3 Tips For Successfully Recovering From Skin Cancer Surgery

Health & Medical Blog

While it is very important that your skin cancer surgery goes well, it is equally as important that your recovery process is also successful. This article will discuss 3 tips for successfully recovering from skin cancer surgery. 

Keep Your Wound Dry For The First Day 

On the first day of your surgery, you are going to need to make sure that you keep your wound dry. This is beneficial to recovery for a few different reasons. The most important reason to avoid getting it wet is to avoid the risk of infection. Another important reason to avoid getting it wet is to avoid the need to remove the bandage. Keeping the bandage in place is going to ensure that the wound has the proper amount of pressure that it needs initially to avoid causing the site to bleed too much and to promote the clotting of blood. 

Avoid Physical Activity

Another important thing that can help you to have not only a successful, but also a safe, recovery process is to limit the amount of physical activity that you perform. For example, you should not work out the first few days after having your skin cancer surgery because this can increase blood flow to the surgical site. You will also be advised to avoid lifting any heavy objects because this can also cause your blood flow to increase and may cause unnecessary strain on the incision site. This increased blood flow can cause your wounds to bleed excessively, and it may even cause them to burst open. In either case, this is going to greatly increase the risk of having your wound take much longer to fully heal for you. Resting as much as you can for the first few days after surgery is going to be ideal for you.

Apply A Cold Compress

It is normal for swelling and redness to occur where the skin cancer was removed, but there are some things that you can do to reduce this swelling. One thing that your doctor might recommend is to use a cold compress on the wound in order to help relieve it. The coldness of the cold compress is going to do an excellent job of reducing the swelling in your skin and is also going to relieve some of the pain and pressure that you are feeling in this area. Just keep in mind that you are only going to want to put the cold compress on your skin for short intervals of time, take it off for about an hour or so, and the put the cold compress on again. This allows the cold compress to be effective without making your skin too cold. 

For more information, contact a doctor at a location such as Countryside Dermatology & Laser Center.

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29 November 2016

Help Others Make Health Decisions when They Cannot

One day I was playing a game of basketball with a friend, and the friend I was playing ball with tripped and took a hard fall to the ground. He hit his head hard, but he insisted he was okay and just wanted to go home and take a nap. I knew in my heart that he was not thinking clearly, and I didn't feel right letting him go home. I talked him into letting me take him to the hospital, and after some tests, it was determined he had a bad concussion. The doctors told me that if I had let him go home and sleep, things could have taken a turn for the worse. I created this blog to remind everyone to look out for each other after injuries. Not everyone thinks clearly after a head injury, and just being a good friend could save a life.