All surgery, regardless of being conducted awake in our rooms, or asleep under general anaesthesia, requires administration of a local anaesthetic (LA).

Surgeons are particularly well trained in the administration of local anaesthetic drugs in and about the face and mouth. Many people who may have had difficulty with getting fully "numb" in a dental office, usually find no difficulty when provided LA by a surgeon.

We use wholly lignocaine or bupivicaine based anaesthetics, usually mixed with a small amount of adrenalin to prolong the anaesthetic effect.

Local anaesthetics, their types, their admixtures, doses, and injection locations help surgeons in a number of ways, but specifically in the following areas...

• They provide numbness during the procedure being performed
• They provide a degree of post-operative numbness, so post-operative discomfort pain is lessened, and reduces the reliance on post-operative pain control drugs
• They aid with operations by lifting tissue away from deeper structures
• They reduce short and long term inflammation and swelling, by preventing inflammatory swells entering the area of surgery

Drug allergy to local anaesthetic drugs (lignocaine and bupivicaine) is extremely rare. True drug allergy to adrenalin is impossible (in fact, adrenalin is used to treat true drug allergy). Please advise our doctors if you think you have an allergy to local anaesthetic drugs.

It is important not to consume hot foods or drinks while you are numb so you don’t scald yourself.  There is also no need to “chew” the area to check if it is still there – it is – and can result in a painful laceration in the area which may complicate healing.

Ocean surgical provides full operating clinics for provision of surgery under local anaesthesia. Unless having your operation in a private hospital is an absolute necessity, there are great cost benefits and savings to having surgery under LA in our own rooms.

Some people of course require a reduction in their anxiety state to accompany LA surgery. This is also provided by Ocean Surgical by way of Intravenous (IV) sedation.

Hospital treatment usually involves provision of a general anaesthetic (GA), where the patient is rendered fully unconscious by a specialist anaesthetist. LA is also used during GA procedures, and is provided by the surgeon.

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