• One week before surgery, you should avoid taking aspirin. Vitamin E and omega -3.
• If patient is a smoker you should stop smoking at least 15 days before surgery and if you are an occasional smoke one week before.
• If it is a corporal surgery it would be ideal to increase your food intake containing iron such as: sugar beet, liver, spleen, spinach, blackberry and strawberry.
• Take Vitamin C (tablets of 1000 mg) three times per day with the meals one week before as it helps the cicatrization process.
• If you are having a surgery to reduce measurements, it is advisable to have a healthy food diet before surgery and do not increase carbohydrates ingest as this not only increases your weight but also promotes liquids retention.

Like any surgery there are risks that change depending on the procedure and shall be discussed with the surgeon before the surgery.

In general, aesthetics surgeries are less risky than any other surgeries as it is being working with healthy patients, with no disease or if they have it, they shall be completely compensated. To be sure about it, the patient shall perform some pre-surgical tests and be assessed by the anesthesiologist who finally shall give the authorization for the surgery performance.
Besides, the specialized aesthetic surgical centers count with several preventive technologies that also help to avoid complications.

The best before any surgery is to have a good communication with your surgeon and anesthesiologist to feel at ease before the procedure.

In recent times, anesthesia has advanced in a very important way that those complications that we all feared before, in this moment are preventable and easily handled.

In plastic surgery anesthesiologists use the most advanced medicaments and last monitoring equipment to assure a very good surgical environment and a satisfactory postoperative. Most anesthetics used in this moment are IV, which are placed in the vein to assure its rapid elimination and decrease the risk of going deep into the patient or to have side effects on his/her awakening. Additionally, effects such as vomit and dizziness also are controlled by the anesthesiologist, as well as postoperative pain management.

Above all, the most important issue is a complete assessment from the anesthesiologist to assure a good medical condition for the procedure.

Slight pains in postoperative depends on each procedure. Some only experience discomfort like nose or eyelids surgery and others are a little bit more painful like liposuction or breasts or buttocks implants surgery, but using current analgesics and advance pain management that anesthesiologists dedicated to aesthetic surgery have all are completely controllable.

On the other hand, for those patients presenting a lower pain threshold exist a pain management plan during the following 24 or 48 hours that use permanent pain control pumps supervised by nurses and anesthesiologists. There is an additional cost to the traditional package.

Depends on each surgery, some only requires few days to one week like nose, eyelids, and cheeks surgeries, small liposuctions, breast augmentation, eyebrows lift and chin. Others require at least two weeks such as: lipectomy and mini-lipectomy, breast reduction or breast lift, buttocks implants, facial rejuvenescence, big liposuctions.

It is important to clarify with the surgeon the necessary time for your recovery to avoid undesired complications and achieve optimal results.

In general you should have a soft diet, taking into account the following:

• Liquids ingest shall be increased (in liposuctions we recommend to take Gatorade as it helps you to recover potassium levels)
• Avoid acids on the first days
• Do not drink dairy products the first two days
• Avoid fats
• Increase your food consumption rich in iron such as liver, spleen, blackberry and strawberry, sugar beet and spinach.
• It is important to eat every 3 hours even small portions. Remember this is the only way you shall recover the energy lost.

Usually, the patient can exercise again the following month of the surgery when the first phase reducing inflammation has been completed. You shall start very gentle, ideally with cardiovascular exercises during 15 to 20 minutes the first days and then increase intensity and time the following days.

There are some additional restrictions:

• In breast augmentation surgery (if implants are retromuscular) you should not exercise as it can compromise your bust, arms or back until three months from the surgery.
• In patients with lipectomy or mini-lipectomy you should not perform abs until you have completed three months of the surgery.

From the first week most patients can drive again. There are restrictions for two weeks for patients with lipectomy and breast reduction or lifting surgeries.

From the first month of surgery, as long as the patient does not have any bruise or residual pigmentation as these zones could stain with the sun. We recommend placing two layers of micropore over the scars. These cares shall be taken during the first 6 months, ideally, during the first complete year.

It would be ideal from the sixth month of the postpartum as it is important to wait for a proper retraction and reaccommodation of the tissues, preferably should not be breastfeeding and had lost most part of the weight gained during her pregnancy.

During those first months we recommend to have a healthy diet; do some type of exercise; use bandeau postpartum; moisturize quite well your skin; and take a lot of water (8 glasses of water per day).

Certain parameters should be considered to make the right decision:

• Take chest measurements (note the width).
• Breast base and height measurements.
• Breast characteristics, like skin elasticity, size of the gland, position (if drooping), and nipple shape.
• Patient’s height.
• What the patient wants.

This is one of the most important topics for me to define with patients, since many come to my surgery after being operated on by other surgeons, and are unhappy with the size of their breasts. So this is why I like to spend sufficient time to understand exactly what the patient wants, how she imagines herself, how she would like to see herself, as patients sometimes tell me: “I’d like small implants”, then when I have them show me what they mean, I realize they’re what I’d classify as large. This is why it has to be crystal clear what the patient’s image is in comparison to reality.

The important thing is for size not to be defined by the surgeon’s tastes or tendencies. I’ve listened to patients who say: “that doctor likes to insert large implants” and therein lies the dissatisfaction of some patients, where the only person satisfied is the surgeon who inserted the implants.

Some of the tools I use to determine the size to be inserted after taking all the measurements and knowing the parameters within which the patient is going to feel good with, are: analyzing the photos of other patients I’ve operated on together with the prospective patient, as well as her analyzing some magazine photos to find out her preferences; it’s important to warn her that what we’re looking for is for to have an idea of the result and that she can’t expect it to be identical to photo, because each woman has completely different conditions so it’s impossible to obtain identical results.

Some patients prefer using measuring implants within a bra cup to get an idea; and while it helps, it’s important to remember that the measuring implant used is going to be much smaller than the actual implant which is inserted below all the tissues.