You’ve been anticipating your upcoming cosmetic surgical procedure for months. You’ve finally got your time off from work, arranged for child care while you are recovering, made all the necessary appointments with your primary care doctors, got all the lab work done. Everything looks ready to go!

Then, two or three days prior to surgery, you develop a rash underneath your breasts before your reduction procedure, or nicked your thigh with your razor before your thigh lift. Now you are worried that you may need to cancel your surgery and reschedule everything.

First, you should absolutely make an appointment to see Dr. Pin so he can assess that rash, wound, or infection. Read further to help determine what needs to be done to get you back on track for your surgery.

Is Your Rash Local or Systemic?

One of the most important distinctions to make is if your rash is local or systemic. This sort of rash is common in areas of the body where there are skin folds that rub against one another to cause friction.

A good example of a local rash, as alluded to in the first paragraph, would be something that develops in your inframammary crease (the area where the underside of your breast meets your chest wall), but does not spread elsewhere. It happens often among women who have overly large breasts, or breasts that have sagged or drooped, because it is difficult to keep that area dry.

If the rash has not spread to other parts of your body or become infected, there is a good chance that your breast reduction or breast lift surgery will be able to go ahead as planned.

On the other hand, your rash may be systemic if it has spread beyond just the inframammary crease of your breasts; is red, warm, or tender to the touch; or appears to be scabbed or crusted over. If this is the case, you will most likely have your surgery rescheduled at a later date, after your infection has cleared up.

Catching Infections before They Spread

Similar to rashes, it’s best to also catch infections from skin wounds before they can spread, lest you run the risk of having to cancel your upcoming surgery. Going back to the examples from the first paragraph, a nick from a razor blade or an acne outbreak may seem minor, but if you do not treat them right away, bacteria can spread, which may lengthen the time it takes for your incisions to heal.

A nick from a razor should be treated right away with peroxide, and then covered with an adhesive bandage until the bleeding stops. You can then use an antibacterial cream once the wound is not bleeding. Watch for any redness radiating out from the wound site, particularly if it gets bigger, redder, or starts to develop streaks that radiate out from the initial wound site.

Dr. Pin understands that you have done a great deal of advanced planning in order to prepare for your surgery. However, in order for you to get the best possible results, it is vital that there not be any risk of infection before, during, or after the procedure. This is why it is always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to skin rashes or wounds.