Plastic surgery procedures have been on the upswing over the past year. Whereas you might think that periods of social distancing and relative lockdown might lead to a decrease in beauty treatments, the opposite has happened. People have become more interested in procedures that will help them look and feel their best for two primary reasons. One is that many people are seeing themselves on camera on a daily basis due to the prevalence of remote-working. The other is that there is more opportunity to recover comfortably without feeling rushed to get back to life as usual. 

It doesn’t matter what type of plastic surgery you are thinking of having done. All plastic surgery involves incisions and some type of tissue disruption. While you may want to know details like how much discomfort you may feel after your procedure (Not much! You’ll have prescription medication to manage!), we’ve got a few tidbits that you really need to know if you want your recovery to go as smoothly as possible. Follow these tips and your body will thank you. 

Rest

It’s obvious that you’d need a little more rest than usual after having surgery, right? We think so, too! However, we’ve come to realize that it is incredibly difficult for most people to take advantage of their time off. Rest after plastic surgery looks like a lot of sleep, and that can be harder than you imagine. We’re not taught to prioritize sleep, nor do we put much stock in the value of just lying around when we feel like it. Before plastic surgery, you may get by with 7 to 8 hours of sleep. For a week or two after your procedure, your body may demand more like 10. Even with that, you may find yourself wanting a nap sometime during the day. We cannot stress enough how important this is to the healing process. It is when we sleep that the body produces healing chemicals. Keep that in mind if you feel the urge to push through moments of fatigue. 

Mobility

Rest and mobility go hand in hand to produce a healed, regenerated body. Your post-operative instructions will probably include at least a few physical limitations. You will be advised not to strain to lift heavy objects and to avoid elevating your heart rate too much. However, you need to move your body a little bit every day. Short walks become a little longer day by day and each walk helps maintain the adequate blood circulation that is needed to prevent blood clots. A good rule of thumb is to avoid “pushing it” with the walking but to do what you can within comfortable parameters.

The recovery period is the aspect of plastic surgery that patients often feel the most nervous about. You need not feel stress during recovery. Our team is here to see you through! Schedule your plastic surgery consultation with Cincinnati surgeon Dr. Donna Krummen at 513.985.0850.

Just like there are trends in fashion, hair, and makeup, we have seen trends in plastic surgery come and go. For some time, it was trendy to have very large breasts; as in breasts so large that they looked fake. Now, we have an increasing number of women removing their breast implants altogether. A few years ago, the trend was the bubble-butt or the Booty Boom. A few years before that, everyone wanted “Kylie lips.” What is important to understand about trends is that they come and go. That’s just how trends work. When considering something as significant as plastic surgery, there are many things to consider. We discuss them here.

There is No Ideal Body Type

Since the dawn of the 20th Century alone, we witnessed several different body types take the limelight. Early in the 1900s, what was called the “Gibson Girl” was the ideal. This body type was created by corsets, not by Mother Nature. In the 1920s, all women wanted to look like the Flapper, with virtually no curves. By the 1950s, it was the hourglass figure a-la Elizabeth Taylor that garnered all the attention. Just a decade later, though, society was in love with the waiflike stick-thin figure.

The point to understand here is that trends may affect your fashion choices but should not affect how you feel about your body. Your body type is determined by your genetic code. There is little control over this. There is some degree of control, though, over the smaller details, such as how tight the abdominal muscles are and how shapely the breasts are. Some of the things we can control don’t even require plastic surgery. A healthy lifestyle may be highly successful at maintaining a relatively thin frame and toned muscles.

Where Plastic Surgery Comes In

Plastic surgery can help refine various parts of the body. Various procedures that are popular include those that correct the signs of aging, that sculpt the body after pregnancy or weight loss, and that enhance features that are naturally small, such as the breasts.

What is necessary for plastic surgery to be successful is that it bring more harmony to the face or body. Undergoing plastic surgery to achieve the current “ideal” could lead to dissatisfaction or even self-consciousness within just a few years. We want to empower our patients to know that they, not societal trends, determine what is ideal for them. When plastic surgery is approached from this perspective, it can lead to years of heightened self-confidence.

Explore your options for facial or body enhancement with us. Call 513.985.0850 to schedule an appointment with board-certified female plastic surgeon Dr. Donna Krummen in our Cincinnati office.

Do you catch yourself raising your eyebrows because you feel the heaviness of your upper eyelids? Do you rely on pushup bras to give you the shape you want? There are so many strategies that people use to make themselves look a certain way that we couldn’t possibly list them all. The desire to change something about one’s appearance is not uncommon. Nearly 2 million plastic surgery procedures were performed last year alone, with another 16-plus million minimally invasive treatments topping off cosmetic services. As common as plastic surgery has become in the past several years, there are still false ideas about turning to surgery that keep people from achieving their desired goal of feeling great about how they look. We discuss two here.

“I should love my body as it is.”

If you’ve talked with someone you love about your cosmetic concerns, you may have received a response like this: “you look great just the way you are!” There is nothing wrong with this input, but it isn’t necessarily helpful, either. Plastic surgery is something that each person does for themselves and is not an indication that they don’t love their body; it means only that they wish to improve it. We often improve things that we already love and, in most cases, it makes us love them that much more! The body is no different.

Plastic surgery is the easy way out.

This is a relatively common idea about plastic surgery, especially in the U.S. In other countries, such as Brazil, it is not frowned upon for a person to have a facelift, breast augmentation, butt lift surgery, or other procedures. What this tells us is that the idea that plastic surgery is an easy way out of cosmetic concerns is learned. If you’ve wanted plastic surgery but have hesitated to consult with a plastic surgeon because you worry someone will think you’ve taken the easy way out, consider why you may think this. Having cosmetic treatment is a very personal decision and is often the choice that people make because the many steps they’ve taken to resolve their concerns haven’t provided them with the results they’ve wanted.

You deserve to look and feel your best, and we can help. Call our Cincinnati office at 513.985.0850 to schedule your consultation with Dr. Krummen.

Summertime is now behind us and, in years past, this has meant an increase in the number of plastic surgery procedures being performed. It makes sense! After summer is over, the kids are back in school and there are no trips on the books, at least until the holidays. We can safely say that this year is not like any other. The summer break that we tend to look forward to began in the springtime when the world hit a virtual standstill. What we may have all imagined would be a few weeks has turned into months of social distancing and staying in more often. Interestingly, this has coincided with an early start to that increase in plastic surgeries.

Have you been considering having a cosmetic procedure to address certain concerns? Many people were in that boat before COVID-19 lockdowns began. Since that time, the attendance at virtual meetings rather than in-person boardroom meetings has provided people with quite the opportunity to see themselves on screen. Many of them aren’t loving what they meet. Whether you’ve been interested in a body-contouring procedure or facial rejuvenation, now is a great time for plastic surgery. Here’s why.

The New Work Model has Advantages for Recovery

One of the primary ways that experts have tried to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus has been to mandate closures of nonessential businesses. This has led to a massive shift in our normal work model. Instead of going to the office every day, a large percentage of workers are logging on to their computers. What this may do for the person who wants plastic surgery is allow them to return to work sooner. When all that’s necessary is to log on or make phone calls, patients need only wait until they are no longer taking prescription pain medication and are feeling less of a need to rest to get back to their normal workday.

The New Social Norm is Beneficial for Facial Healing

Face and neck lifts are two of the most popular procedures at this time. We can thank all those virtual meetings and Zoom calls for that! Typically, the downtime a person takes after having one of these procedures is no less than 2 weeks. Swelling and bruising are expected side effects, and these can be noticeable even after soreness and tenderness have nearly resolved. Being that the new social norm is to wear a facemask when going out, the residual side effects of a face or neck life are much easier to conceal.

The world has changed significantly in recent months, and may not look the same as it used to once we are on the other side of the COVID-19 era. Why should you look the same? If you’re ready for a refresher for your face or body, give us a call at 513.985.0850. We’d love to help you look and feel your best!

Patients often come into the plastic surgery office with a long list of questions. Beneath them all, though, there are only a few. One of them is what they can expect after their chosen procedure. The recovery process is sometimes what causes the most stress for potential patients. We can understand this; no one likes the idea of being down with discomfort or at risk of complications from a surgery that they want to have. Here, we want to shed a bit of light on the important matter of recovery.

Going Home After Surgery

The initial recovery in the surgical center or hospital can feel cozy. When the time comes to go home, many patients have mixed feelings. The idea of home and all of its comforts sounds good, but leaving the medical personnel behind can feel somewhat stressful. Don’t worry. We will have discussed every important detail about going home after surgery with your before your procedure. Your prescribed medications will have been filled (fill them before your surgery day!), and you should have a friend or loved on at home to look after you for a few days. Also, know that we are only a phone call away.

Post- Op Instructions

Post-op instructions are provided before the day of surgery. They are reviewed and should be reviewed again at home with whoever will be providing home care assistance. Your doctor’s instructions are very clear and should be strictly followed. These are not suggestions on how to sail through recovery; they are instructions intended to help you avoid unnecessary stress and potential complications of your recovery. The instructions that are provided to you will focus on your particular needs based on the procedure you have had.

The Recovery Process

If you’re considering plastic surgery, you probably want to know how long you will be sidelined from your normal activities. How long will it be before you can walk? When will you be able to go back to work? To the gym? These are all understandable questions, and the answers are different for everyone.

There are several factors involved in how long it takes any individual to recover from surgery. One is age; one is general health and lifestyle habits. The procedure that is performed also dictates to some extent the process of resuming normal activities.

Schedule a Consultation

Patients of our Cincinnati office are provided with personal care that answers questions and prepares them for each aspect of cosmetic treatment. To schedule your visit with Dr. Krummen, call 513.985.0850.