Getting home
After a general anaesthetic you need an adult to drive you home and stay with you for the first 24 hours. Under local anaesthetic you can often be collected the same afternoon, but you'll be sore, padded and in a garment, so don't plan on the DART, the Luas or a bus. Put a towel on the car seat: the small cuts leak fluid for a day or two.
Time off work
Most people with desk jobs go back after about a week. If your commute is long or standing, add a few days. Physical jobs take longer; ask your surgeon. If you work from home, you may manage sooner, but the first two or three days are for resting.
Check-ups
Expect a check in the first week or two and a later review. Ask how many are in the price and where they are: a 20-minute drive each way is nothing on a good day and a lot with a sore stomach in rush hour.
Moving again
Walk from the first day. A flat route helps: the Clontarf or Sandymount promenade, the piers at Dún Laoghaire, a park near home. Gentle exercise at three to four weeks; strenuous activity at ten to twelve, once your surgeon agrees.
Driving
Not for at least 24 hours after a general anaesthetic, and not until you can do an emergency stop without pain and aren't taking painkillers that make you drowsy. Check your insurer's rules.
Warning signs
- a hot, painful, swollen calf: ask for an urgent GP appointment
- sudden breathlessness or chest pain: call 112 or 999
- fever, spreading redness or pus from a cut: ring the clinic the same day
Questions
Can I take the Luas home after lipo?
It's better not to. Book a lift: you'll be sore and padded, and after a general anaesthetic an adult needs to stay with you for 24 hours.
When will I see the result?
Some change within weeks; the full result once swelling settles, at three to six months.