At the Hernia Center of Southern California, our anesthesia team will provide both safe and comfortable anesthesia for your hernia operation. The same day of surgery you will meet the Anesthesiologist or Registered Nurse Anesthetist from our Anesthesia Department who will give you the care you need to insure your surgery is safe, comfortable and pain-free. They will examine you and discuss your anesthesia for surgery.
Patients are not to eat or drink anything after midnight before surgery. However, if your surgery is in the late afternoon it is permissible for you to have a light early breakfast consisting or water, coffee, tea, soda, or clear fruit juices and eat or drink nothing after breakfast. You should check with the operating room staff to find out if your surgery is late enough for you to have the early breakfast.
Many of your regular medications may be taken with a sip of water on the morning of surgery. Discuss this with your surgeon. If you are a diabetic, inform your surgeon before surgery because your medication schedule for the day of surgery may need to be adjusted. On the day of surgery bring all of the medications that you regularly take. Blood thinning medication such as Coumadin must be stopped 7 days before surgery. Aspirin must be 7 days before surgery. Herbal medications should be stopped 2 weeks prior to surgery.
At the Hernia Center of Southern California we offer our patients a variety of methods of anesthesia. You will have the opportunity to discuss the methods of anesthesia with the Anesthesia Department prior to choosing the method of anesthesia that you prefer.
Three types of anesthesia are offered. Unless you have an outstanding medical problem, you will have the opportunity to choose the method you feel is best suited for you.
This method is used for those patients who chose to be awake during the entire hernia operation. You are given several pills orally, approximately 30 minutes prior to surgery. To minimize pain at the time of surgery a couple of pain pills, such as Vicodan or Tylenol with codeine, are given. The second pill is a pill to relax you, such as Valium. The local anesthesia is then administered to you by the surgeon once you are on the operating room table much in a similar way that you are given an injection by your dentist. The substance used for local anesthesia is similar to the Novacain your dentist may use, however, we use a combination of two medications. One is Lidocaine, a short acting local anesthetic that will insure you a pain free surgery. The second medication is Marcaine with Epinephrine, which is a long acting local anesthetic. Marcaine will provide local anesthesia that will last up to four or six hours. Therefore, after your surgery you will be pain-free for several hours so you can return to the comfort of your home.
Since there is a minimal to moderate amount of pain at the time of the initial local anesthetic injection lasting about two to three minutes, this is not our preferred method of anesthesia. With this method patients are not disoriented. After surgery you are able to walk to the recovery room with the assistance of the operating room staff.
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Local Anesthesia with Sedation
This is our preferred method of anesthesia. In fact, 90% of our patients receive this method of anesthesia. In the operating room you will receive only one simple stick for starting the intravenous line while you are awake. You are then given the anesthetic medications through the intravenous line so that you will not feel any pain. You are given medication for pain and to relax you. You will very gradually drift into a pleasant sleep. Once you are asleep the local anesthesia is given. The substance used for local anesthesia is similar to the Novacain your dentist may use, however, we use a combination of two medications. One is Lidocaine, a short acting local anesthetic that will insure you a pain free surgery. The second medication is Marcaine with Epinephrine, which is a long acting local anesthetic. Marcaine will provide local anesthesia that will last up to four or six hours. Therefore, after your surgery you will be pain-free for several hours so you can return to the comfort of your home.
When you wake up at the end of the surgery you are still in the operating room. The operating room staff will assist you to walk to the recovery room. Since you are asleep there is no pain at the time of the initial local anesthetic injection and no pain at the time of surgery. This is our preferred method of anesthesia because it is pain-free, very safe, and has a minimal amount of side effects. This method lacks the side affects of general anesthesia which can, on occasion, cause sore throat, headache or vomiting. With this method patients are minimally disoriented.
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General Anesthesia
This is the classical method of anesthesia where you go to sleep before surgery and awaken in the recovery room.
You are given the anesthetic medications through the intravenous line and by gases that will put you to sleep. Once you are asleep the local anesthesia injection is given. The substance used for local anesthesia is similar to the Novacain your dentist may use, however, we use a combination of two medications. One is Lidocaine, a short acting local anesthetic that will insure you a pain free surgery. The second medication is Marcaine with Epinephrine, which is a long acting local anesthetic. Marcaine will provide local anesthesia that will last up to four or six hours. Therefore after your surgery you will be pain-free for several hours so that you can return to the comfort of your home. You will feel no pain during surgery. When you wake up at the end of the surgery you will be in the recovery room.
Since you are asleep there is no pain at the time of the initial local anesthetic injection and no pain at the time of surgery. This is not our preferred method of anesthesia because after surgery occasionally patients complain of sore throat, headache or vomiting. Some patients describe the way they feel after general anesthesia similar to a bad hangover. With this method patients are more disoriented, but only for a short period of time.
If you have any questions or concerns that need to be discussed with the Anesthesia Department please call the Hernia Center of Southern California at 877-2-HERNIA from 9 am - 5 pm, Monday through Friday, Pacific time.
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