Most students use holiday breaks to plan trips or visit home, but some use the breaks to schedule non-emergency surgeries.Baton Rouge area specialists report increased surgical patient loads during Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, and a September study from the American Journal of Sports Medicine suggests scheduling surgeries during breaks reduces the amount of time missed from school and lessens academic interruption.Kimberly Ruxlillo, Baton Rouge oral surgical assistant, said an additional five patients a day visit her office during the holiday season. She said wisdom teeth extraction, a common out-patient procedure scheduled during holidays, requires about three to five days of recovery, and she said side effects are bleeding and pain from overexertion. “You can go to class, but you wouldn’t run around the lakes,” Ruxlillo said of surgeries performed during the semester. She said sensitivity can last five days, and anesthesia’s effects dwindle after three hours.Lauren Barthelemy, industrial engineering junior, said she will have her wisdom teeth pulled in January to avoid missing class.Leslie Bass, animal science senior, had her wisdom teeth pulled just before the New Year and said it didn’t interfere with her return to school later in January.Indya Lane, biology junior, had knee surgery during the 2008 Christmas break. She said she enjoyed her break despite her six-week recovery period.”It was hard getting around,” Lane said.Dr. Christian Hall, a local ear, nose and throat specialist, said he performs many more sinus surgeries and tonsillectomies during the holiday breaks.”November’s typically our biggest month — November and Christmas,” he said.During the holidays, Hall said his patient load increases by about 10 to 15 percent. Though he treats children, Hall said about 10 percent of his patients are college-aged.Hall said his most commonly performed procedures include implanting ear tubes, adenoidectomies, tonsillectomies and sinus surgeries. Kayla Nolan, biology junior, had both her tonsils and adenoids removed on Nov. 23 just in time for the Thanksgiving break because she didn’t want to be inhibited for Christmas. She said her recovery time is anticipated to be about seven to 10 days, and she ate her first solid food on Thanksgiving.”I’ve been eating a lot of ice cream and smoothies and trying not to talk too much,” she said. “My throat has been really sore.”Hall said vacation time is a large factor prompting students to schedule surgeries, but some simply get sick more often during the winter months.”Even though [sinus surgery] is an elective surgery, it’s on people’s minds,” he said. “And they’re sick of being sick.”Hall said another factor is that most insurance deductibles renew on Jan. 1, and many patients schedule surgeries before deductibles expire.”The surgery’s appropriate. They need the surgery,” he said. “It’s simply a matter of timing.”For sinus surgery, normally a mildly intrusive endoscopic procedure, Hall recommends patients stay at home for a week but said some people return to work after three days.”Certainly you can’t do anything for as long as you’re taking pain medication,” Hall said.For tonsillectomies, he said patients must stay home for a week, but the older the patient, the longer the recovery time. Ear tube procedures are one-day, out-patient procedures, Hall said.Maura, an Aesthetic Surgery Center patient consultant who would not give her last name because of company policy, said her practice serves some college-aged patients, and common procedures include tummy tucks, breast augmentations and rhinoplasties. She said tummy tucks and rhinoplasties need 10-12 days recovery, and breast augmentations need four to five days.But she said there is no real influx during the holidays — the summer months see the most college-aged patients.- – – -Contact Sarah Lawson at [email protected]