Hillsborough Surgery: What You Need to Know About Anesthesia
By and large, anesthesia refers to a type of medicine given before surgery, childbirth, or any medical procedure that involves pain. An anesthetic agent will make you feel numb and keep you calm or not even remember a thing associated with the procedure. Here at our Hillsborough surgery practice, we use various types of anesthesia, depending on the surgery that will be performed, your medical history, your current health status, and previous reactions to medications.
Let’s get to know the 3 basic types of anesthesia below!
1. Local Anesthesia – This is used for simple surgical procedures such as removing an abnormal growth or closing up a wound. It numbs the part of the body where the surgery is performed. Local anesthesia is often injected near the area of surgery or may be given via inhalers/sprays if it’s the nose or mouth that needs to be numbed.
2. Regional Anesthesia – This type numbs a larger part of the body than local anesthesia and is often utilized for procedures that involve body parts below the waist. Regional anesthesia could be further divided into 3 sub-types spinal, epidural, and peripheral nerve block. The first two are given through a needle in the spine while a peripheral nerve block is injected near a specific group of nerves.
3. General Anesthesia – Given either through a vein or breathed through a mask (could be given via both in some cases), general anesthesia puts you to sleep, relaxes the muscles on your body, and prevent you from feeling pain. You won’t remember a thing related to the operation with general anesthesia.
Hillsborough Surgery by Dr. Edward Buch
Dr. Buch performs general and vascular surgeries at Somerset Medical Center or Somerset Ambulatory Surgical Center. While some general, vascular and endovascular procedures may require a short hospital stay, most minimally invasive surgeries are performed on the same day.
Do you want more information on anesthesia used during surgeries? Call us today at (908) 722-0030 or fill out this contact form to set up an appointment with us! We look forward to hearing from you soon!