Most patients will have a very good idea at 3 to 4 weeks after surgery of the result they are going to have. While face and body cosmetic surgeries heal differently, with swelling and bruising going away at different times for each type of procedure, 80% to 90% of the final result for most cosmetic procedures is seen at a month after surgery. Certainly any major complications, either medical (e.g., infection) or aesthetic (e.g., asymmetry, uneven, etc), will have surfaced by this time. So your level of happiness should be pretty evident by now. What may have not looked right to you at a week after surgery could look quite different by now in a better way.
The other advantage at being a month out from surgery is that you should be fairly free at this point to do any activity you want. Even in significant body contouring surgeries, the ability to start to get back near normal levels of activities, including light exercise, should now be possible.
Regardless of the type of cosmetic surgery performed, a month out from surgery gives you a pretty good gauge of how you look and feel.
If you are happy with the results, then it is likely you will be even happier as time goes on. Some cosmetic procedures can’t fully be judged until later, such as breast lift (e.g., is the upper pole volume retained?), but most procedures have very lasting effects and some are quite permanent. (e.g., rhinoplasty, breast augmentation) Little areas of swelling, unevenness, or asymmetries will likely get better with time or, even if they are not perfect, may be irrelevant given the overall very positive changes that you have seen.
It is common and a near standard of care practice for your plastic surgeon to want to take photographs after surgery to go with the ones taken prior to surgery. This is always an excellent record to have and is more than a ‘feel good’ record for your plastic surgeon. I have often found it quite striking for the patient to see the comparison of before and after surgery photographs. While every patient has a good memory of what they looked like before, they do not have a good idea of how ‘bad’ the issues were until they see it next to what has been changed. This is both psychologically and financially reassuring that the decision for plastic surgery was a good one
It is also likely that your plastic surgeon may ask if your photographs can be placed in their media communications, most commonly their company website. Do not be offended by this request. The plastic surgeon is proud of your results and wants to share it with other prospective patients. If you remember, you probably looked at their website before surgery to view some procedure results…this is how all those photographs got there! If you prefer not to have your photographs used, simply say so. We are not offended and will gladly respect your wishes.
While longer-term follow-up appointments will be done to check your progress, you are all but over the process at this point. If you are happy with your results now, there is no reason to suspect you won’t be later!
Dr Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana