Do Antidepressants Increase Complications after Plastic Surgery?

The use of Antidepressant has greatly expanded in the previous years, one research shows that 1 out of 10 US adolescents and adults use these treatment. Percentage of the use of antidepressant may be even bigger among patients who goes through cosmetic plastic surgery, or patients with breast cancer undergoing breast restoration.

While plastic surgeons are attentive for the use of treatment that has the potential to a heightened complications, such as blood thinners, they are naturally not distressed about antidepressants. Dr. Teo and Mr. Song conducted an in-depth examination of research information on the hazards of antidepressant medications in plastic surgery. They studied 26 researches evaluating the accouterments of antidepressants on several plastic surgery threats such as:

l  Bleeding. Six researches evaluated the effect of antidepressants and bleeding hazard in more than 34,000 patients who goes through breast cancer surgery and 2,500 undergoing cosmetic plastic surgery. The outcomes were contradictory: while some researches show a heightened bleeding percentage in patients taking antidepressants, others found no such risk.

So while the indication doesn't eliminate a growth in bleeding risk, halting antidepressants before the surgery--especially the commonly used selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)--might aggravate the depression symptoms or lead to a conceivably detrimental "discontinuation syndrome." Hence, the habitual discontinuance of antidepressants before surgery in the absence of a careful assessment should be averted, the experts concluded

A small quantity of researches considered a number of other complications. One has stated a heightened threat of seromas or fluid collections right after plastic surgery in patients taking SSRIs. Another reported a possible interaction between SSRIs and methylene blue dye used for lymph node aligning in patients with breast cancer.

While recognizing the restrictions of the accessible information, Dr. Teo and Mr. Song recorded their research where it finds no constant proof of heightened complications associated to antidepressants. The hazards of stopping recommended antidepressant therapy in "psychologically vulnerable" patients likely overcome any development in complications.

Nevertherless, the experts believes that plastic surgeons should also deal with the effect of the fundamental depressive symptoms in patients taking these treatment. They have also concluded that the use of antidepressants for mental disorders may also involve key patient threat factors for surgical problems and adequate investigation into the patient's manifestation for the prescription is crucial.

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