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If you are having surgery, you must do everything possible to prevent post-op infections.  If you end up with an infection you will have a longer hospital stay. This will increase your medical bill, and the infection may even kill you.

There are several things that you can do to decrease the chances of infection.

• Stop smoking. Smoking lowers the ability of your immune system to fight off bacteria.
• The night or morning before the surgery, shower with antiseptic soap to keep overall bacteria count down.
• Eating healthy foods is always important;  in the weeks before surgery it becomes most important.
• Make sure that supper, the day before surgery, is your last food or drink. If you eat or drink liquids, they will have to cancel the surgery. The stomach contents might “back-up” during general anesthesia and you may inhale them.
• The instructions that your doctors and nurses give you are for your own good –follow them. Patient non-compliance  plays a big part in wound infections.
• If you are overweight, lose it; overweight people are more susceptible to getting surgical infections.
• The longer you stay in the hospital, the greater the chances of you getting an infection. Ask your doctor to keep the pre-surgery time as short as possible.
• Ask family and friends not to visit you in the hospital, or at home, if they are sick.  You are most likely to catch something that would normally not affect you.
• Wash your hands before touching your wound area. Do not let any hospital caretaker touch you, unless they have also washed their hands. Dirty hands is a very common source of disease transmission.
• When visitors come to see you, yes, you guessed it, ask them also to wash their hands before coming in. Ask them not to sit on your bed, or use your bathroom.  Visitors  bring all kinds of bacteria from the outside into your room.
• After your surgery, make sure someone writes down the doctor’s instructions for after care. When to change the dressings, what to do if excessive bleeding begins, when to take your medicines,  and when your next appointment is.
• When you get home, rest. Ask your family and friends help you out with chores and housework until you are stronger. Do not put stress on your surgery site. You do not want to have a wound dehiscence — a tear along the suture line.

Thousands of surgeries are performed every day without any subsequent infections. By following these wound safety guidelines and your doctors advice, you can have a quick infection-free recovery.

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