Let’s Talk About Recovery – Honestly.
You’ve probably seen phrases like “rapid recovery,” “zero downtime,” or “back to work in 24 hours.” we don’t use these words and there’s a reason.
Any time there’s an incision, there is healing. Your body is smart, resilient, and capable but it still needs time to recover.
We believe in setting realistic expectations and that means acknowledging that swelling, bruising, fatigue, or discomfort are normal parts of the healing process and there’s no prize for rushing back to your routine before your body is ready. In fact, honoring the recovery process leads to better results, fewer complications, and a more positive experience overall.
You deserve honesty, not hype.
So no, we won’t say “you’ll be back to work in 24 hours.”
We’ll say: “here’s what your body needs, and we’re here to support you every step of the way.”
WATCH VIDEO: Dr. Salemy Explains What You Need to Know About “Rapid Recovery”
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Hi everybody. It’s Dr Salemy. I wanted to chat a little bit about something we’re seeing a lot these days are posts about rapid recovery surgery. So, what that tends to be is a surgeon saying that you can have an operation with them and then be back to doing essentially most normal activities very quickly, within a day or two days, or something like that. It’s a great idea. We would love for all of our patients to be able to have a super simple operation and have feel like nothing’s happened and get back to normal life. But the reality of it is we can’t control how quickly someone heals. What I mean by that is that there’s a certain process that your body goes through when it comes to healing.
And we’re going to pop up a graph here in this post, but essentially, it takes about six weeks for most of the healing in terms of strength at the incision line to complete. We can’t make that go any faster, and you’ll see that in the graph, the incision gets a little bit weaker, and then it slowly comes up to about 70% of its final strength in about six weeks, give or take. And that’s enough for where you can get back to normal life stuff.
But if you try to do too much too soon, and by that, I mean working out, running, heavy lifting, that kind of thing, you’ll get into some trouble, and that typically involves more surgeries, less than optimal results. So really listen your surgeon. Pick your surgeons carefully.
We’re not trying to make your lives hard by saying you can’t work out, you can’t do this or that. We’re just looking out for you. We want you to have the best possible result.
Feeling good doesn’t always mean you’re fully healed. Surgery is a journey, and even the smoothest recoveries take time. Listen to your body, follow your surgeon’s guidance, and remember, true healing happens beneath the surface.
Thinking about a procedure? Let’s have a real conversation! Call book a consultation or send us a message. We’re here to answer every question, honestly.
