Two weeks after addressing her liposuction during a performance in Tennessee, Cardi B is reportedly taking time off due to complications from her plastic-surgery procedures. TMZ reports that the rapper withdrew from a Memorial Day performance at the the 92Q Spring Bling Festival in Maryland due to "serious fallout from her recent cosmetic surgeries."
"Let me tell y'all something. I shouldn't really be performing," Cardi told the crowd at the Beale Street Music Festival earlier this month. "I should have canceled today because moving too much is gonna fuck up my lipo. But bitch, I'm still gonna get this money bag." Days before, she revealed that she'd "just gotten [her] boobs redone" in an interview with ET, and opened up to fans on Instagram Live about the challenge of balancing work and recovery. "I can't even feel my body, shit hurts," she said from her bed. But the recommended recovery process clearly didn't get in the way of her working — until now.
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Board-certified plastic surgeon Karen M. Horton, MD, tells Refinery29 that plastic surgery does come with risks, including blood clots and infection. With liposuction in particular, Dr. Horton says that dehydration may occur if patients don't drink enough fluids for the first few weeks following a procedure. For someone like Cardi, whose job requires them to be physically active and energetic, Dr. Horton says the condition is a possibility. "Her schedule seems hectic and requires major energy expenditure. It's likely that she is suffering from dehydration or exhaustion, but hopefully nothing more serious," she says.
Generally, following a breast augmentation, most experts say that swelling could take up to three months to subside. Dr. Horton tells her patients to plan for one week off of work, and three weeks off of exercise and rigorous activity. Following liposuction, patients may experience significant bruising for at least two weeks and must wear compression garments for at least six weeks. "Healing takes time. You can't speed ahead as usual, ignoring the fact you are recovering from surgery," she says. "That's when you'll get into trouble."
Hopefully this will be the incentive Cardi needs to rest up until she's fully healed and ready to return to the stage. And, she assured fans, don't panic if you were hoping to see her headline at this weekend's festival in Baltimore — she'll be back in September to do her thing for ticketholders in good health.