Your written discharge plan comes first. These instructions must be tailored to your treatment and medical history. For combined procedures, ask the team for one coordinated plan; do not choose between conflicting instructions yourself.
What to expect.
Your operation and health history determine your discharge plan. Keep it accessible and ask your caregiver to read it too.
Your care plan.
- After general anesthesia or sedation, have a responsible adult take you home and stay with you for at least the first 24 hours, or longer if directed. Do not drive, drink alcohol, operate machinery, or make important decisions during the restricted period.
- Take medications only as prescribed. Avoid combining opioid pain medicines with alcohol, sleep medicines, or other sedating drugs unless your prescriber specifically directs it.
- Take short walks regularly, with assistance if lightheaded. Use prescribed clot-prevention medicines or devices; do not start aspirin or anticoagulants on your own.
- Eat small meals as tolerated, include protein, and drink fluids unless you have a prescribed fluid limit. Contact the team if vomiting prevents you from keeping fluids down.
- Ask for your bowel-care plan if opioids cause constipation. Do not use an enema routinely; call for severe abdominal pain, vomiting, or persistent constipation.
- Avoid smoking and vaping. Discuss nicotine products and cessation support with the surgeon because wound healing can be affected.
Activity & recovery.
- Resume driving only when no longer impaired by medicines and you can safely steer, react, and brake, with surgeon clearance.
- Work, exercise, sex, lifting, swimming, and travel require individual guidance. Feeling better is not the same as a healed repair.
When to call.
Chest pain, trouble breathing, collapse, stroke symptoms, or sudden loss of vision need immediate emergency care. Do not wait for an office reply or use an online form.
Contact your care team promptly
- Call for fever or chills, spreading redness, worsening pain, pus, wound separation, persistent vomiting, or inability to urinate.
- A newly painful or swollen calf needs urgent assessment. Do not massage the leg.
- Report fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher, spreading redness, pus, worsening pain, persistent vomiting, or inability to keep fluids down. Call sooner if you feel seriously unwell, even without a fever.
- New one-sided calf pain or swelling needs urgent medical assessment. If you also have chest pain or shortness of breath, call 911.
Call 615.730.7500. After hours, follow the urgent-contact directions on your discharge paperwork. If you cannot reach the team and symptoms are urgent, seek immediate medical care.
Stay connected.
Keep your scheduled follow-up and ask the team when to send an update or return sooner. Confirm any dressing, stitch, or drain removal with the office. Return to exercise, work, travel, and skin-care products should follow your individual clearance plan.
Before leaving your appointment, make sure you know your next visit date, medication plan, and after-hours contact instructions.
Sources & References
External references open in a new tab. Your care guide will stay open here.
- ASPS: tummy tuck recovery
- American Academy of Dermatology: wound and scar care
- American Society of Anesthesiologists: surgery preparation
- American College of Surgeons: medication and surgery
These references provide general information. Follow your care team’s procedure-specific instructions and personal discharge plan.