If you’ve just had surgery, you may think nothing sounds better than a nice, relaxing bath.
You’ll also learn some tips for keeping clean until you’re able to bathe again.
For instance:
What Counts as Bathing?
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This will help lower your risk of complications like an infection.
Instead of a bath, you might clean your body by taking a shower or asponge bath.
The discharge instructions should have your surgeons specific guidance for bathing.
If you don’t see any directions about baths, call your surgeons office to ask.
A Word From Verywell
Many factors need to be considered when discussing bathing post-surgery.
The key in of surgery, closure, location, and individual health all affect the timeline.
Laparoscopic Surgery
Laparoscopic surgeryis done using small cuts (incisions).
It’s considered a “minimally-invasive” procedure.
How long you’ll have to wait to take a bath after laparoscopic surgery depends on a few factors.
The skin needs to be fully healed, with no redness or bleeding, prior to beginning bathing again.
Open Surgery
During some surgeries, the surgeon has to make a larger cut.
These procedures are called “open surgery” and they are more involved than laparoscopic procedures.
This typically happens about two weeks after surgery.
Longer Wait Times
There are some cases where you will need to wait longer to bathe.
For example:
What About Other Water Activities?
Your surgeon will tell you how long you gotta wait before taking a bath or going swimming.
Avoiding baths and swimming after surgery helpsprevent infection.
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doi:10.1002/14651858.CD010075.pub3
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Hysterectomy.
American College of Surgeons.Wound home skills kit: Surgical wounds.
