Reuters (3/20, Rapaport) reports that “opioids account for more than 90 percent of the painkillers used after plastic surgery, according to a U.S. study” published in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery. The study “examined data on 466,677 people who had plastic and reconstructive procedures” from 2007 to 2015, and found that “almost 55 percent of patients received” pain medication “prescriptions afterwards, and 92 percent of the prescriptions filled were for opioids.” The findings also indicated that “patients who filled an opioid prescription shortly before or after surgery were about three times as likely as those who didn’t to still be using opioids up to six months or even a year later
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— “Opioid prescriptions after plastic surgery tied to long-term use, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, March 20, 2019