What drugs are used in general anesthesia? Is it safe?

Dear musa1992,

Thank you for your clinical
post. Your concern is appropriate as
general anesthesia uses certain medications that come with risk. They are generally considered quite safe, but
there is always a rare risk of drug reactions both anaphylactic shock, allergic
potential or toxic effects of the drugs on the kidney, the liver or other organ
functions. In general, these risks are
very rare and prior to the surgery you would meet with the anesthesiologist to
discuss your concerns with them. The
most common kinds of anesthetics used depending on the surgery performed are
Propofol, narcotics such as Fentanyl and relaxation or Benzodiazepine
called Midazolam. Some inhalational
agents and gases may be also mixed and a paralytic agent is often used to relax
muscles.

All of these comes with risk, but are
very safe and have been used millions of times over the past decade and a half
of anesthetic procedures.

Many procedures I do such as
facelift, liposuction, blepharoplasty, neck surgery, skin only tummy tucks and
others can be done under local anesthesia with no general anesthetic
risks. Generally, things that do work
are anesthesia should be done with an anesthetist with extensive experience and
close hospital privileges to the surgical facility in case there’s an
anesthetic mishap.

I’ve been performing aesthetic
plastic surgery for over 20 years in my private Yorkville facility and use the
anesthetic groups in the Toronto General Hospital and other hospitals, that
they are excellent well-trained and are able to transfer patients if there’s an
anesthetic mishap. A thorough workup using a
cardiologist, blood test are all an important part of screening patients prior
to surgery.

I hope this information is of some
assistance and best of luck.

R. Stephen Mulholland, M.D.

Certified Plastic Surgeon

Yorkville, Toronto