incisions & tanning/sun

I tan and found this to be helpful.

Sunning, Tanning Booths, & Surgery

While having a golden tan is lovely to look at - it damages the skin. Tanning is a personal choice, but it's important to know the results of doing so in conjunction with your surgery.

No one ever healed skin cancer by getting a tan. If tanning improved our skin there would be no need for sunscreens and all the media messages about skin cancer we hear daily.

Stay out of the sun before your surgery

You want your skin to be in good shape so that you can have the best chances for healing. Suntanned skin does not promote well-healed incisions.

Stay out of the sun after your surgery

Sun on your new incisions will turn them permanently red. This is not our opinion - it's a fact. Incisions need to stay out of the sun for about a year, and longer if they have not turned white. Once you sun them and turn them red, there is no going back. Only excising them and starting over will get rid of the red, sun damaged incision lines.

If you will be in the sun post-operatively (we realize we all have lives and vacations happen), please make sure your suit covers your incisions completely. Depending on how far post-op you are, you should ask your plastic surgeon if you can put sunscreen on your incisions. Sunscreens are chemicals, and it may not be a good idea to put this on your incisions if you are newly post-op, so ask your plastic surgeon. Of course, exposing them to sun would be worse, so do ask your plastic surgeon as he or she might also be able recommend the brand they'd like you to use. Some people have even put surgical adhesive tape over their incisions. This might be a good alternative to the chemical aspects of sunscreen - provided the tape stays on. Again, ask your plastic surgeon.