General anesthesia is a cornerstone of our modern medical system. If you are planning to undergo any type of invasive procedure like a breast augmentation, it is important to understand how general anesthesia will be used to ensure your total comfort and safety.
What Is General Anesthesia?
General anesthesia creates a purposeful and reversible loss of consciousness to make it possible for surgeons to operate on their patients. It is not like sleep; general anesthesia is more like a medically induced coma. If you undergo general anesthesia before your surgery, your body will feel no pain, and your brain will not remember the events that took place.
How Does It Work?
An anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist is specially trained to administer general anesthetic before an operation begins. Unlike local anesthetics, which only numb a certain part of the body to eliminate pain during a focused procedure, general anesthesia allows you to experience a long, complex, and painful procedure without suffering.
General anesthesia is most commonly administered through an airway tube. After loss of consciousness occurs the body relaxes, breathing slows, and even eye movements cease. This allows the anesthetist to maintain total control over the body and complete the surgery with precision. An anesthesia care team monitors you continuously during this time to ensure that your breathing, temperature, fluids, and blood pressure are appropriate.
Preparing For General Anesthesia
Your surgeon will give you specific directions to make your experience with general anesthesia as simple and safe as possible. The first will probably be to fast for at least six hours before your surgery. Since general anesthesia relaxes the muscles in your digestive tract, fasting prevents food and acid from refluxing into your lungs. Some medications, supplements, and herbs like aspirin, ginseng, Ginkgo biloba, and St. John’s wort cause complications during surgery, so be sure to avoid those before surgery.
To learn more about general anesthesia and the surgeries that can be accomplished using this method of medication, call (813) 499-1408 to speak to a professional at Landon Plastic Surgery in Tampa and Trinity, Florida. Dr. Landon and his team offer Tampa plastic surgery at a state-of-the-art surgery suite that is accredited by the American Association of Accredited Ambulatory Surgical Facilities to ensure patient safety and comfort.