Could I Ever Wake Up During a Tummy Tuck? I Did During My C-Section.

The chances of waking up during surgery are extremely rare when the surgery is performed under general anesthesia. This is completely different from sedation where you are asleep, but how deep you are may vary. Many C-sections are done under sedation and it is possible to be aware of what is going on. On the other hand if your surgeon is going to do your abdominoplasty under general anesthesia (which is most often the preferred way to do it) you should be fine and have no chance of waking up during the procedure. Just make sure you are having the procedure done with a well qualified surgeon and in the appropriate type of operative setting where you are under general anesthesia and not just sedation.

If you have general anesthesia for your tummy tuck, it is exceedingly unlikely that you will "wake up" during surgery.  Giving birth and having anesthesia for a c-section is very different from an elective surgery where there is no concern for a baby, and different methods of anesthesia were likely used.   Be sure to talk with your anesthesiologist about your concerns before surgery.

C-sections are often performed under a different type of anesthesia, commonly an epidural with some IV sedation. For a tummy tuck, you are likely to be under a true general anesthesia. It is very uncommon to "wake up" during a general anesthetic. If you have concerns, why not meet with the anesthesiologist prior to your surgery? This is the best way to calm your anxiety about surgery and allows them to walk you through what will happen.

There is always the theoretical risk that you could "wake up" (have awareness) during a tummy tuck but this would be exceedingly rare when performed under general anesthesia with the monitoring devices that we have now and when under the care of a competent anesthesiologist. The reality is that awareness during surgery virtually never happens.

The anesthsia administered for a C-section is far different than that for an elective tummy tuck including the issue of having to deal with 2 lives (you and baby) versus just you. Your previous experience should be totally irrelevant to future elective surgery.

The difference in anesthesia between a c-section and a tummy tuck is that one is done with an epidural and sedation (c-section) and the other is done under general anesthesia. (tummy tuck) It is common to periodically emerge from a sedation anesthetic but that will not happen during a general anesthetic.