- You may eat your normal breakfast if your surgery is scheduled in the morning. If your surgery is scheduled in the afternoon, please eat your normal lunch. If you are a diabetic, please bring a snack with you.
- If your surgery is for treatment of skin cancer, you should plan to spend time waiting for laboratory results. Sometimes the surgery can be more extensive than expected and may take a good part of the day. Please be patient and bring some reading material with you.
- Please wear comfortable clothing. We ask that you wear a two-piece outfit since it will be necessary for you to remove your blouse or shirt and put on a gown.
- Due to limited waiting room space, please try to limit family or friends to one or two persons. This will insure your comfort as well as the comfort of other patients who will also be having surgery the same day.
- Please note: If you have a pacemaker or defibrillator, please notify the surgical nurse with you the day of your surgery.
- If you are unable to keep your scheduled appointment for surgery, please contact our office as soon as possible and be sure to specify that you need to reschedule your surgery appointment.
Post Operative Wound Care
1.Supplies
You will need the following:
- Tap Water
- Telfa Dressing and Surgical Tape or Bandaids
- Q-Tips
- Vaseline
2. Wound Care
- Clean wound two times daily beginning 48 hours after surgery.
- Clean wound with Q-Tips soaked in tap water. Do not reuse Q-Tips. Remove all crusted material and any white/yellow material that can come off easily.
- After cleaning, generously apply Vaseline with a clean Q-Tip.
- Cover your wound with the following dressing:
1. Telfa Dressing cut to the size of the wound and then tape or
2. Bandaids
- Continue wound care until stitches are removed or as your doctor directs. If the surgical site is swelling, you may elevate the site and apply an ice pack as long as the bandage stays dry.
3. Personal Hygiene
- In the first 48 hours, showers or baths are allowed if the bandage remains dry. After 48 hours, the sutures may then get wet but do not immerse in bath water. Swimming is not allowed until the sutures are removed. Heavy lifting and exercise are not allowed until the sutures are removed.
4. Prescriptions
Unless the doctor states otherwise, take Extra Strength Tylenol for pain as needed. Alcohol should be avoided for two days.
5. Contact Doctor if the following occurs:
- Bleeding which saturates your dressing (spotting of dressing is expected). To stop bleeding, hold direct pressure over the dressing for 20 minutes and do not remove the dressing.
- Fever greater than 100 degrees F or 38 C.
- Signs of infection, i.e., redness, swelling, foul-smelling drainage, pain or heat.
- Severe nausea and vomiting.
