More and more patients are opting for the convenience of having multiple plastic surgery treatments performed in a single surgical session. This trend involves combining procedures such as abdominoplasty (a tummy tuck), breast reduction, and liposuction after pregnancy, or even pairing a traditional facelift with additional facial enhancements like eyelid surgery. This approach enables patients to tackle multiple aesthetic concerns simultaneously and offers the potential advantage of cost savings on anaesthesia and facility charges.
If you’re considering multiple procedures, it’s important to understand what’s involved so you can plan accordingly.
Here’s what you need to know:
Reasons for Combining Procedures
There are several benefits to having multiple procedures in one session:
Convenience: You only have to take time off work and arrange care once instead of scheduling multiple operations and recoveries.
Cost savings: You can save on surgical centre or hospital fees and anaesthesia costs by having one longer procedure instead of two or more separate ones.
Improved results: Surgeons can often achieve better overall aesthetic results when they do coordinated procedures in one session.
Quicker recovery: Recovering from a series of combined procedures may require more attention and care than recuperating from each surgery individually, but typically, the overall recovery process tends to be quicker when surgeries are done together.
What to Expect
Combining procedures in one surgery does make for a longer, more complex operation. Here are some things you can anticipate:
Longer procedure: Multiple procedures will require more operating room time, which may range from four to eight hours, depending on what you’re having done.
Increased anaesthesia time: Longer procedures mean you’ll be under general anaesthesia for longer, which introduces additional risks that your surgical team will take all necessary precautions to manage these risks effectively.
Potential overnight hospital stay: Depending on the extent of the surgery, you may need to spend one night in the hospital before being discharged the next day. Less complex combinations may still allow you to go home the same day.
Multiple Incisions: Each procedure will require its incisions, though your surgeon may be able to place some of these near each other strategically. For instance, the tummy tuck incision might also be used for liposuction.
Drains and Dressings: It’s common to have surgical drains and dressings in multiple areas following combined procedures while everything heals. This requires keeping track of drain care and dressing changes for various sites.
Limited Mobility After Surgery: Immediately after the surgery, your mobility will be considerably restricted. You’ll likely be confined to bedrest for the first few days, requiring assistance for routine tasks like getting in and out of bed, standing, meal preparation, and restroom use.
Longer recovery period: While combining surgery can shorten your overall recovery versus separate procedures, you’re still looking at around two weeks off from work and 4-6 weeks until you feel back to normal physically.
Consult with Your Surgeon
Before surgery, talking to a board-certified plastic surgeon about the procedures you want to combine is essential. Your surgeon will review your goals and health history and explain any associated risks to help determine if a single session is appropriate in your case.
Following all pre and post-operative instructions closely is crucial for healing properly after multiple cosmetic surgeries. But for the right patient, concurrently having more than one plastic surgery operation can be an effective way to address multiple concerns with one surgery and recovery.
