Don’t Underestimate the Role of Vitamin A For Healing Inside and Out after Surgery

BLENDING PRINCPLES OF HOLISTIC MEDICINE WITH SURGICAL HEALING

Vitamin A is essential to all phases of wound healing, from the day of surgery to the final phase 1-2 years later. If you are a fan of pan-fried beef liver, you are in luck and can get plenty of vitamin A with a serving of beef liver every few days while healing. I’ve actually had a patient do that! But if you aren’t, then you have to eat a lot of vegetables and servings of dairy to get the daily suggested value of the vitamin.

Many US adults are not meeting dietary requirements for vitamin A intake on a daily basis, and the need for vitamin A increases in the setting of inflammation, illness, and infection. In healthy individuals, increasing intake of vitamin A in the diet or a low dose supplement such as Percuro will be enough to give your body the amount it needs to heal external and internal wounds from injury, disease, trauma, or surgery. After surgery many people aren’t terribly hungry (decreased appetite) and it is hard for them to take in the amount and types of food necessary for optimizing healing. A supplement can help significantly in this setting as well. Patients who have been on steroids or continue to be on steroids need even more help and should ask their physician and surgeon about one time large doses prior to surgery.

PSA: Watch out for supplements that give TOO much vitamin A, more than 10,000 iu per day, as this can lead to organ damage, and that’s no good. Actually, it is really bad and this needs to be taken seriously.

What is the Center for Holistic Surgery and What does it Offer?

The surgical patient is better served through the mindful and thoughtful principles of those at the Center for Holistic Surgery, a surgeon-run and whole-patient focused wellness company bridging the holistic medicine and surgical expertise. By taking into consideration details of the surgical experience and melding that with the holistic care of the whole patient, every surgical patient can go into surgery prepared, better tolerate the operation, optimize their recovery, and minimize risk. Surgery is stressful on the mind, body, and spirit, and our coaching helps support the the whole person experiencing that stress.

Check out www.centerforholisticsurgery.com for more support and guidance.

Contact me at info@centerforholisticsurgery.com and we can find a time to chat about how I can support you to your best surgical health.