How soon after surgery can you take a shower ?

[Noam]

Weird question, I know, but for some reason it troubles me (hate to look and smell like a mess for days, especially since people will come to visit).

[chicago29]

After my SARPE/MSDO it was 2 full days. It is actually the first thing I did when I got home from the hospital, but I HAD to get that hospital smell off of me.

It sure felt good, but it is also a chore. You're so swollen that you just kinda sit/stand there like a blob

One piece of advice is to not take a hot shower...it can cause fainting as you're likely to still have lots of drugs in your system.

[Noam]

Not sure about MSDO, but SARPE is a simple surgery, and still 2 days ???, wow. I fear it will be almost a week for double jaw surgery....

[Hyrule]

Since the sutures are inside there is no worries about that. But the only advice i would give you is be carefull around your face. I waited till the day after to take a bath and i didnt wash my face just to be sure. I took a hot bat and it was more than needed.

[Audra]

I showered the day after while I was still in the hospital.

[chicago29]

Not sure about MSDO, but SARPE is a simple surgery, and still 2 days ???, wow. I fear it will be almost a week for double jaw surgery....

SARPE is done in many ways...I wouldn't call it "simple". If somebody tells you any jaw surgery is simple, they're lying

For further details check out the long SARPE thread. It seems some people get the less invasive treatment, while others' is much more complex. Mine was a LeFort I without downfracture. So, not much different than a standard LeFort I, outside of the movement and subsequent screw/plates.

It's always hard to say how people will recover. Admittedly, I'm somewhat of a wuss with this stuff! I could have went home after 1 day and my OS wanted to discharge me, but I asked to stay if only for the peace of mind.

[marycotter5678]

I had double jaw surgery. Was in the hospital overnight.. the first day i got back from the hospital i think i couldve taken a shower but i just didnt feel like it. I took one the day after that though so for me it was on day 3.

[crumble]

After double jaw surgery I took a shower the next day, wanted a bath but there was none available on my ward. I really didn't feel like washing the same day and didn't mind too much becasue of the morphine haze. It felt really good at the time but the warmth bought my swelling and bruises out quite vividly

[cvn]

I had to wait a week for a shower after double jaw surgery. It sucked. My hair was gross! I was allowed to take baths but it just wasn't the same!

[Noam]

I had to wait a week for a shower after double jaw surgery. It sucked. My hair was gross! I was allowed to take baths but it just wasn't the same!

Why a week cvn ?, everybody here say just 1-2 days...

[cvn]

That's what my surgeons wanted, so that's what I did. I'm sure they have their reasons!

[descantus]

Hi cvn, think I can take a stab at this. Your surgeon might be ultra cautious like mine was, he had a bee in his bonnet about me getting light-headed because of the heat and steam and passing out, risking giving a great whack to my jaw in the process.

Didn't stop me having a sneaky illicit shower though 3 days later - don't tell anyone!

[cvn]

I'm guessing it's more likely that they didn't want anything beating down on all the bone grafts while they were still fresh. In any case, I suffered through it and the washed it three times a week later to get out all the stank!

[blindboarder2008]

i had a shower in the hospital on my 3rd day in there. I had my mom and friend bring my bath stuff so i didn't have to worry aobut using the hospital bath stuff. it was nice to get out of the bed and have a shower.