More people take some multi-vitamin or herbal supplement, but very few think to disclose their vitamins to their doctor and anesthesiologist before their surgery. After all, they’re just vitamins. They don’t count as a medication, right? Wrong!
You may not have given much thought to this but herbs, and products that contain them, are packaged as nutritional supplements and will not provide warnings, dosage information, or suggested usage instructions. As a result, many people incorrectly assume that “natural” medicines are inherently safer than pharmaceutical drugs.
This is not only untrue; it’s an assumption that can be dangerous if a person is facing any surgery, whether it’s plastic surgery or not. Many people planning plastic surgery fail to disclose their herbal supplement use out of fear of being ridiculed by their doctor. (Who would think that licorice could be dangerous?) The fact is, your doctors want and need to know what you are taking to ensure your safe recovery.
Below is a list of some commonly taken supplements that can interfere with your plastic surgery. How? Some cause post-surgical bleeding, worsen Inflammation, raise blood pressure, or alter your sugar levels. The best advice is to quit all herbal supplements three weeks before your plastic surgery procedure. If in doubt, don’t take it.
Herbs and Vitamins That Can Interfere with Plastic Surgery (and all other surgeries too!)
Any Diet Pills or herb blends designed to control appetite
Aspirin, Motrin, Advil or other blood thinners
Vitamin E
Chromium
Garlic
Ginger
Ginkgo
Goldenseal
Flaxseed
Fish oil
Echinacea
Licorice
Saw Palmetto
Ephedra
Ginseng
Feverfew
Kava-Kava
St. John’s Wort
Valerian Root
There are some recommended vitamins for plastic surgery, as well as some herbal supplements that can aid post-surgical healing and reduce bruising. This is what we prescribe.
Vitamins for Plastic Surgery: Start three weeks before your procedure
Medical-Grade Probiotics help minimize constipation, which is one of the most common side-effects of taking pain medication after surgery. New research is showing that not only do Probiotics improve intestinal health, but they also may help boost the immune system. We are now recommending that our patients start on medical-grade probiotics at the same time they start their clinical vitamins. $40Buy Now
Arnica or Bromelain, depending on the procedure, to help minimize bruising, swelling, muscle aches, and soreness. (One is included in your surgical recovery kit, which you get at your pre-op appointment. Don’t take if you are lactose intolerant.) Buy Now
Body lift patients start Vitron C to address nutritional deficiencies after gastric bypass surgery. (This is available in our office for your convenience.)
Medical Vitamins for Plastic Surgery
All the vitamins we carry in our store are from Vitamedica. This company only uses pharmaceutical-grade ingredients, as opposed to the “dietary supplement” ingredients and labs you find on the shelves of your grocery store. These drug standards have a higher level of scrutiny compared with those used in the dietary supplement industry. The FDA routinely inspects each of its facilities. If you are interested, we have a document on file which certifies their authenticity.
Since inception, all of their products, including the vitamins for plastic surgery, have been made in two facilities that are licensed to produce drugs, using manufacturing practices that parallel those adopted by the drug industry. That’s why we offer their products to our patients.
Many of our patients liked their surgical vitamins so much that they asked us how to get more of Vitamedica’s vitamins after their surgery. So we decided to carry their line of everyday vitamins. In our online store, we also have:
Download our new eBook with 40-pages of everything you need to know about planning your plastic surgery and recovery.
In the Plastic Surgery Planner, we drill down into the nitty-gritty of how to prepare for your plastic surgery, and what to do to recover well and quickly. These are best practices that we have learned throughout the years, mainly by listening to our patients, but also in some cases, by having the procedures done ourselves. Plastic Surgery PlannerTips to Manage a Speedy RecoveryDownload Now
Whether you have your surgery with Dr. Reath or another Board-certified plastic surgeon, you’ll find these pages super-helpful.
The Latest Plastic Surgery Recovery Posts from Dr. Reath's Blog
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My Top 10 Most Important Blog Posts (So Far)
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If you have breast implants or have been thinking about breast implants, you may have heard some chatter regarding something called Breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma, otherwise known as BIA-ALCL, or simply ALCL. With a name like this, it sounds pretty scary and may well raise some questions about whether this is something that … Read more »
