Minor Procedures & Trauma
[SKIN CANCERS/LUMPS AND BUMPS]
PRE OPERATION
Now that we have met, and gone through what the surgery entails, here are just a few guidelines on the upcoming weeks prior to your surgical day.
1 month prior to surgery:
-Refrain from smoking completely, it impairs healing, can cause stretched, widened, elevated and thickened darker scars, as well as causing skin death.
2 weeks prior to surgery:
-Avoid anything with aspirin, or any flu medication combinations-these contain blood thinning drugs
1 week prior to surgery:
-Stop all over the counter medications including vitamins and avoid anything over 1 unit of alcohol[a glass of wine/ a beer] per night -Stop all health and gym supplements completely -Stop any tea preparations[green tea/health tea] other that the normal varieties. -Avoid anything with aspirin, or any flu medication combinations-these contain blood thinning drugs- This is for 2 weeks prior to surgery.[any other blood thinning medication must be reported to Dr Singh if you happened to omit this on my information/consult form] -Continue taking all other medications
Day of Surgery:
-Anxiety is expected, mixed with excitement, but most importantly, a feeling that you are in the best hands and will be well looked after throughout your whole surgical experience.
-Chat to me about any last minute questions you have, I pride myself in being an approachable person, not just an approachable surgeon. -Don’t eat or drink from the specified time on your admission slip, and come through to the day ward where I will go through things again.
-I will prescribe some meds to take the edge off and get you a bit drowsy before you are wheeled into theatre [this is called a pre-med] I will put up a drip and you will be put off to sleep, I routinely tell my patients that the prick of the drip is the most painful bit of the procedure.
-You will have “twilight anaesthesia” ie you will not have any pipes put down into your lungs, you will be fully in control of your breathing and vitals, and worldwide, this is preferred as there are less fluctuations eg of your blood pressure, no coughing on removing pipes from your lungs with eg full anaesthesia] therefore less chance of swelling.
POST OPERATION:
You will have a few “steri strips” directly over the suture line, and an occlusive dressing[we will supply you with more of these] Persistant bleeding must be reported to me immediately
-I use a specialised cautery device to perform my surgery so bleeding and bruising is minimal. You will be discharged with some painkillers, and anti-inflammatories, and some antibacterial ointment.
The local anaesthesia wears off in approx 3 hours so please take as much meds as you require to alleviate the symptoms Antibiotics are not recommended as apart from the side effects, the type of procedure does not warrant it
-I will however prescribe some if your lesion was offensive, ulcerated or infected. Do not smoke, take any alcohol, or start any over the counter meds or any other of the blood thinners as set out in my preop form.
Do start your chronic meds[besides blood thinners] the day of surgery. When you get home, if I have operated on your legs
-It is of utmost importance that you elevate your legs if you are sitting –for the first 3 days after surgery. In most cases- you may shower normally[you may get the area wet the day after surgery]
-Remove the outer dressing[leave the steristrips on]apply some antibacterial ointment over the steristrips, and reapply an occlusive dressing In most cases- all the stitches are deep and buried so you will not require to have them removed- they will dissolve. If your wound was infected/ulcerated or under tension
- I will remove the stitches 7-10 days after surgery in my rooms[it takes 2 minutes and is not painful If you have had a skin graft
-I will remove the dressings 5 days after surgery- it will look a bit sunken in , purplish or pale, a simple daily antibacterial ointment and occlusive dressing is all that is required, and it can be cleaned in the shower with any antibacterial solution.
The colour and contour does improve and match with surround ing tissue fairly well after approximately 6 weeks. Start gym at 2 weeks and progress as tolerated.
I will see you again in a month, then 3 months post op.