How long before I can return to normal activities after a procedure?

Downtime varies according to the procedure. It’s important to keep treated skin out of water until it’s watertight (usually about 3 days, or up to 21 if there are stitches) and avoid stretching surgical wounds for up to a month. Anything that irritates the skin – including sunlight – should be minimised or avoided for 2-3 weeks.

If there’s a dressing on your wound, it’s helping protect the wound from bacteria and other contaminants, as well as keeping the wound moist, which accelerates healing and reduces the scarring risk. Leave the dressing over the wound for at least three days unless your doctor or nurse has advised you otherwise.

Steri-strips take up tension when the wound stretches, making stitches less likely to break. Leave sSteri-Strips on the wound until your stitches are removed (typically about 2 weeks).

Looking after your wound or treatment area reduces the risk of infection and wound breakdown.

1. Prevent infection: Keep open wounds covered and dry for 3 days. Don’t immerse wounds in water until after stitches are removed.
2. Avoid irritants: Don’t apply antiseptics, vitamin E or scented products to the treated area until it’s completely healed, usually several weeks.
3. Minimise stretching: Don’t stretch wounds for 1-2 months after stitches are removed.

Timing activities during recovery

Showering and washing – 3 days

• If the skin is broken, it takes 3 days for it to become water-resistant.
• If the skin is not broken, you can wash and shower as usual, although you should avoid very hot water, antiseptics and scented products.
• If there is a dressing over broken skin, leave it in place for at least 3 days to protect the wound from water.

Exercise with sweating – 3 days

• As with water, it’s best to keep sweat out of open wounds or off broken skin for 3 days.

Applying make-up – 3 days

• Small defects in the skin surface can be covered with silicone gel. Once it has dried, you can apply sunscreen and makeup over the top.
• Avoid scented products until the skin has completely healed, usually 2-3 weeks.

Swimming, baths – 5-21 days

• Don’t swim, have a bath or spa, or immerse any wound with stitches. When a stitched wound is underwater, water can enter through the tracks of the stitches and bacteria can lodge under the skin surface against the stitch material.
• It’s safest to wait until your stitches are removed before resuming these activities.

Sun exposure – 1-4 weeks

• Sun exposure can irritate wounds and treated skin. Some types of treatment, e.g. photodynamic therapy and topical medications for solar keratoses and skin cancers, cause significant skin irritation which gets much worse with sun exposure.
• As a rough guide, you should avoid direct sun exposure on treated skin for about a week. If the skin is still red, continue to protect it from the sun (even in winter) until the redness has faded.

Stretching 1-4 weeks

• After the skin is cut, the healing process takes up to a year to complete. Healed skin never regains its full strength, and for some time after the stitches are removed, it’s weak enough to pull apart.
  • On the day of stitch removal, the skin is about 3-5% of its original strength.
  • 2 weeks after stitch removal, skin is about 20% of its original strength.
  • 1 month after stitch removal, skin is about 50% of its original strength.
• We recommend not stretching the skin for at least a month after any procedure with stitches.