Types of Anesthesia

Serving the Denver Metro area including Aurora, Boulder, Cherry Creek, Englewood, Highlands Ranch and Littleton

Anesthesia can be done in many ways. It ranges from a light local anesthetic to general anesthesia where you are entirely unconscious.

There are two intertwining aspects of anesthesia:

• Blocking of pain
• Reduction of awareness

How Local Anesthesia Works

A local anesthetic blocks pain in that immediate area but does nothing to affect your awareness. It works by diffusing into the nearby tissue, including the nerve or several nerves.

• A low dose blocks the activity of sensory nerves and they become unable to send any pain messages to the brain.
• A high dose will block even non-painful sensations such as touch and temperature, as well as preventing the motor nerves from contracting the muscles.

The lightest type of local anesthetic is a topical anesthetic, which is applied to the skin surface rather than injected beneath the skin. You may be familiar with this from dental visits where a swab is used to numb the gum tissue before any local anesthetic shot is given. Dr. Broadway uses a spray or cream to accomplish the same purpose.

Local anesthesia can affect a smaller or a larger area. In eyelid surgery, for example, a very small area is numbed, whereas for a tummy tuck, the entire abdomen is numbed. Dr. Broadway will inject the anesthetic in the appropriate location, to affect few nerves, or many nerves.

How General Anesthesia Works

General anesthesia renders you unaware of your surroundings and of what is being done surgically, and you will have no memory of this time span when you become conscious. Because you are unconscious, you feel no pain, even though no local anesthetic is given. You feel nothing whatever.

For your safety, a trained nurse-anesthetist will determine your dosage and administer it, and will monitor your blood pressure, breathing, and pulse rate. Your blood oxygen level will be maintained through use of an endotrachial tube – inserted after you are unconscious. It delivers air into the lungs. Sometimes a silicone mask is used instead of the tube.

General anesthesia is given either through an intravenous (IV) line, directly into a vein; or it is breathed in through a mask or tube. Since a common side effect of general anesthesia is stomach upset, an anti-nausea medication is usually administered during surgery.

Local Anesthetic and IV Sedation

Dr. Broadway does most of his cosmetic surgery by combining a numbing local medication such as Lidocaine, with an IV line giving you a mild to moderate sedative. That method separates the two aspects of anesthesia and enables Dr. Broadway to modify each independently.

• If you feel any discomfort during the surgery, you are alert enough to let Dr. Broadway know, and he will immediately give you more local anesthetic
• If you feel no pain, but do feel anxious or restless, Dr. Broadway can increase the sedative flowing through the IV line, to calm you down

Dr. Broadway also offers cosmetic surgery done with local anesthetic only. Some people are worried about being rendered unconscious to any extent and would rather stay alert. You can learn more about this by watching our two breast implant videos on this page. They show patients having breast augmentation with local anesthetic only, and making comments afterwards.

Waking Up Afterwards

When you have surgery done with general anesthesia, the nurse-anesthetist will monitor you until you become awake and alert enough to be allowed to go home. You will need someone to drive you, as you will still be groggy. It may be a day or two before you completely recover your normal alertness.

When you have your surgery done with any degree of IV sedation, you will also need a ride home, as this anesthesia takes several hours to wear off.

If you have only a local anesthetic, you will be awake and alert when surgery is finished. But you would still need a ride home because you might be given a pain medication that makes you drowsy, or you might feel a little unsteady so soon after having surgery.

To learn more about the cosmetic surgery procedures we offer, please see our page on Plastic Surgery Questions. For information on payment choices and the help available, please see Financing Options.

If you would like to know more about anesthesia options for any cosmetic surgery you are considering, please call or email our office today and we will schedule a personal consultation for you. We serve the entire Denver, Colorado area.