I hate opioids. I get severely nauseated from them. I had great success with a 2 day nerve block (wore it home) after 2 ACL repairs. But many plastic surgery practices are telling me they don’t do these and oral opioids are standard. Why do practices not offer these blocks? One practice I spoke with suggested I stay overnight at their surgery center to help with pain control. Does this mean I would receive IV opioids until time to go home?
January 3, 2018
Answer: Alternatives to opioids I try to minimize the use of opioids like Percocet since it slows recovery and is not as effective as one would assume. You can use a mixture of long acting local anesthetic along with anti-inflammatory meds in a multi-modal approach to pain. The key is pre-emptively treating pain BEFORE it appears. Nerve blocks are overkill and I rarely do it. Some people do it but its not the norm.
Helpful
January 3, 2018
Answer: Alternatives to opioids I try to minimize the use of opioids like Percocet since it slows recovery and is not as effective as one would assume. You can use a mixture of long acting local anesthetic along with anti-inflammatory meds in a multi-modal approach to pain. The key is pre-emptively treating pain BEFORE it appears. Nerve blocks are overkill and I rarely do it. Some people do it but its not the norm.
Helpful
January 3, 2018
Answer: Nerve Block For Abdominoplasty All of my patients get a TAP (transverse abdominis plane) block prior to surgery. The anesthesiologist will sedate the patient in the preoperative area. Then using ultrasound they place long acting local anesthetic into the nerves that supply the mid and lower abdomen. This give good pain relief for about 48 hours. In addition I inject long acting local anesthetic into the rectus muscles of the upper abdomen to reduce pain in this area. To me this should be the standard of care. It really allows us to cut down on the use of narcotics during and after surgery.
Helpful
January 3, 2018
Answer: Nerve Block For Abdominoplasty All of my patients get a TAP (transverse abdominis plane) block prior to surgery. The anesthesiologist will sedate the patient in the preoperative area. Then using ultrasound they place long acting local anesthetic into the nerves that supply the mid and lower abdomen. This give good pain relief for about 48 hours. In addition I inject long acting local anesthetic into the rectus muscles of the upper abdomen to reduce pain in this area. To me this should be the standard of care. It really allows us to cut down on the use of narcotics during and after surgery.
Helpful
