RPS will give you specific advice regarding your child’s individual post-operative recovery. They will advise:

• where your child will go after their surgery
• what medication your child will be given or prescribed
• what bandages and dressings your child will need and when they’ll be removed
• when the stitches will dissolve or need to be removed
• when your child can get back to normal activity and exercise
• when to book follow-up care for my child

After returning home from surgery, you should follow the post-operative instructions provided by the RPS team.

Remember, everyone recovers differently, but you can follow these general steps to optimise healing.

Medicine

• Always speak with your RPS team to find out when you can recommence giving your child any existing medication and before starting any new medicine they have prescribed.
• Always consult the RPS team before taking new medication, even if it’s over-the-counter.
• Always follow the instructions provided with the medication.

Activity

• When you have stitches, always check with the RPS team before your child returns to their normal activities.
• After a skin graft, any exercise that stretches the skin should be avoided for at least three weeks.

Caring for your child’s wound

• The wound will have a dressing covering it to help it heal and protect it from outside elements. If your child had a skin graft you may need to change the bandages. The post-operative instructions given to you will outline how to care for your child’s wound.
• If your child had stitches, the RPS team will let you know when or if you have to return to have them removed. In most cases, absorbable (dissolving) sutures are used in children so they do not have to have sutures removed.
• Wash the area daily with warm, soapy water and pat it dry. Ensure you don’t use any alcohol or hydrogen peroxide which can slow down the healing process.

Notify your health care team immediately if your child experiences any of the following symptoms:

• nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea
• fever/high temperature – 38°C or higher
• your child’s stitches become loose or the wound opens
• increasing pain that doesn’t improve with medication
• increasing warmth, swelling or redness around incision site
• pus coming from the incision site
• heavy bleeding from incision site
• red streaks leading to the incision site
• your child can’t pass stools or gas
• signs of a blood clot including pain in the calf, back of the knee, groin or thigh, redness or swelling in their leg.

If your child faints or is short of breath call 000 for emergency care.