treated, but most can get around on their own by the second day. And they resume normal activities within a week.

Tummy tuck — Most will need three of four days before they’re comfortable walking around without help. The recovery is almost identical to a C-section.

Facelift — Many are usually out of bed by the second day, but it could take up to a week before they’re comfortable venturing outside and two weeks before returning to work.

Keep in mind, these estimates only really cover the most immediate phases of a patient’s recuperation. Comfortably moving around the house is very different from returning to even modest exercise. In fact, you’ll want to avoid any vigorous activity during the first two weeks to minimize the risks of bleeding, swelling, and bruising.

In the case of a facelift, for example, most of the stitches are usually removed between days four and 14. But there may still be some mild swelling and numbness for several weeks, or even longer. So, even if you do feel ready to do more, error on the side of caution and allow your body the rest it needs to fully recover.