Before Your Surgery

The hospital day surgery unit will contact you the day before to advise on your admission time, where to go and fasting time (when to stop eating and drinking before surgery).

Dr Wadley performs operations at

• John Flynn Private Hospital
• Pindara Private Hospital

It is imperative that you discuss smoking with Dr Wadley at the time of your appointment.

If you are a smoker, she will strongly recommend cessation of smoking to reduce your risks of surgery. She may even recommend delaying surgery until you have stopped smoking for a period of time. Your GP can assist with smoking cessation strategies.

Smoking increases your risk of surgery in general e.g. heart attack, stroke, lung problems. Smoking also increases your risk of surgery to the foot and ankle.

This includes but is not limited to: superficial and deep wound infections, wound breakdown, hardware (plates and screws) or prosthetic infections (such as total ankle replacement), delayed healing of the bone or even non healing of soft tissues and/or bone.

Dr Wadley’s team takes every effort to reduce the risks of infection related to a surgical procedure, before, during and after your hospital visit.

Things you can do to reduce this risk:

• Cease smoking
• Practice good skin care
• Change shoes regularly
• Wear good quality footwear
• Attend to a daily hygiene routine
• Avoid activities that may cause wounds to your feet or legs prior to surgery e.g. gardening, walking barefoot, blisters

If diabetic, please undertake extra precautions:

• careful skin care
• tight control of your blood sugars
• well fitting padded shoes
• daily skin cream on your feet
• professional nail care
• avoidskin lesions/ulcers
• avoid walking barefoot.