Exercise is a wonderful way to keep our bodies and brains healthy. Many patients who come to me for help with laser eyelid or eyebrow surgery exercise as a regular part of their lives. After consulting with me though, they understand that they’ll need to reduce their exertion and not exercise during the after-surgery recovery process.

The reason for this involves the wonderful job that CO2 lasers do in controlling bleeding after surgery. By sealing blood vessels as they cut, CO2 lasers often result in very little bruising after surgery. These sealed blood vessels are fragile. Pushing more blood volume through them can cause them to break the sealed cap and cause active bleeding which results in bruising. This can happen from bending over, picking up a heavy weight, exercise or any other straining activity. When we strain, the pressure we create in our body gets distributed over the entire blood vessel system. This increased pressure can un-cap those sealed blood vessels and contribute to new bruising and a longer recovery. If the sealed vessels can be left relatively undisturbed for 7 days after surgery, they will stabilize.

I’ll often allow patients to start back with gentle exercise 7-10 days after their surgical procedures with me. This rest allows the wounds to be more stable and reduces the chances of bruising after surgery, which translates to a faster visible recovery for my patients.

I hope you found this interesting and I invite you come back and watch again for our next Medical Minute.