Colombia is one of the world’s top destinations for cosmetic and plastic surgery, and Bogota alone attracts thousands of international patients a year for BBL, tummy tuck, rhinoplasty, liposuction and breast surgery. The surgery takes hours. The recovery takes weeks.
By procedure
Recovery needs are procedure-specific
“Plastic surgery recovery” is not one thing, and treating it as one is how patients end up following the wrong instructions carefully.
Brazilian Butt Lift
Patients are prohibited from sitting directly on the buttocks for an extended period – commonly six to eight weeks, on the surgeon’s schedule. Positioning, compression and lymphatic drainage timing dominate the early recovery. Detail on our BBL recovery nursing page.
Abdominoplasty
Drains for roughly three to seven days, a compression binder for four to six weeks, a bent posture for the first five to ten days, and a walking schedule to reduce clot risk. See tummy tuck recovery nursing.
Facial surgery – facelift and rhinoplasty
Head elevation, swelling and bruising management, and close watching for bleeding or fluid collecting under the skin. Much of this recovery is about not doing things – bending, lifting, straining – for longer than feels necessary.
Breast surgery
Garment or support-bra management, drain care where drains are present, wound checks, and keeping to your surgeon’s limits on arm movement and lifting. Washing and dressing are genuinely difficult in the first days.
Liposuction and body contouring
Compression is the centre of it, alongside drain output monitoring and lymphatic drainage massage on your surgeon’s schedule. Compression worn loosely or inconsistently is among the most common self-inflicted setbacks.
The window
The first 72 hours
Across all of these, the first 72 hours carry the most risk. That is when bleeding, infection and fluid problems declare themselves – and when your own judgement is least reliable, because you are swollen, medicated and uncomfortable.
It is also when the instructions are hardest to follow and easiest to get wrong, which is why we recommend overnight presence in that window for anyone travelling alone or recovering from a procedure with drains or strict positioning rules.
Safety
Signs that need your surgeon today
Fever, pain that escalates rather than settles, redness spreading from an incision, fluid or discharge from a wound, a rapid change in swelling – particularly on one side only – breathlessness, chest pain, or calf pain and swelling. Any of these should go to your surgeon immediately.
This article is general information about how recovery is usually managed. Your surgeon’s discharge instructions always take precedence over anything written here.
Practical
What care costs
Day visits are $60, an overnight registered nurse is $120 a night, and 24/7 live-in care is $180 a day, quoted in US dollars before you fly. See our published pricing for what each tier includes. A common plastic surgery booking is a week of daily visits at $420, or overnight care for the first nights plus daily visits at around $900. Full detail on our plastic surgery recovery nursing page.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
I am having a combined procedure – how does that work?
The care plan follows whichever protocol is most restrictive. Combined procedures are common and we build around the strictest constraint.
Can a nurse schedule my lymphatic drainage massage?
Yes, where your surgeon has ordered it – scheduling and coordination are part of the service.
How early should I book?
As early as you can. Booking before you fly means the nurse is at the clinic when you are discharged rather than arranged in a hurry afterwards.