Surgery
You wake up in the recovery area next to the operating theatres.
At first, you’ll be wearing a mask or having small tubes (a nasal cannulae) put into your nose to give you oxygen. You might feel dizzy and sluggish to begin with.
You have a blood pressure cuff on your arm and a little clip on your finger to measure your pulse and oxygen level.
Once you are more awake, your nurse will take you back to the ward. They will measure your blood pressure and check your dressings regularly.
When you wake up, you’ll have several tubes in you. This can be frightening, so it helps to know what they’re for.
You may have:
drips (intravenous infusions) to give you fluids until you are eating and drinking again
a tube into your bladder (catheter) to measure how much urine you pass
wound drains to drain any blood or fluid
You may also have:
a pump containing painkillers going into your drip
a hand controlled pump to give yourself extra painkillers
You usually have a dressing over your wounds. After a couple of days your nurse might change the dressings and clean your wounds.
You might have a wound drain. This usually stays in until it stops draining fluid and then the nurse removes it.
The nurse will let you know what type of stitches you have. A nurse may need to remove them, or they might dissolve on their own. Your nurse will tell you how long the stitches stay in, and who to contact to remove them.
Before you go home, your nurse will tell you how to look after your dressing and wound.
It’s normal to have pain for the first week or so. You have painkillers to help.
Tell your doctor or nurse as soon as you feel any pain. They need your help to find the right type and dose of painkiller for you. Painkillers work best when you take them regularly.
You get painkillers to take home. Your nurse will talk to you about:
how often to take them
when to take them
what side effects you may get
Contact your healthcare team if you still have pain or if it gets worse.
You drink sips of water to begin with. If you manage this, you can then move on to other drinks such as tea.
Your nurse will remove your drip once you are drinking well without feeling or being sick.
You can start eating when you feel up to it. This is often within a few hours of your operation. It can be helpful to have plain, bland foods at first. Strongly flavoured foods are more likely to make you feel sick.
Your nurses and physiotherapists will help you to move around as soon as possible. They check you're doing your breathing and leg exercises. This helps you recover.
You might be sitting in a chair within 12 hours of your operation. The day after, you might be walking around your bed. And within a few days you'll be able to walk along the hospital corridor.
There are some possible problems after any surgery. Your doctors and nurses do their best to prevent you getting these complications. They ask you to help yourself too. Problems may include:
You might have antibiotics to help prevent infection. You may have them through your drip at first. But once you are eating and drinking, you can take them as tablets.
You might also have drainage tubes close to the wound to stop fluid collecting around the operation site. This is important because, as well as being uncomfortable or painful, fluid that doesn't drain away can become infected.
Getting up and moving around as soon as possible after your operation helps to prevent chest infections. A physiotherapist or nurse might also teach you breathing exercises to help.
Getting and moving around as soon as possible after your operation helps prevent blood clots. A physiotherapist or nurse might also teach you leg exercises and give you compression stockings to wear while you are in bed.
Your nurse might give you an injection just under the skin to lower the risk of blood clots. After some types of operation, you might carry on having these injections for 4 weeks. Before you go home, your nurse might teach you to do these injections yourself. Or a district nurse might come to your house to do them.
You may have some numbness, tingling and pain in the area. This is due to nerve injury and may get better with time. Talk to your doctor or specialist nurse if this is troubling you.
Having a local anaesthetic to the middle or lower part of your face means that you won’t be able to feel anything until it has worn off. So you should avoid hot food and drink until the sensation has returned, as there is a risk of burns.
You might have some bruising and swelling around the area of your operation. This goes down over time as the wound heals. Contact your doctor or nurse if the swelling gets worse.
You might have a small amount of bleeding after surgery. If your wound continues to bleed or gets worse contact the department where you had surgery or go to your local Accident and Emergency (A&E) department.
Avoid strenuous exercise or activity after surgery to reduce the risk of bleeding. Your doctor or nurse will tell you how long for.
You'll have a scar. The size and shape of your scar will depend on how big the skin cancer was and if you needed a skin graft or flap.
Scars are quite noticeable and red to start with, but they get paler and less noticeable over time. Some scars can
be quite thick and raised (keloid). Talk to your doctor about any worries you might have about your scar.
You'll have follow up appointments to check your recovery and sort out any problems. They're also your opportunity to raise any concerns you have about your progress.
Find out about follow up after treatment for your skin cancer
We have more information about what happens after surgery for cancer including:
how you feel after an anaesthetic
going to the recovery area and ward
different types of painkillers
questions to ask before you go home
Last reviewed: 11 Jun 2026
Next review due: 11 Jun 2029
Find out about the follow up you'll need after treatment for skin cancer.
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Non melanoma skin cancer includes basal cell skin cancer, squamous cell skin cancer and other rare types.
Non melanoma skin cancer includes basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and other rare types. They tend to develop most often on skin that has been exposed to the sun.
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