I smoked for over 40 years. I know it's really hard to quit, and that's an understatement, but you should try to quit all the way before surgery. The nicotine in cigarettes affects your bodies healing process. If you can manage to quit even a few days before surgery and not smoke during the first month you are healing it will help your body to heal much quicker with less risks of complications. Some hospitals and doctors won't even perform surgery and/or reconstruction if the patient has any nicotine in their system because it does up the risk of surgical complications in addition to slowing the healing process. As far as the addictive portion of nicotine goes, it is out of your system in around 72 hours, however nicotine can still be detected in your body for up to 30 days after you stop smoking.

When I quit smoking I had a super hard time going cold turkey. I couldn't get past the nicotine withdrawels and the actual act of smoking and inhaling the smoke into my lungs and blowing it out. It was the whole hand to mouth oral fixation aspect on top of nicotine withdrawels that I struggled with. What I ended up doing was getting a vape that had zero nicotine. I still physically felt like I was smoking something, even though it was way different than a cigarette, and my body was able to withdraw from the nicotine. After a few months of vaping with the nicotine free vape I was able to quit that as well.

Good luck, you can do this, you can quit ❤️

Oh gosh it is very hard to stop smoking, but very important if you are having reconstruction. This is why:
Nicotine causes blood vessel constriction, which reduces blood flow to surgical sites. In breast reconstruction, adequate circulation is vital for delivering oxygen and nutrients to healing tissues. Reduced blood flow can lead to delayed wound healing, wound dehiscence (wounds reopening), and even tissue necrosis (tissue death), especially in reconstructed areas that rely on limited blood supply. Smokers are at a 40–60% higher risk of complications related to poor perfusion, which may result in partial or complete loss of the reconstructed breast. Also higher risk of infection.

I was a smoker and had to quit when my reconstruction surgeon at UCLA said he would not perform surgery if I did not, perhaps a liability to doctor, I don't know. I started limiting myself the last month until 7 days before surgery I would only smoke 1 a day.
After surgery it was easy as I was pretty much glued to my recliner for 3 weeks lol
It is not easy but it is doable! I am living proof!!

Most plastic surgeons won’t do any reconstructions on a smoker. Poor healing.