Driving a car and post-surgery

[radio]

How many days post-surgery should one wait before operating a car? 2? 3? 7?

I'm mostly concerned about being able to bend my arms appropriately to reach the steering wheel, and being able to shoulder check.

Any help with this would be great!

[markd]

hi, it was 5 days before i could drive with not too much discomfort, i did try after 3 days but turning the wheel hurt too much, i'm now 2 weeks post-op all bruising has gone, little bit of swelling still, are you in the uk? when is your surgery?

[DrBermant]

How many days post-surgery should one wait before operating a car? 2? 3? 7?

I'm mostly concerned about being able to bend my arms appropriately to reach the steering wheel, and being able to shoulder check.

Any help with this would be great!

Each doctor uses his / her own techniques. When a patient is in pain, needs heavy pain medication, or has more trauma and swelling to the surgical site, time to driving can vary. With my patients' typical Comfort After Gynecomastia Surgery and our refined Plastic Surgery Sedation Anesthesia, our patients are able to drive short distances about 6 hours after surgery.  Heavy driving or operating vehicles like manual steering trucks will take longer when significant use of chest muscles is needed to drive.  Many of my patients can drive long distances the day after surgery.

This is why picking your doctor can be important.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Gynecomastia and Male Breast Reduction

[Grandpa Bambu]

How many days post-surgery should one wait before operating a car? 2? 3? 7?

I was able to drive as soon as the drugs wore off.

Being able to drive a car post-op is very much a personal issue. We all heal at different rates and have different thresholds of pain/discomfort... The best thing to do is to try it dude... If you feel any discomfort what-so-ever, give it another day or two...  It's just common sense...  

I'm mostly concerned about being able to being able to shoulder check.

If you adjust your mirrors correctly, you don't need to do a shoulder check!!! I find it odd that student drivers are not taught to adjust their side mirrors correctly. I took a driving course when I was learning to drive ( many moons ago... ) and not once were we taught how to adjust the side mirrors for optimum vision to the side/rear... To set your mirrors correctly, run the mirrors (most are power these days) to the fully 'out' (away from the side of the car) position. Then just back them in slightly. Now they are set for optimal side/rear vision... without the need to shoulder check!!! With your mirrors set in this position, you can follow the car behind in your rear view mirror (RVM) and as soon as you start to loose sight of the car in your RVM, you should have sight of it in your side view mirror (SVM). Just before you loose sight of it in your SVM, your peripheral vision will pick it up. So... if you can't see a car in your RVM, or your SVM, or in your peripheral vision, then there aint anything there! Annnnnddddd.... you not once had to do a shoulder check!!!

See... I'm thinking that most people feel the need to see the side of their car when they look in the SVM's. However, I too, at one time, was guilty of this redundant practice. If you can see the side of your car while looking in the SVM's... then you don't have your mirrors set correctly.

It's amazing how many drivers set their mirrors this way (being able to see the side of the car in the SVM's). Why would you want to see the side of your car in the mirror?   You know it's there. What you do need to know, is what you don't know is there!!! As I am driving, I look at where other drivers mirrors are positioned in relation to the mirror housing. A good 95% (just an approximate guess) of drivers have their mirrors set incorrectly...


GB...

[az_driver]

I had the surgery (local anesthetic), and drove home 15 minutes later. I was told not to, but I had an exam to write, and I couldn't justify lying to someone to get the to give me a ride 

[DrBermant]

I had the surgery (local anesthetic), and drove home 15 minutes later. I was told not to, but I had an exam to write, and I couldn't justify lying to someone to get the to give me a ride 

Doctors give advice for patient safety and the protection of others.  Not following a doctor's advice can lead to a disaster.  But then some people feel they must text while driving without a seat belt in snow with bald tires. The problem is the other driver that careless individual slams into. I unfortunately have seen just too many car accidents from people ignoring safety issues. Spending hours picking out glass from faces who will live with those scars for the rest of their lives forces me to speak for them also.

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Gynecomastia and Male Breast Reduction

[lighting506]

How many days post-surgery should one wait before operating a car? 2? 3? 7?

I was able to drive as soon as the drugs wore off.

Being able to drive a car post-op is very much a personal issue. We all heal at different rates and have different thresholds of pain/discomfort... The best thing to do is to try it dude... If you feel any discomfort what-so-ever, give it another day or two...  It's just common sense...  

I'm mostly concerned about being able to being able to shoulder check.

If you adjust your mirrors correctly, you don't need to do a shoulder check!!! I find it odd that student drivers are not taught to adjust their side mirrors correctly. I took a driving course when I was learning to drive ( many moons ago... ) and not once were we taught how to adjust the side mirrors for optimum vision to the side/rear... To set your mirrors correctly, run the mirrors (most are power these days) to the fully 'out' (away from the side of the car) position. Then just back them in slightly. Now they are set for optimal side/rear vision... without the need to shoulder check!!! With your mirrors set in this position, you can follow the car behind in your rear view mirror (RVM) and as soon as you start to loose sight of the car in your RVM, you should have sight of it in your side view mirror (SVM). Just before you loose sight of it in your SVM, your peripheral vision will pick it up. So... if you can't see a car in your RVM, or your SVM, or in your peripheral vision, then there aint anything there! Annnnnddddd.... you not once had to do a shoulder check!!!

See... I'm thinking that most people feel the need to see the side of their car when they look in the SVM's. However, I too, at one time, was guilty of this redundant practice. If you can see the side of your car while looking in the SVM's... then you don't have your mirrors set correctly.

It's amazing how many drivers set their mirrors this way (being able to see the side of the car in the SVM's). Why would you want to see the side of your car in the mirror?   You know it's there. What you do need to know, is what you don't know is there!!! As I am driving, I look at where other drivers mirrors are positioned in relation to the mirror housing. A good 95% (just an approximate guess) of drivers have their mirrors set incorrectly...


GB...

There are blind spots mirrors can't get to, that's why US driving laws force you to check over your shoulder.

- Tom