Epidural Anesthesia During Breast Implants?

If your surgeon is suggesting that you have an epidural placed for your breast augmentation, I highly recommend obtaining a second opinion from another board certified Plastic Surgeon. Epidural anesthesia is not safe, nor the standard of care for intraoperative pain management during breast augmentation. General anesthesia is completely safe with an extremely rare likelihood of recall after surgery.

Thank you for your question. Best of luck!

It is best to have your augmentation done with general anesthesia or a deep sedation. An epidural can work well for surgery on the belly and lower. It simply will not work high enough for you....without blocig the nerves that control your lungs! A board certified plastic surgeon and a board certified anesthesiologist will be able to provide the proper care and prevent you from waking up in the middle. Patients always worry about this, but I have never seen it happen!

Epidurals are used below the waist, in lay terms. An epidural high enough to numb your breasts would paralyze your diaphragm, making it impossible to breathe. I have found less nausea with general anesthesia than with sedation, which involves a drug cocktail administered intravenously. I have been a physician fir 35 years and have never had a patient who reported consciousness while under general.