tanning post op

[lexuslexus]

thinking of starting to go on a few sun beds, just to tan myself up a little for when i take off my shirt now that im post op.

i hear many people saying its bad after surgery, but seeing as i had armpit incision, does it matter?
im 6 weeks post op. thanks

[The_G0rn]

Speaking from my own experience, you do not want to expose fresh scars to UV radiation (sunlight...or sunbed light). 

I had a mole cut off my shoulder and exposed the scar to a lot of sunlight early on (foolish, but i didnt know it would cause problems), even got sunburnt a few times on the shoulder and the scar is now a very unsightly red colour - very conspicuous.  You would definitely not want this on your chest, or anywhere really in my opinion.  I think the medical term for it is "over-pigmentation".

I guess you could try and cover it up with something before you go in, but i'd be very careful.

Having said that, it is obviously impractical to never expose a scar to daylight again...maybe someone else can tell us how long you have to wait before getting sun on a scar?  This probably depends on the individual but i'd guess the answer would be in the range of months to a year.

 

[lexuslexus]

well my scar is by my arm pit, so i guess i could just keep my arms down? lol

[snycs10]

I too was thinking about going tanning...I'm pale as a ghost right now. I was thinking about keeping my arms down as well and doubleing up on bandaids over my nips.

[matthew1]

 I have not had my  shirt off  outside  for  35 years, yet I go  boating and work outside, I have the ultimate farmers tan,  actually thats  an insult to farmers.
       A  bowl of milk has a  better tan then my shoulders and chest  do  now. Heck, if I stand next to a  white wall it looks  darker nicotine color  compared to me 

[lexuslexus]

lol loved that last comment. right heres what im thinking;
my incisions are very small and located to the top of the inside of my armpit, and i have little circle plasters that are the size of a 1p coin (just smaller than a qaurter) which would cover them nicely.

If i was to go to a tanning bed and then pop these on then the little marks left by the plasters would only be noticeable if i was to lift up my arms and point them out.

what do you guys think?

[jackson318]

I can second that getting sun on fresh scars is bad; I had a surgery that left little scars on my uppser and lower leg.  A few months later, I started jogging outside again, and to this day, the lower-leg scars that the sun hit are visible where the ones from where my shorts covered are hard to find even when you know where they are.

But, yeah, if you cover them I don't see what the trouble would be.  I mean, other than than having two pale white circles to highlight the scars, but if they're as hidden as you say, then no foul I guess. ;-)