The holiday season can be a great time to schedule cosmetic surgeries. Many people have pre-planned time off from work that they can use to recover. Plus, friends and family tend to be close by and more available, so you may have an easier time finding someone to drive you to appointments. And that’s not to mention the mental and emotional reasons to schedule your surgery in the winter season. January is a time of new beginnings, and what better way to start the year than with a more confident, self-actualized version of yourself?
Of course, scheduling cosmetic surgery during the holidays is not without its challenges. There are parties and gatherings to plan around, traditions to consider, and minor scheduling caveats – like making sure you pick up your prescriptions before the pharmacy closes early! The good news is that all of these challenges are very manageable, and we have plenty of holiday cosmetic surgery planning tips to make your experience as smooth and rewarding as possible.
Schedule Consultations Early
If you’re considering having cosmetic surgery this holiday season, don’t wait until late December to schedule your consultation. Schedule it now. This way, if you do decide to go ahead with the procedure, your surgical team will have more flexibility to accommodate your schedule. You’ll be better able to pick a day that coordinates with your family’s availability and gives you enough time to recover before any important events.
Remember, a consultation is not a commitment. If you’re still on the fence as to whether or not you want a certain procedure, scheduling a consultation is one of the best steps you can take. It gives you an opportunity to ask an experienced practitioner questions. You’ll get a better sense of how the procedure fits your specific needs, which isn’t something you can really get simply by searching the internet and looking at photos.
At the Florida Center for Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery, we don’t use consultations to “sell” you a surgery. We use them to get a better sense of your unique needs and goals, give customized suggestions, and explore alternatives. If you want to fit a certain procedure into your holiday season, we’ll help find a way to make that happen. You’ll be surprised how many holiday recovery tips cosmetic surgery professionals have “up their sleeves.” And if you decide to wait – or even not to pursue surgery at all – that’s okay, too!
Understand Recovery Timelines
There are a couple of points about recovery that are important to understand before planning plastic surgery holidays.
First, note that recovery comes in stages. When someone says that it takes, for example, two months to recover from a procedure, that doesn’t mean you’ll be held up in bed for two months. More likely, you’ll spend a few days resting in bed, a couple of weeks slowly easing your way back into your normal routine, and then a couple more weeks with light limitations imposed out of caution. Keep this in mind during the holidays. You can probably attend that party scheduled a few weeks after your surgery, even if you’re technically still “in recovery.”
Second, note that recovery times vary widely between procedures. There’s a common misunderstanding that all cosmetic surgery comes with a long recovery period, and that’s not really true. Many facelift patients, for example, have fully recovered within four weeks – and they can resume most activities long before that. Similarly, breast augmentation patients often recover in just over a month, and they tend to feel pretty “normal” after a week or so. These are two of our most popular procedures, and they’re pretty easy to schedule around the holidays if you have a week or two off from work to recover.
If you are considering a procedure with a somewhat longer recovery period, like a tummy tuck, be sure to have a conversation with your surgeon. Recovery timelines for more intensive procedures are more variable. Based on your own health and the extent of your procedure, your surgeon can give you a more specific look at what you’ll be capable of a week, a month, and two months after your surgery. With this custom timeline in hand, you can make a more informed decision as to whether having surgery around the holidays will work for you.
Be Transparent With Friends & Family
Historically, there has been a certain judgmental stigma attached to cosmetic surgeries. Sometimes, fear of this stigma causes patients to hide their cosmetic surgeries from friends and family members. Now, we won’t claim to know your whole family, and you might have someone who feels a certain way about your choice to have a facelift. But we will say this: in most cases, the fear of negative perception is far greater than the negative perception itself.
Many of our patients have been caught off guard by just how positively their friends and family members react to their decision to pursue cosmetic surgery. That’s likely because society’s views of plastic surgery are changing. More and more, people are realizing that cosmetic surgery has benefits far beyond aesthetics. It boosts confidence, helps you feel like a more authentic and actualized version of yourself, and the results can help ease little anxieties that have held you back for years! For these reasons, we suggest being transparent with your friends and family, especially if you’re thinking of scheduling your surgery around the holidays.
Being transparent will mean fewer shocked looks when you walk through the door to a party. It will mean fewer probing questions from distant relatives and old friends. And it will also give people more of an opportunity to be there for you as you take this big step. You may be pleasantly surprised by who steps up and offers to take care of your holiday decorating so you can rest and recover, or who offers to drive you to your post-op checkup because they’re going to be in town that day for an event.
Here are a few specific ways you can ask friends and family to support you as you recover throughout the holiday season:
- Host gatherings that you would typically host.
- Bring healthy, nourishing dishes that fit into your post-op eating plans.
- Prioritize more subdued activities, like decorating cookies, over more intensive activities, like holiday 5k runs. This way, you can participate.
- Keep parties and meals a little shorter to allow you more time for rest.
- Maintain a casual dress code. Who says you can’t wear comfy PJs to a holiday meal?
Simplify, Don’t Sacrifice
When it comes to scheduling cosmetic procedures, holidays don’t have to go entirely by the wayside. Instead of sacrificing holiday niceties like parties and gifts, we suggest you simplify your traditions to better accommodate your recovery.
For example:
- Instead of hosting a big holiday meal, host a cocktail hour where you provide the drinks and ask each guest to bring an appetizer.
- Forego shopping in person this year, and shop online as you recover in bed.
- Have a friend or family member come over and help with the holiday baking. They can do the more physical tasks while you scoop dough or frost cookies.
- Feel free to “stop by” a party instead of staying all night. Your presence will be appreciated, and you can still get home early to rest.
If you can think of any more creative ways to balance the holidays with recovery, we’d love to hear them. Celebrate all of the seasonal holidays on New Year’s Day, host a virtual caroling session on Zoom instead of going door to door; the possibilities are endless with creativity.
Next year, you can go back to your old traditions if you’d like. But this year, it’s all about preserving the holiday magic while also allowing yourself enough time and space to heal.
Cosmetic surgery during holiday season festivities can work quite well, as long as you plan in advance and let others assist you in recovery. Whether you’re considering a facelift, a tummy tuck, breast augmentation, or a less invasive alternative, schedule your consultation soon. This is a busy time of year, but we’re happy to work with your schedule and create a plan that works for everyone involved.