Time Off Work
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How long you need off depends on three things: the operation, how physical your job is, and how much control you have over your hours. The desk-work figures below match the recovery timeline. The physical-work figures follow from when lifting and stretching restrictions lift. Your surgeon's clearance overrides both.
Plenty of women have told me they went back too early. I cannot think of one who told me she took a week too many. Give yourself the time, and you go back feeling like yourself rather than running on empty.
At a glance
"Desk" means sitting work you could do remotely. "Light physical" means standing, walking and light lifting, as in retail, hospitality or teaching. "Heavy" means lifting, pushing or reaching overhead, as in trades, warehousing or care work.
| Procedure | Desk | Light physical | Heavy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vaginoplasty or peritoneal pull-through | 6–8 weeks | 8–10 weeks | About 3 months |
| Intestinal vaginoplasty | 6–8 weeks | 2–3 months | 3–4 months |
| Vulvoplasty | 3–4 weeks | 6 weeks | 8 weeks or more |
| Orchiectomy | 3–7 days | 2 weeks | 3–4 weeks |
| Breast augmentation | About 1 week | 2–3 weeks | 6 weeks |
| Facial feminisation, forehead or jaw | 2–3 weeks | 3–4 weeks | 6–8 weeks |
| Smaller facial procedures, such as lip work or a tracheal shave | 1 week | 1–2 weeks | 2–4 weeks |
| Voice surgery | 1–2 weeks without talking; 2–3 after neck surgery | Depends on talking, often 4–6 weeks | 4–6 weeks |
| Liposuction and fat transfer | 1–2 weeks | 2–4 weeks | 4–6 weeks |
| Hip and buttock implants | 2–4 weeks | 4–6 weeks | About 3 months |
These are typical ranges, not promises. A complication, a slow-healing wound or a long journey home pushes any of them out.
Vaginoplasty
This is the one people consistently underestimate, and the reason is dilation rather than pain. In the first month you are dilating several times a day, each session taking the best part of an hour with setup and cleaning. A working day has to fit around that. Most desk workers I have seen book six to eight weeks and go back part-time or from home first, which lets them keep the routine steady.
Sitting is the other limit. A ring cushion helps, but a long day in a chair is hard for weeks. For physical jobs, lifting and straining wait until your surgeon is happy with healing, usually around three months. If your employer can offer light duties or flexible hours, ask your surgeon for a note saying so before you leave the clinic.
If you are travelling for surgery, add the three to four weeks you spend near the surgeon to the front of all this. That time counts towards recovery, but it is not time you can work through. Travelling for surgery covers planning that stay.
Breast augmentation
Most desk workers take about a week. The first days are tight and tiring, and lifting your arms above your shoulders is uncomfortable. Physical work waits until lifting is allowed back, typically around six weeks for implants under the muscle. Driving waits until you can turn the wheel and brake hard without pain, and until you are off opioids.
Facial feminisation
What keeps people home after facial surgery is usually the swelling and bruising rather than the pain. A bundle with forehead or jaw work is two to three weeks for most, and longer if your work is face to face and you want the swelling to have settled. Smaller procedures are a week or so. Makeup over bruising is usually allowed once stitches are out, which shortens the time many people feel they need.
Voice surgery
For voice surgery the question is talking rather than lifting. A glottoplasty or LAVA needs a week of silence and weeks of rationed speech after it. A desk job that runs on email can restart within a fortnight. A job that runs on talking, such as teaching, sales or a call centre, needs much longer at full volume, and your surgeon and therapist set the pace. The neck operations add a week or so for the incision.
Body work
Liposuction and fat transfer are one to two weeks for a desk job, with the compression garment under your clothes for weeks after. After fat transfer to the buttocks, surgeons usually ask you not to sit directly on them for a few weeks, which affects a desk job more than a standing one. Implants are longer.
Combining procedures
When procedures are done under one anaesthetic, plan for the longest of them plus a little. A facial bundle with breast augmentation is closer to three weeks than one. If you are staging several operations across a year or two, budget for several separate absences rather than one long one, and talk to your employer about the whole plan early.
Telling your employer
You do not have to tell your employer what the surgery is. A fit note or doctor's letter usually needs to say only that you are recovering from surgery and when you can return. If you want help with a phased return, flexible hours or a private room for dilation in the first months back, ask for it in writing before you go in.
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