Understanding Anesthesia:

Anesthesia is one of the requisites of surgery as through its effects a patient is deemed able or unable to withstand the surgery procedure.

A patient who is administered anesthesia exhibits a lack of awareness and mobility. Administration of anesthesia also causes muscle relaxation which makes it easier to access bones and body cavities through the muscle tissue.

General anesthesia, deep sedation or analgesia, moderate sedation, minimal sedation or anxiolysis, regional anesthesia, local anesthesia, spinal anesthesia and epidural anesthesia are some of the anesthetics used by surgeons worldwide.

In plastic surgery, the anesthetics used are limited to general anesthesia and intravenous sedation. General anesthesia administration renders a patient unable to maintain their airway or breathe without support.

The anesthesia used for cosmetic surgery is dependant on different factors like age of the patient, type of plastic surgery, health condition, blood pressure, etc. For instance, an otoplasty or ear surgery performed on very young children requires the administration of general anesthesia but older patients can be operated using local anesthesia which induces a relaxed state.

Using anesthesia in an elective surgery is recommended and it is up to the doctor to diagnose the patient properly for any airway problems which may hamper its use. We examine a patient for anesthesia tolerance at the Plastic Surgery Institute of California during initial patient examination.