Anesthesia Techniques
With rare exceptions, general anesthesia is recommended for microsurgery. During this delicate operation, it is important to have a completely comfortable patient who will not move or shift during the procedure. Arranging the sutures prior to placement is the most important part of a successful reconstruction, and assuring there is no patient movement after that task is completed is vital to the ultimate result of the surgery. In addition, our goal is to make the procedure as comfortable and as low-stress as possible, and we believe that asking someone to be awake during surgery creates unnecessary anxiety. Our anesthesia team is adept at minimizing post-operative discomfort and assuring a pleasant, uncomplicated immediate recovery.
For patients with significant concerns about general anesthesia, we can perform the surgery with epidural anesthesia to maximize safety and comfort. We have consistently avoided performing the surgery with any type of anesthesia (such as sedation or local anesthesia only) that may not completely block all painful sensations, primarily because we believe this may compromise the ultimate success of the procedure. We take great pains to assure the experience is comfortable for all of our patients.