General Anesthesia Information for Breast Augmentation
General anesthesia literally "knocks you out." The drugs used by the general anesthesiologist produce a state of unconsciousness. This kind of anesthesia immobilizes you and makes you unaware of anything that is happening. The anesthesiologist will use a combination of drugs during your surgery to keep your level of unconsciousness steady, while monitoring at all times oxygen levels in the blood, heart rate and rhythm, rate of respiration and blood pressure.
Because your anesthesiologist can control how far "under" you are during surgery, anesthesia is customized to allow you to wake up after a certain number of hours. Therefore, you can be sent home the same day feeling awake.
General anesthesia will typically involve intubation to aid ventilation and deliver gases through a tube in your trachea (endotracheal tube). After your initial sedation, the tube is inserted, and it is removed before you wake up. When you awake from general anesthesia after your breast augmentation, you may feel scared and disoriented. You may feel unable to stay awake, drifting in and out of consciousness as if drunk, until the effects wear off.
Common side effects include: nausea, vomiting or discomfort in the throat for 24 to 48 hours post-operatively. Your plastic surgeon or anesthesiologist will most likely prescribe anti-nausea medication (given intravenously during surgery) and other pain medications to reduce these conditions.
