A surgical recovery pillow can include one of more cutouts formed in the pillow body, at a top surface of the pillow body, that reduce or avoid pressure around the ear, eye, cheek, and upper neck regions of a user's face at the side of the user's face, when the user lays with their head properly positioned over a cutout. Each cutout is non-circular, and includes a support portion that extends from the pillow body into the cutout to support the user's head at the temple region of the user's head.