Types of Anaesthesia

Your anaesthetist works in conjunction with your surgeon to ensure your surgical procedure and recovery period is as comfortable and pain free as possible.  There are a number of different anaesthetics and their use depends on factors such as the type of surgery or procedure you are having and your past medical and surgical history.  Your anaesthetist will discuss the type of anaeshetitic with you prior to your surgery.  The most common are:

General Anaesthesia

You are put into a state of unconsciousness for the duration of your operation.  A combination of drugs and anaesthetic agents are administered placing you in a carefully controlled medical state of unconsciousness with muscular relaxation and the absence of pain. A general anaesthetic is usually achieved by injecting drugs through a cannula placed in a vein and maintained with intravenous drugs or a mixture of gases which you will breathe.

While you remain unaware of what is happening around you, your anaesthetist will stay with you throughout the procedure, constantly monitoring and ensuring your wellbeing. You will often be asked to breathe oxygen through a mask just before your anaesthesia starts.

Regional Anaesthesia

A nerve block numbs the part of the body where the surgeon operates and this avoids the need for general anaesthesia.  You may be awake or sedated, however you will be free of pain.  Examples of regional anaesthesia include epidurals for labour, spinal anaeshesia for caesarean section and ‘eye blocks’ for cataracts.

Sedation

The anaesthetist administers drugs to make you relaxed, drowsy and comfortable during your procedure.  This is referred to as sedation and sometimes called ‘twilight anaesthesia’.  Sedation may be used for some eye surgery, some plastic surgery and for some gastroenterological procedures. 

Local Anaesthesia

A local anaesthetic drug is injected at the site of the surgery to cause numbness.  You will be awake but feel no pain.  The removal of skin cancers, numbing an area of skin before having a cut stitched and many other minor skin operations are frequently performed using a local anaesthetic.