Risk associated to anesthesia

Plastic surgery procedures carry along some inherent risks among which anesthesia risks are listed.

There are different types of anesthesia. The more comprehensive anesthesia is, that is to say, the more comprehensive, the more risky it gets. Local anesthesia is for instance what the dentist uses to fix a tooth. It is injected locally in the area to be numbed. It is used in nose jobs -rhynoplsty. The effects are limited to the skin or just below the skin.

Regional anesthesia is also known as nerve block. It means that an area of the body is anesthetized but the patient remains conscious. An example of this is the epidural injection that is used in women during labor and birth. Such an anesthesia is not used in breast surgery. In plastic surgery procedures, it is used in facial lifts.

Conscious sedation is another type of anesthesia. This kind of medication is injected through an IV, that is to say a tube that goes into your vein -a catheter- through which the medication is pumped into the blood torrent. While the patient remains awoken, still she is drowsy and sedated.

Finally, the type of anesthesia that is used in plastic surgery procedures: general anesthesia. The patient has to breathe a gas through a mask that will render her completely unconscious. This type of anesthesia is the most risky, because if the patient is allergic to the medication, she could suffer an anaphylactic shock, and die. This is a general allergic reaction. Prolonged headache and nausea can be another consequence of anesthesia.