5 Reasons Why You Should Stop Smoking before Your Surgery

If you’re set to undergo surgical operation, it is important that you quit smoking as soon as possible. Quitting doesn’t only reduce the risk of complications after surgery but will also improve your overall wellbeing and add more years to your life!

Here are the major reasons why you must quit smoking before undergoing surgery:

1. Quitting promotes success of the procedure. Studies reveal that non-smokers who undergo surgeries have higher chance of success than smokers.
2. Quitting smoking promotes speedy recovery. Surgery often gives people an eerie feeling because of the complications that may possibly arise after it. If you quit smoking prior your surgery, your immune system will get stronger – an important factor to reduce potential post-surgery complications. In just 12 hours after quitting, your lung function improves so as your blood flow and heart health.
3. Smokers are at risk of life-threatening problems during the surgery. Smokers who undergo surgical operations usually experience breathing problems after anesthetic. They are also at a high risk of heart attack due to the poor amount of oxygen their blood vessels can carry to the heart. Post-surgical wound infection is also a possible outcome of not quitting prior a surgery. This, again, can be attributed to insufficient blood flow.
4. Smoking makes your body less prepared for the surgery. Before undergoing surgery, whether minor or major, your body must be in the right condition. With every smoke you inhale, you are actually allowing thousands of chemicals and toxins to enter your body and ruin your entire system. Smoking basically weakens your immune and respiratory systems.
5. Smoking increases the risk of anesthetic complications. Anesthesia is safer and more effective when administered in a non-smoking patient because of better functioning of his or her nervous system, lungs, heart and blood vessels.

When should you stop smoking? Of course – the earlier, the better the outcome will be. It is also critically important not to smoke one day prior the surgery. Even if the procedure is minimally invasive, it is still important that you quit smoking before undergoing a surgery. The risks and complications linked with smoking are still the same whether it’s a highly invasive or a minimally invasive surgery. Furthermore, you should also stop taking other addictive substances, including alcohol, marijuana and drugs. They all have the same negative effects on your pre and post surgical health.

After surgery, you should not smoke either. Your body is still recuperating so it needs to be nurtured well. Smoking will only delay your recovery and make you vulnerable to life-threatening complications. In one study, researchers found that more than half of people who smoke developed complications after continuing with their habit after surgery as compared to the less than 20 percent of those who quit.

See, quitting smoking today has many benefits. If you want to recover faster and get away from the potential side effects of cigarettes, better quit now. With the numerous smoking cessation strategies available today, you can easily kick off cigarettes from your life!