If you are having surgery one of the most important things, you can do before the procedure is to stop smoking. This is because smokers are more likely to suffer complications during and following surgery than non-smokers.

Anaesthesia reduces coughing and spasms during surgery but because smokers’ lungs are aggravated by tobacco, they need a higher dose of anaesthesia than non-smokers.

Also, tobacco smoke damages the cilia in the lungs which helps to clear mucus from the lungs. Smokers are more likely to suffer from post-operative pneumonia as a result.

• you have a higher risk of lung and heart complications
• you have higher risks of post-operative infection
• you will have impaired wound healing
• you will require longer hospital stays and higher drug doses
• you are more likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit
• you will have an increased risk of emergency readmission.

You will have less oxygen to help with healing. Healing is helped by oxygen in the blood reaching the wound. But nicotine tightens blood vessels and reduces the amount of blood reaching the wound. Then the carbon monoxide in the smoke robs the blood of oxygen.  Nicotine damages red blood cells and makes platelets sticky.

Platelets are a type of blood cell needed for clotting. This can lead to lots of small blood clots in the site of the wound. This reduces the blood flow to the area and slows the healing process.

– reduces the risk of postoperative complications.
– reduces lung, heart, and wound-related complications.
– decreases wound healing time.
– reduces the average length of stay in hospital
– Examples of surgical risks for smokers.

Smokers’ bones are slower to grow and repair than non-smokers’ bones. When smokers need surgery to fuse the vertebrae in the back, they are 3 to 4 times more likely to have problems. The bones must build new bone cells. Non-smokers’ bones can grow 1cm every 2 months. Smokers can take on average 3 months to grow the same amount of bone.

Slowing down the healing of wounds is a big problem for this surgery, as it usually involves the transfer of flaps of skin from one part of the body to another. To survive, the skin needs a healthy blood supply and lots of oxygen and smokers have a reduced blood flow, the skin being transferred has a much lower chance of survival.

Smokers have about 12.5 times greater risk of plastic surgery not being successful.