- She must be feeling better. She’s putting on lipstick.
Seattle Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder blogs about lipstick.
I saw a patient today who exhibited a classic “positive lipstick sign”. She had surgery last week and today was feeling good enough to put on some lipstick for her appointment. It is always a happy day for a surgeon to see his/her patients with lipstick because it always means that the patient is feeling better and is actually getting to that point where they are no longer saying to themselves, “Why in the world did I think this was a good idea?”
For facial surgery, the positive lipstick sign usually appears within a week but for major body surgery such as abdominoplasty, it can take up to two weeks.
Recovery is a fact of life with plastic surgery and a big part of my job is to be a postoperative cheerleader and assure my patients that “this, too, shall pass”. The “positive lipstick sign” is always reassuring to this plastic surgeon that the patient is “on her way”.
By the way, the male counter part for this is the freshly shaved face.
Thanks for reading! Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder
@lisalynnsowder
