Preparation is part of the operation — and most of it is in your hands.
This service covers the pathway that runs from the decision to operate to the morning of surgery: the pre-operative assessment and what it tests, the medicines that need to be discussed, fasting, skin preparation, blood tests and transfusion planning, and the practical arrangements that decide how well recovery goes. None of it replaces the individual instructions your own surgical and anaesthetic team gives you — it exists so that you arrive at that conversation already understanding it.
Assessment before the day, medication reviewed individually, fasting rules that protect your airway, and the anaesthetic, laboratory, blood-bank and intensive-care support of a tertiary general hospital behind every step.
- Assessment before the day
- Medication reviewed individually
- Fasting and airway safety
- A tertiary hospital behind it
Preparation that starts with an assessment, not a date
Whether the operation is small or complex, every patient at this centre goes through the same preparation, and the same three questions.
Find out what your body can take
The pre-operative assessment records your history, examines your heart, lungs and kidneys, and orders only the tests that change a decision. The anaesthetist then judges fitness for anaesthesia, and has the final say on whether the operation can go ahead and under what conditions.
Deal with what has to change
Some medicines need to be paused, replaced or adjusted, and for that you need your own team’s instructions in writing rather than general advice. Blood pressure, blood sugar, anaemia, smoking and alcohol all affect healing and anaesthetic risk, and all of them can be improved before the day.
Prepare the practical side
Fasting, skin preparation, an escort to get you home, time off work, childcare and help at home are not administrative details. They are the conditions under which the operation and the recovery actually work, and they are far easier to arrange beforehand than afterwards.
The team that assesses, operates and answers your questions
Pre-operative preparation at Chongqing West District Hospital is led by the surgical team, supported by the anaesthetic service and the hospital’s laboratory, blood bank and intensive care. The leadership of the Plastic Surgery & Aesthetics Medical Center is listed below, with Dr. Tongchun Mao as the reviewing physician for the patient education on this site.
Tongchun Mao, MD (毛彤春)
Lead for Pre-Operative Assessment · Deputy Director
Deputy Director and head of aesthetic surgery, and the physician who reviews the patient education on this site. A core specialist formerly at Xinqiao Hospital, affiliated with Army Medical University, he has more than 20 years in practice and performs over 700 operations a year.
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Shaoliang Wang, MD (王韶亮)
Center Director · Surgical Backstop
Center Director and the senior surgical judgement of the team: revision of failed operations from elsewhere, excision of skin tumours, complex wound repair, and the decision that a plan should not proceed. 20+ years of tertiary-hospital surgery.
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Ke He, MD (何锞)
Deputy Director · Skin & Laser Aesthetics
Deputy Director and head of skin and laser aesthetics; she manages the skin barrier and the skin conditions that affect how a wound heals and how a scar matures, and leads laser-based scar and pigment aftercare. 20+ years in laser and aesthetic dermatology.
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Yongbo Jia, MD (贾勇波)
Deputy Director · Dermatology
Deputy Director and head of dermatology; he assesses and treats the skin conditions that affect healing before an operation, manages pigment and barrier problems afterwards, and protects the result. Trained at the Institute of Dermatology, CAMS.
View profile →Preparing for surgery, explained honestly
These guides are the education behind the assessment: what is tested and why, which classes of medicine change a surgical plan, how smoking and alcohol affect healing, why fasting rules exist, how to prepare your skin, what blood tests are for, how to arrange your recovery, what to bring on the day, why operations are sometimes postponed, and how to get mentally ready.
The Pre-Operative Assessment: What Is Tested and Why
What happens at a pre-operative assessment, which tests are usually ordered and what each one is looking for, and how the anaesthetic team judges whether you are fit for an operation.
Read the guide →Medication Before Surgery: The Classes That Matter
Which classes of medicine need to be discussed before an operation, from blood thinners to herbal supplements, and why only your own surgical and anaesthetic team can say what to do.
Read the guide →Smoking and Surgery: Why Stopping Changes the Outcome
How smoking affects wound healing, flap and graft survival, infection risk and the lungs during anaesthesia, and why stopping before an operation is worth the difficulty.
Read the guide →Alcohol and Recreational Drugs: What Your Team Needs to Know
An honest look at how regular drinking and recreational drug use interact with anaesthesia, healing and pain control, and why telling your team is safer than not telling them.
Read the guide →Food and Drink Before Anaesthesia: Why Fasting Rules Are Not Negotiable
Why you are asked to stop eating and drinking before an anaesthetic, what the risk of vomiting under anaesthesia actually is, and why the instructions are not flexible.
Read the guide →Preparing Your Skin and Hair for the Operating Theatre
Washing instructions before surgery, products to stop and when, and why nail varnish, make-up, hair products and jewellery matter more than they seem to.
Read the guide →We will not pretend that preparation removes all risk
Preparing well lowers the risk of an operation. It does not remove it. No anaesthetic is risk-free, no wound is guaranteed to heal without complication, and no amount of care makes an operation predictable in every detail. Your anaesthetist, not this website, decides whether you are fit for anaesthesia, and that judgement can change on the day. If your operation is postponed, that is a safety decision and not a judgement on you. What we can promise is to explain honestly what has to happen, what could go wrong, and what is genuinely in your hands.
Start with the assessment, not the date
Reach out to arrange a pre-operative assessment. We will explain which tests you need and why, go through every medicine and supplement you take, and set out what has to happen before the operation can safely go ahead. If something needs to change first, we would rather find it now than on the morning of surgery.
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