Fever after surgery, what is a dangerous sign? : procedures, safety, side effects, and benefits

Do you have fever after surgery? You may panic out of fear that something serious might result. So what actually causes fever after surgery? Is that dangerous?

Fever after surgery, is it normal?

In fact, fever is a common occurrence after a person has successfully undergone certain operations. You don't need to worry, because fever after surgery is not a bad thing and endangers health.

In most cases, postoperative fever can easily be treated with medications such as paracetamol or ibuprofen. Even if the fever is not very high, medicine is not needed. However, postoperative fever can actually indicate that the patient's health condition is not good and needs special treatment.

What causes fever after surgery?

There are two things that may cause fever to appear after surgery, namely complications or problems due to surgery and other health problems. Following are the postoperative complications that cause body temperature to rise:

• There are infections, including pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and infection of the surgical scars.
• Sepsis, which is blood poisoning due to certain infections.
• Have a blood transfusion. After surgery, the body may experience large amounts of blood loss. Therefore, patients who undergo major surgery will usually have blood transfusions afterwards.

Also, the cause of your fever may not be a side effect of the surgery. It is very likely if you caught the flu-causing bacteria or virus a few days after surgery.

What are the signs if my fever is serious enough?

Low-grade fever is very common, this indicates that your body is healing. The temperature that includes a mild fever is around 37 degrees Celsius. If indeed your body temperature reaches this number, you don't need to panic, usually your body temperature will return to normal quickly.

Meanwhile, moderate fever is characterized by an increase in body temperature reaching 38-39 degrees Celsius. If this happens, you should be aware of any other symptoms you have at that time, such as nausea, vomiting, pain in any part of your body, or bleeding. Because maybe this happened due to infection. But if there are no other symptoms, doctors will usually give you fever-reducing drugs such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen.

If the fever you are experiencing is a high fever, which reaches up to more than 39 degrees Celsius, then you must immediately notify your medical team. Because this could be caused by a serious infection. You will also be asked to do a tissue culture test to see what bacteria is causing the infection.

How to prevent postoperative fever?

You can prevent fever from appearing after surgery by doing the following easy things:

• Eat foods that heal wounds. Foods that contain protein and vitamin K can make your surgical wound heal faster.
• Pay attention to your surgical wound. If you feel pain or bleeding from your surgical wound, consult a doctor immediately.
• Change the wound dressing regularly. Ask your medical team to change the wound dressing. Usually the wound dressing will be changed 3-6 days after surgery.

If you experience other symptoms after surgery, such as feeling pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, or vomiting, then don't hesitate to contact your doctor.