Getting yourself healthy before surgery
Keep your health care providers informed. Don't wait for them to ask you questions!
Even if you have seen many doctors and other health care providers, you will likely know more than they do about your symptoms and your health over the years. Your providers will depend on you for this helpful information.
Tell all of your providers if you have had:
- Bad reactions or allergies to medicines, foods (such as shellfish), tapes that were used on your skin, iodine, or latex.
- Problems with anesthesia in the past.
- Blood clots or bleeding problems in the past.
- Recent dental problems, such as infections in your mouth or jaw, or dental surgery.
Also tell your providers if you have:
- Been drinking a lot of alcohol, more than 1 or 2 drinks a day.
- Any cold, flu, fever, herpes breakout, or other illness you may have in the days before your surgery.
Preoperative exam
Before your surgery, your provider will ask you about your health history and give you a physical exam. This visit is called a preoperative exam, or "pre-op."
- Your orthopedic surgeon may do your pre-op exam, or you may be asked to see your primary care provider for it.
- If you have conditions such as diabetes, lung disease, or heart disease, you may be asked to see a specialist who takes care of these conditions. Try to have this checkup with the specialist at least 2 or 3 weeks before your surgery. That way, you and your providers will have a chance to "tune-up" any of your medical conditions.
Some hospitals will also have you visit with a nurse at the hospital before surgery.
- The nurse will ask you many questions about your health history.
- You may also have a chest x-ray, some lab tests, urine test, or an EKG during this visit.
Find out how to manage your medicines before surgery
Bring a list of medicines you are taking with you every time you see a provider.
- This includes medicines you bought without a prescription and medicines you do not take every day.
- Write down the dose and how often you take your medicines every day.
- Tell your providers about any vitamins, supplements, minerals, or natural medicines you are taking, as well as any alternative treatments you have had.
One week before surgery you may be asked to stop taking drugs that make it harder for your blood to clot. These include aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), naproxen (Naprosyn, Aleve), and other blood thinners.
Ask your doctor which drugs you should still take on the day of your surgery.
Manage your other medical conditions
Being as healthy as possible before surgery will reduce your risk of problems during and after surgery. If you have diabetes, heart disease, or other medical conditions, work with the provider you see for those conditions to get them under control.
Smoking
If you smoke, you need to stop. Ask your provider for help. Smoking will slow down wound and bone healing. Spinal fusion is less likely to work if you smoke.
Most doctors want you to stop using cigarettes and tobacco at least 4 weeks before your spine surgery. Quitting smoking 10 weeks or more before your surgery can lower your risk of problems even more.
Quitting tobacco is not easy, especially if you try to quit alone. There are many ways to quit smoking and many resources to help you. The key is not to be discouraged, even if you have smoked for a long time, and even if your first attempts at quitting do not work.
Using nicotine gum around the time of surgery is not a good idea. The nicotine in the gum, just like nicotine in tobacco, will affect how well your incision heals.
Reviewed By: C. Benjamin Ma, MD, Professor, Chief, Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service, UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, San Francisco, CA. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
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