Quitting Smoking Before Surgery

It’s never easy to quit smoking within a short period of time, but quitting before bariatric surgery is essential in order to reduce your risk of post-surgical complications. According to recent research, the average smoker who successfully quit prior to surgery had 41% fewer healing complications. Furthermore, this percentage goes up by 19% for each week of time a person is smoke-free before the date of their surgery.

How Smoking Affects the Body

Smoking decreases the amount of oxygen in your blood, while at the same time increasing the amount of carbon monoxide present. The effects of this are two-fold: carbon monoxide makes your heart pump more poorly, limiting your body’s overall oxygen supply. Meanwhile, the nicotine consumed by smokers increases the total amount of oxygen the body needs. As a result, your oxygen supply is being limited at the same time that your body is demanding more oxygen.

Without enough oxygen, it is much harder for wounds to heal. Smoking also increases inflammation and clogs the lungs. All of these effects can lead to serious healing complications, including:

• Excessive bleeding
• Infection
• Tissue death

Besides causing poor healing, smokers also face an increased risk of cardiovascular complications. Smoking not only weakens your heart, it also shrinks your body’s airways and makes your lungs more prone to collapse. A recent study presented by the American Society of Anesthesiologists discovered that patients who fail to quit smoking before surgery are:

• 57% more at risk of cardiac arrest
• 80% more at risk of heart attack
• 73% more at risk of stroke

Additionally, the risk of developing pneumonia after surgery is double for smokers.

The Benefits of Quitting Smoking Before Bariatric Surgery

If you are planning to have LAP-BAND® Surgery or any other type of weight loss surgery, plan on abstaining from smoking as far in advance of your scheduled procedure as possible. After surgery, you should continue to abstain for at least one week.

The benefits of doing this are immediate and significant. Nicotine leaves your body within 8 to 12 hours, and within 12 to 24 hours, there will be a decrease in the amount of carbon monoxide present in your body, allowing more oxygen into your bloodstream.

Between 4 to 8 weeks after quitting, your body’s ability to heal wounds will also greatly increase. Smokers who quit for 10 full weeks before surgery will have a post-operative complication rate that is virtually identical to the rate of non-smokers.

If you have further questions about how smoking affects weight loss surgery, please contact experienced bariatric surgeon Dr. Shyam Dahiya today. Our practice serves patients in the Riverside, Irvine, and Los Angeles areas of California.