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The Right Time To Wear Makeup After Plastic Surgery

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The Right Time To Wear Makeup After Plastic Surgery featured image

A lot of time and planning goes into a plastic surgery procedure. You have to decide on the right doctor, the exact procedure you want and the best recovery plan. But what many women often don’t think about is how the procedure will affect their makeup routine.

You should treat a surgical procedure as your would treat any wound, says New York dermatologist Neal Schultz, MD. “Putting on makeup and taking off makeup involves a small amount of pressure and manipulation of the skin.” The issue with applying makeup too soon is that you could contaminate the wound and get an infection. You can also set healing back by agitating the area.

As for when you can use makeup again, it really depends on the procedure. For a facelift, Dr. Schultz says to wait at least ten days before applying makeup to the area. After a nose job, a patient can use makeup right away on any part of their face other than their nose. Surgeons typically say not to apply any pressure to the nose for about three to four weeks after a rhinoplasty. The same idea goes for any eyelid or brow surgery, patients can typically wear makeup right away as long as they avoid the operated area. Then they can start wearing eye makeup again after about two weeks.

You should also be cautious about wearing makeup after a laser treatment or chemical peel. “If it’s a non-invasive procedure then you can put makeup on right away,” says Laguna Woods, CA, facial plastic surgeon Cory Yeh, MD. “But if its an intense one like a laser skin resurfacing treatment or intense chemical peel you need to wait until the skin regenerates and that can take three to seven days depending on the intensity.”

Other factors that determine how long to wait is a patients age and their own preference. “As individuals tend to get older, the skin is a little thinner and they might be more likely to bruise and have a delayed healing response,” says Dr. Yeh. Some patients also opt to wait until they are fully healed after a procedure to use makeup, even after they’ve been cleared, to ensure the best results. Dr. Yeh also adds that he typically has patients back in makeup about a week after surgery, but again, it depends on the individual and the procedure.

“Make an investment in your future that will get you the best results by forgoing gratification in the first two weeks,” says Dr. Shultz. “Give yourself a couple of months and play it safe. Make an investment in your investment.” Be sure to read the instruction sheet prior to the surgery so that you can be prepared to ask any questions about the recovery process.

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