How Long Does It Usually Take to Wake Up from General Anesthesia if Going for a Mommy Makeover for 4 Hours?

You will wake up and be breathing on your own within 5-10 minutes after the final stitch. You are then transported to recovery where you will continue to wake up. It used to be that patients would predictably have nausea after the surgery due to fentanyl (a powerful opioid) given during emergence. Now we use exparel, a long acting numbing medication that makes the surgical site pain free, which frees us up from combating surgical pain with opiates. This results in the patient being free of opiate related side effects such as nausea and constipation, and they can go home the same night and sleep in their own bed. Due to the improved pain control, walking around and moving is not impaired, reducing the chance of blood clots in the legs. Generally people leave the facility about 50- 70 minutes after the case concludes. 
Best
Matthew C Camp M.D.
Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
Member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons

Hello, Everyone wakes up differently from anesthesia . Most patients will wake up a few minutes after the completion of the procedure for the mommy makeover. There are a lot of variables related to waking up after general anesthesia. Some of the common ones include your age, overall health, what procedures were done, and what medications were used.

Following 4 hours of general anesthesia, most patients spend around 1 hour in the recovery suite before going home.  This allows the anesthetic agents to clear from the system and coherence to return.  It takes up to an additional 24 hours for the full effects of the anesthetic drugs to wear off - it is therefore advised against making major decisions for this period of time.