Does anyone know if it is alright to go to the tanning bed after surgery? I am 11 days post op and would love to go tanning.

Does anyone know if it is alright to go to the tanning bed after surgery? I am 11 days post op and would love to go tanning.

As I'm fond of saying I am no medical professional nor do I wish to play one on LBT. That said I would personally discourage it. Only as I've heard that too much sun (or Tanning Bed) exposure can lead to increased discoloration in the healing of scars such as those from our surgery. Now if you were to cover the few small incisions with a towel or something while tanning to protect them I don't see why it would be a problem.

I dont know, but I am going to call my doctor and find out...I really want to go tan too. I have a ball coming up with my hubby's work and that sleeve less dress would look so much better if I had a little bit of color......No one sees my tummy anyways but the hubby!

I personally would say NO until your scars are healed. UV rays will discolor your scars, and possibly could raise them. You just spent all the time and energy to get this surgery, and because you want to look tanner is not a reason to possibly add problems to your scars, or the healing process.

Now this is just what I personally did, so I would still use your own discretion... But I went back to the tanning bed 6 days after surgery. I still had bandages on top of all of my incisions (on top of the glue), so I think they probably protected me-- of course I got funny looking circle tan-lines. All of my incisions healed completely in less than 2 weeks!! I'd say by 10 days after my surgery all of my bandages and glue were off, and I don't think it did anything to my scars. I actually think that the heat helped heal everything up a little quicker for me! Like I said, that's what I did, but everybody is a lil bit different :lovechoc:

Perhaps a spray-on tan?

That was the first question I asked my surgeon prior to surgery. I have been back to my regular tanning schedule since 8 days after surgery. I put band-aids on my incisions when I tanned. As they healed I kept them off when tanning. For the first couple of sessions, the heat was really intense on my new sensitive skin, so I had to turn over earlier than usual. :thumbup: