FAQ anaesthesia

Q. What influences the choice between local and general anaesthesia?
A. The choice of the anaesthetic depends mainly on the extent of the areas to be treated, on the expected duration of surgery and on the patient’s weight. The local anaesthetic is safe in that the amount of drugs injected is not excessive. The dose of local anaesthetic that may be toxic varies according to the circumstances. Most operations can be made under local anaesthetic with sedation - that is, the patient is awake but relaxed and insensitive to pain - in outpatient care. As regards more complex surgery or very “emotional” patients, it is preferable to resort to general inhalation anaesthesia.

Q. I’ve heard of “local anaesthesia with sedation”. What does it mean? Is it just as safe and effective?
A. The local anaesthetic with sedation is as safe and effective as the other kinds of anaesthetics, and it is recommended especially in case of small operations of cosmetic surgery (small liposuction, small mastopexy, small rhinoplasty, otoplasty, etc.); it allows the patient to stay awake, but relaxed, and not to feel pain. Sedation is performed by administering anxiolytics intravenously (to reduce the fear and the anxiety caused by the operation), analgesics (to reduce pain), hypnotic substances (to nod off) or drugs inducing amnesia with respect to the operation itself and to its duration. However, if the patient wants, it is possible not to resort to any kind of sedation.

Q. What does “outpatient care” mean?
A. The expression “outpatient care” is used to indicate cosmetic surgery operations performed within authorized and perfectly equipped health centres from which patients are discharged on the same day of the operation. Today, many operations of cosmetic surgery can be performed according to this procedure.