Gynecologic Surgery

Our doctors all have privileges at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center. Your surgery will be scheduled there, either in the outpatient Ambulatory Surgical Center (same-day surgery) or in the main operating room. Princeton Medical Group OBGYN has a dedicated surgical scheduler to help find a day for your procedure and coordinate your care with your insurance company and the hospital.

Hospital Map & Directions

Prior to surgery, it is important to understand the amount of recovery and time off that you will need from work. Typically for an outpatient minor procedure, we recommend you take 24 hours off. For a longer surgery such as a laparoscopy, ovarian cyst removal, hysterectomy, fibroid removal, etc. we usually recommend about 2 weeks off of work. Please provide our office with any paperwork necessary so we can help you get the time off you need.

• You need to be fasting the night before surgery so your surgery is on an empty stomach for your safety.
• Your doctor will talk to you about which medications you can and cannot take on the day of surgery and if you need to take any medications/antibiotics beforehand
• Your doctor may instruct you to get preoperative clearance for surgery from your primary care physician or a cardiologist. This is to make sure that from a cardiovascular standpoint, you are cleared for surgery and do not have major anesthesia risks. Your doctor may recommend blood work and/or EKG (electrocardiogram) before your surgery.

After your surgery is completed, you will be in the recovery area for about 45-60 minutes. Your doctor will call your contact person to let them know your surgery has completed and that you are now in the first stage of your recovery.

Once you have recovered from the anesthesia, your family member or friend can pick you up from the hospital. The nurses in the recovery room will CALL prior to pick up to notify your ride home about the expected pick up time. The nurses will escort you down in a wheelchair and assist you into the car so you can get home safely.

After surgery, most patients usually see their doctor for a postoperative visit within 1-2 weeks to review the surgery, relevant pathology, and your treatment plan moving forward.

After most gynecologic surgeries, we recommend full pelvic rest (meaning NOTHING inside your vagina) until your doctor tells you that this is allowed. This means NO intercourse, swimming, bathing, tampon use, douching, etc. This is mainly to prevent infection. Most surgeries require 1-2 weeks of pelvic rest, however for others it may be longer. After a hysterectomy, we recommend 6-8 weeks of pelvic rest until your doctor clears you for pelvic activity.

If you have incisions on your abdomen, we want you to keep them clean with soap and water. Do not scrub them, just pat dry. Your doctor will look at your incisions during your postoperative check up

If you have incisions on your abdomen, we typically recommend NO heavy lifting more than 15 – 20 lb for about 6 weeks to prevent hernia formation. If you have incisions on your abdomen, there are dissolvable stitches keeping your muscles and abdominal wall intact. Therefore, we do not want you to lift anything heavy to compromise these stitches. Please ask your doctor for any special instructions.

After surgery, we recommend a regular diet as tolerated. For the first 48-72 hours as you are recovering from anesthesia, please avoid foods that might be nauseating (spicy, greasy, oily, etc).

Please ask your doctor if you can safely drive after surgery. If you are taking narcotic pain medication, driving is NOT allowed. You should only begin driving if you feel alert and awake behind the wheel and have not taken narcotic medications for >24 hours.

Please take pain medication as prescribed by your doctor. Please note that some pain medications are over the counter (ibuprofen and / or acetaminophen). It is safe to take Ibuprofen 600mg every 6 hours. This is the typical prescription strength and is more than stated on the bottle. Please be sure to take with food to avoid gastric irritation.

Some women get constipated after receiving anesthesia. A stool softener such as docusate 100mg twice daily and plenty of water is advisable after surgery.

Call 609-924-9300 if you have a fever greater than 100.5, heavy bleeding, pain not controlled by your pain medications, severe nausea/vomiting, redness surrounding the incision or heavy drainage from the incision or any other concerns.