Before you go to sleep
If you haven’t already met your anaesthetist you will meet them either on the ward or outside the operating room on the day of your surgery. At this stage if you have any concerns or worries about your operation or anaesthetic please let them know.
When it is time for your surgery you will have an intravenous drip placed and often you will be given a sedative “relaxing medication” just before going into the operating theatre. You often will not remember much after being given the sedative. Once inside the operating theatre you will have several monitors placed (these monitor things like your blood pressure, heart rate and breathing patterns). Once these are placed you will be given an oxygen mask and then receive another injection through the drip. Depending on the type and extent of the surgery you may either have a full general anaesthetic or local anaesthetic with sedation.
Generally speaking, more extensive surgery e.g. blepharoplasty, brow lift, chin augmentation is almost always done under general anaesthesia. We believe this provides the best operating conditions for your surgeon and the best cosmetic result, and also a more comfortable experience for you. Minor procedures such as excision of small skin lesions can be done very successfully under sedation with local anaesthesia.
LOCAL ANAESTHETIC WITH SEDATION
Whether you have a full general anaesthetic or sedation your anaesthetist will remain with you continuously, monitoring your operation, anaesthetic and all your vital physiological functions. They stay with you until you reach the recovery room where your care will continued by the recovery staff. While you are in recovery if you have any discomfort or feel nauseated or sick it is important that you let the recovery staff know. They can administer pain-killers or anti-nausea drugs if they are required. The aim is to have you comfortable when you leave recovery for the ward.
THE OPERATION
Whether you have a full general anaesthetic or sedation your anaesthetist will remain with you continuously, monitoring your operation, anaesthetic and all your vital physiological functions. They stay with you until you reach the recovery room where your care will continued by the recovery staff. While you are in recovery if you have any discomfort or feel nauseated or sick it is important that you let the recovery staff know. They can administer pain-killers or anti-nausea drugs if they are required. The aim is to have you comfortable when you leave recovery for the ward.
YOUR STAY IN HOSPITAL
Depending on the type of operation you may stay over-night or go home.The local anaesthetic combination that we have devised generally gives very good pain relief for up to 24 hours, so generally if you need to stay in hospital overnight you are comfortable from a pain point of view. We will generally give you paracetamol regularly during your stay and frequently you will need no further pain relief, however if you have any pain or problems please let your nursing staff know as there is stronger pain medication available.
GOING HOME
Whether or not you are going home on the day of surgery or the next day you need someone to pick you up from the hospital and take you home. If you go home on the day of surgery it is also advisable to have someone at home with you that first night after surgery. With practice over the last 4 years we feel we have a great local anaesthetic combination that will give you good pain relief for the first day after surgery . If you have a general anaesthetic you will still have local anaesthetic injected at the end of your operation for pain relief. We generally recommend most of our patients take regular Panadol (2 tablets four times a day) for 2-3 days after their surgery. If the Panadol is taken regularly we often find our patients do not require any other pain relief. You will be given a prescription for some stronger pain killers just in case you need them.