Plastic surgery can happen for countless reasons, yet whether it's elective or medically necessary surgery, one thing is true for every patient: what you do after surgery matters.  A mistake in caring for yourself after surgery could lead to poor healing and issues with your results.

Here are 4 tips everyone should follow after plastic surgery:

Follow All Directions from Your Doctor

This step may feel obvious, but many people overlook it.  Your doctor will discharge you with a lot of paperwork to help you get through the healing process as easily as possible.  You can read through this yourself or have someone who will be helping you read through it for you, but it's important to absorb this information.  These care instructions will tell you how soon the area can be washed, if you should go up or downstairs and how soon you can take off bandages if there are any.  Although you may feel like you heal differently, avoid taking risks like returning to work too early or removing your bandages too soon.

Get A Support System in Place

Whether your plastic surgeon is in PA or LA: it's important that you come home to a system that can help you heal.  If you can lean on your family, ask for their help to get through this process.  If not, request that friends or loved ones can help support you.  A system like this will ensure that you have help available if you need it and that if there are any adverse reactions or side effects, someone will be there with you to offer support or take you to a hospital.

Drink Lots of Water and Eat Enough

A big mistake many people make is that they forget the importance of staying hydrated.  Hydration can up how elastic your skin is, speed your healing, and ensure that you feel better as you work through these next steps. In addition, plump and hydrated skin will heal scars easier and can give you better results.

It's also a great idea to ensure you eat enough food.  If you're hungry, or you're neglecting nutrition because you don't feel good after surgery, your body may focus its energy on that instead of healing. So give yourself the best chance at good results, and eat enough food to keep yourself running.

Give Yourself Time to Rest and Relax

Before you go into surgery, it's a good idea to set up a system so that you can get right to healing when you're out.  This could mean pre-making many meals and freezing them so that you can microwave them later, or it could mean that you create several comfortable spots in your home to relax and heal in.  For almost any surgery, it's a good idea to at least take the following day off of work.  For more invasive surgeries, try to take off more time so that you can fully rest, relax, and heal from what you've gone through.  Don't rush yourself, do what's right for you.