How to Best Prepare for Anesthesia?

9 September 2021

Anesthetics

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There are so many arguments around the famous saying, “Beauty demands sacrifices”. Someone agrees. Others think it is complete nonsense. What is your opinion? For what sacrifices are you ready to remain young and beautiful? While some people lie under the scalpel of a surgeon ten times a month (this is an exaggeration, but still), others avoid even the most “harmless” cosmetic manipulations and avoid the cosmetologists being afraid of pain, side effects, complications, and we can continue this list forever. Although there is no need for extremes nowadays with the achievements of modern cosmetology (I am speaking here about injectable rejuvenation – Botox, dermal fillers, mesotherapy, and so on), many people still think of it like medieval torture and hellish pain. Even anesthetics do not make them believe they will feel comfortable. In this article, we will dwell on the level of pain during facial injections anesthetics and how it reduces the painful feelings, and also how you can prepare before the anesthesia and dermal injections in general.

What determines the degree of discomfort during injections? Physiology and Psychology

To discover how to help yourself to prepare for the procedure, we need to understand the nature of the pain and what to expect as the mystery scares us the most. So, there are a few factors that impact our feelings during the injectable procedure:

• individual pain threshold;
• current psychological condition;
• the target area for injections;
• composition of the injectable remedy as well as the density of the hyaluronic filler (for hyaluronic acid dermal fillers);
• the depth of gel administration;
• the appliance of the anesthesia.

Thus, some people feel pain eve from the tiny bite or puncture of a needle, while the others will not even notice it. At the same time, psychological conditions can greatly strengthen painful feelings. That is why it is better to choose the periods in life when you are not stressed by any factors. For women, it is preferable to do injectable manipulations in the first half of the menstrual cycle when the hormonal background practically does not affect well-being and does not interfere with self-control. For all other points, there is local anesthesia.

Do You Need General Anesthesia Before Dermal Injections?

Many people, when hearing the word “anesthesia,” imagine the condition of general unconsciousness. In fact, there are 2 types of anesthesia – general anesthesia given by the anesthesiologist before the surgery and local anesthesia (you are for sure acquainted with this one even if you have never visited a cosmetologist as other doctors, for example, the dentist applies it before removing or treating the sick tooth).

The second type is much weaker than general anesthesia and numbs just a part of your body or face. It can be administered with the help of injection, spray, or cream. If we are talking about cosmetic injections like Botox or dermal fillers, there is no need for general anesthesia, and local is more than enough. If you are scared of the injections, numbing cream with lidocaine will be perhaps the most comfortable solution for you. The only exception is if you are allergic to lidocaine.

What Should You not Do before Anesthesia?

Knowing beauty injections procedures are non-invasive and thus do not have such complications as surgery, many people do not take it seriously. This is a serious mistake as sometimes the things you do, the food, drinks, or medicine you take can have a negative impact on the results you get, the course of the procedure, the manifestation of side effects, and possible complications. Thus, one of the main tips is to avoid procedures that can harm the surface of the skin. To such procedures, we include the following manipulations:

• laser
• chemical or physical peeling
• wax hair removal
• sugar hair removal

You need to abstain from these procedures for about 10 days as they irritate the skin, make it more sensitive and vulnerable, and thus strengthen the painful feelings. Moreover, it increases the risks of inflammation or infection of the injection site, and the healing may take longer than usual.

What Should You not Eat before Anesthesia?

The things we eat and drink have a direct impact not just on the number we see when standing on the scales but also on our blood clotting and blood pressure. That is why when knowing you will visit a doctor soon to have your beauty injections, make sure you exclude from your diet everything that might provoke excessive bleeding, inflammation, or another discomfort.

First of all, you should not take any alcohol 24 hours before the procedure as it thins the blood. Correspondingly, any blood-thinning drugs are prohibited as well. Also, for some period of time, you should not take herbal and dietary supplements, medications, and vitamins like fish oil, vitamins E and A, garlic and ginseng, Omega-3s, etc.

It is also advisable to reduce spicy and salty products in your diet, as this kind of food makes you thirsty, you will consume lots of water, and it will increase the swelling at the injection site.

How Long Does it Take for Anesthesia to Start Working?

Once more, there is no need for general anesthesia for all cosmetic injections, and the local one has a superficial effect, freezing just the area o application. You will stay conscious, and there will be no hallucinations and so on. If you will receive an anesthetic injection, it works deeper and faster (5-10 minutes), and it will numb the skin better. Anesthetic cream takes more time to start working, and its effect is more superficial. Which one to choose? It depends on the individual pain threshold. If you are scared of injections, you may start with the cream, and if it still hurts, receive an injection of lidocaine. As you will need a few injections of a filler or Botox, depending on the area, it is easier to bear one single shot of anesthesia than 5 or ten of the filler.

To Sum Up

Although dermal fillers, Botox, or Mesotherapy injections procedures are way less complicated than plastic surgery and do not require general anesthesia, you should still take it seriously and carefully prepare for it. In any case, your skin, in general, will be under stress, so you should know exactly what you can and what you cannot do to do not cause additional problems for your health and skin. Of course, not the last place is for a professional and experienced doctor with medical education who will give you a consultation before the procedure and make sure you follow all the basic recommendations, so the procedure will go safe and smoothly. Take care and stay healthy, young, beautiful, and happy!