“How does a local anesthetic work?”
I will have a surgery under local anesthesia next week. I want to know how anesthesia works and what is the process of it.
5 Answers
Local anesthesia numbs nerve fibers which transmit pain to the brain. We numb those. Fibers for pressure are thicker and not necessary to numb, so you might feel pressure and tugging, but no pain.
I hope you have met your anesthesiologist and discussed this beforehand and have had some information regarding the type of local anesthesia needed.
Local anesthesia is administered by surgeon near the area of surgery. It takes minutes to start to take action. Side effects are minimum. But you will need the presence of other adults to take you home.
Blocks the conduction of pain signals to the brain
Local anesthetic work by blocking the transmission of pain signals at the affected nerves. Under normal circumstances sodium channels are blocked in the presence of a local anesthetic preventing the pain signal from traveling the pathway to the brain where the signal is interpreted as pain. Infected tissues are not amenable to local anesthetics due to the acidic nature of the affected tissue the local anesthetic cannot be properly absorbed by the nerve.
