Anestesia Question

[vaio]

Does General Anestesia kill brain cells??

[jc71]

I've heard somewhere that it can cause memory & learning problems in children because it can destroy nerve cells or nerve endings in the developing brain.  It was developmental stages only so maybe not in adults, not sure. Probably not wise to do elective surgical procedures on babies/kids, but maybe not a problem if local is used.  I wonder if there's any risk to a fetus if the mother receives an epidural during labor? I know that's not a gyne question, but I just thought of it.

[vaio]

My surgeon says he does gyne work under general. Can I request he do it local?

[DrBermant]

My surgeon says he does gyne work under general. Can I request he do it local?

Some surgeons use general with tumescent techniques. Some use general alone.  I found that general anesthesia can leave patients with a higher chance of nausea and discomfort after surgery.

Each surgeon has his / her preferences about anesthesia.  I typically use local with heavy sedation.  That is not general anesthesia, but the patient is not awake.  We use medications injected into an IV for this sedation.  That is how we help keep our patients comfortable for most types of gynecomastia chest sculpture.  Sedation itself is an art.  I will use local anesthesia alone when performing actual nipple reduction surgery.

You can look at other posts here in this forum where anesthesia and sedation are discussed:

I prefer to perform tumescent anesthesia with sedation over general anesthesia or local anesthesia alone for most types of male chest sculpture. We take the comfort of our patients very seriously. You can find a number of posts here in this forum where patients describe their anesthesia experiences under this local anesthesia with sedation:

http://www.gynecomastia.org/cgi-bin/gyne_yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=1;action=display;num=1021397758;start=0#0

http://www.gynecomastia.org/cgi-bin/gyne_yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=1;action=display;num=1030314533;start=0#0

http://www.gynecomastia.org/cgi-bin/gyne_yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=1;action=display;num=1037669367;start=4#4

http://www.gynecomastia.org/cgi-bin/gyne_yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=14;action=display;num=1052569996;start=0#0

http://www.gynecomastia.org/cgi-bin/gyne_yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=14;action=display;num=1062552462;start=0#0

http://www.gynecomastia.org/cgi-bin/gyne_yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=14;action=display;num=1065016337;start=4#4

http://www.gynecomastia.org/cgi-bin/gyne_yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=14;action=display;num=1073182463;start=4#4

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Gynecomastia and Chest Sculpture