I recently had a patient that was scheduled for a couple of procedures. When her day of surgery arrived everything was moving along as usual until she was being placed under anesthesia. The anesthesiologist could not easily place her breathing tube. After some very careful attempts without success the procedure was cancelled. We later discovered that this patient had a rare problem in her trachea (windpipe) which made it very difficult to fit the breathing tube for surgery.
Posed with this problem we had to come up with a solution. After considering all the options we chose to do perform a tummy tuck (abdominoplasty) without general anesthesia. Instead, we used spinal/epidural anesthesia. This is same kind of anesthesia used for delivering babies. It allows for the patient to be fully awake but not feel anything in the area of surgery. The operation went very well and the patient was completely comfortable throughout the process.
Spinal/epidural anesthesia has some advantages over general anesthesia. Many patients fear “going to sleep” which is not necessary with spinal/epidural anesthesia. Since you don’t “go to sleep” there is no waking up so the immediate recovery part is a little easier. Also, the types of medications used are very different. Unlike general anesthesia, spinal/epidural anesthesia has very little chance of causing nausea. However, some patients may have a headache with spinal/epidural anesthesia which is less common with general anesthesia.
All things considered, my patient had a great experience. And so did I. I am always looking for new ways to help my patients have a comfortable experience with surgery. I am definitely adding spinal/epidural anesthesia as a choice for my patients having a tummy tuck (abdominoplasty). If you are considering this procedure you might want to consider this option yourself.
