Preparing for surgery & Postoperative instructions

Preparing for surgery is an important part of your treatment. Following the pre-operative instructions allows for faster recovery from the operation and reduces the risk of complications. Here are our general guidelines and if necessary, the surgeon will give you additional recommendations.

  1. There should be no acute (respiratory or other) viral disease, active inflammations, acute allergic reaction, fever, etc. when coming to the operation. Please inform the surgeon about your concomitant diseases and other health related information during the pre-operative consultation. Please inform the clinic immediately of any new health concerns that arise while waiting for the surgery.
  2. For safe general anesthesia, the stomach needs to be empty. Therefore, it is not recommended to eat solid foods or drink opaque liquids (e.g. milk, juice) 6 hours before the operation. Clear liquids such as water, black coffee, tea or apple juice are allowed up to 2 hours before surgery.
  3. Please take your prescribed medication regularly until the day of surgery (unless the consulting doctor has not recommended otherwise). You can take your medication no later than 2 hours before surgery with a small sip of water.
  4. Provide a list of all prescription and over-the-counter medications, supplements, and vitamins you take and take your regular medication with you to the hospital.
  5. The use of blood thinners (including aspirin) must be stopped before surgery (usually 2-5 days depending on the medicine), as they increase the risk of bleeding. Oral medications may be replaced by injectables if necessary, your surgeon will provide the information.
  6. Smoking impairs wound healing and increases the risk of bleeding. We recommend that you stop smoking well before the operation. Do not smoke on the day of surgery.
  7. We recommend giving the blood tests 1-2 weeks before the operation, in order to evaluate them and, if necessary, plan additional examinations or treatment.
  8. If you have had unpleasant experiences with previous anesthesia (e.g. severe nausea and vomiting), please tell your surgeon and anesthesiologist before the operation.
  9. Driving a motor vehicle is not allowed for 24 hours after anesthesia. If necessary, ask a family member or a friend to drive you home or use taxi/public transport.
  10. Female patients of fertile age, please make sure that you are not pregnant on the day of surgery. If needed, we recommend taking a home pregnancy test before coming to the hospital.
  11. Please remove jewelry and all body piercings before surgery. We recommend leaving jewellery and valuables at home. If the jewellery cannot be removed, the operation will not be canceled, but be sure to inform your surgeon about this. Also remove removable dentures.
  12. Bring your personal hygiene products with you. We recommend bringing comfortable clothes for the ride home.
  13. We advise you to take a shower on the morning of surgery.
  14. Please do not use make-up, perfume or creams/lotions on the day of surgery.
  15. Long hair should be tied up for the surgery.
  1. Remove glasses and contact lenses before the surgery.
  2. If you use a CPAP mask for sleep apnea, bring it with you to the hospital.

After surgery

After the operation, you will stay in the recovery room for 1-2 hours. Common post-operative discomforts are pain, nausea, fatigue and thirst. The level of the pain depends on the complexity of the operation, the size of the wound and the individual pain threshold. There is no need to suffer pain, we encourage you to inform the recovery ward nurse of your discomforts. The nurse will provide you medicines to relieve both pain and nausea.

From the recovery room, you will move to the surgical ward, where you will stay for 2-3 hours. When you arrive at the ward, we will offer you a light meal and you can safely recover under the supervision of our staff. When you leave the hospital, you will receive instructions for home treatment and wound care.

We recommend moderate physical activity on the day of surgery. This speeds up recovery from surgery and reduces the risk of complications.

You are not allowed to drive a motor vehicle within 24 hours after general anesthesia, as your reaction speed has slowed down. Therefore, we kindly ask you to invite a family member or a friend to pick you up from the clinic or use a taxi.

At home

Some exhaustion and pain after surgery is to be expected. We recommend moving around as much as possible. You should shower 24 hours after the operation (if wound strips are on the wound, leave them on and gently pat dry after the shower with clean gauze!). Many patients return to non-physical work in 1-2 days. We recommend waiting 2 weeks before going to the sauna, swimming or having a bath.

We recommend you resume physical work and muscle training after 3 weeks from the surgery.

Wound dressings should be changed daily on three first postoperative days, after that, usually no dressing is needed. We recommend dressing the wound after showering. The sutures are absorbable and intradermal and here is no need to remove them. More detailed recommendations for wound care will be given to you after surgery when leaving the hospital.

Moderate physical activity contributes to the body’s recovery and reduces the risk of complications.

NB! After cholecystectomy (removal of the gallbladder), we also provide nutritional recommendations.

NB! After thyroid surgery, observe the surgical wound and the neck area. If it swells and/or hardens, it may indicate bleeding from the surgical wound. In this case, call an ambulance or have a family member take you to the nearest emergency ward to rule out bleeding and need for intervention. A hematoma inside the wound can compress the trachea and cause suffocation.

If you have any questions, please contact us!

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