Anesthesia

I will not do any surgical procedure unless an anesthesiologist is present to monitor you.

There are generally three types of anesthesia that are used for foot and ankle surgery. In addition, I inject local anesthetic (Marcaine and Lidocaine) into the wounds during the surgery. Therefore, it is routine that after surgery there is a period of five or six hours when your foot or ankle will be numb and you will have minimal pain.

General Anesthetic
A general anesthetic is given with a combination of gases and intravenous injections (IV) by the anesthesiologist. In this type of anesthetic you "go to sleep". The anesthesiologist will determine if you should have a breathing tube put down your throat, or if the general anesthetic can be administered safely with a mask.

Spinal Anesthetic
The second type of anesthesia is a spinal anesthetic. The anesthesiologist injects a local anesthetic through a thin needle in your back into the space around the spinal nerves. This will make them numb for a period of one to five hours, depending on the anesthetic that is used. There is no sensation then below your waist. If you have this type of anesthetic the anesthesiologist will generally also give you some medications to make you drowsy, because it is very boring to lie still on your back and stare at the ceiling while the surgery is being done.

Ankle Block with a Monitored Anesthetic
The third type of anesthesia is a combination of a monitored anesthetic provided by the anesthesiologist, and a local ankle block given by me. The anesthesiologist will give you some medicine through your intravenous line (IV) and you will “drift off” for several minutes.

 During that time, I will inject local anesthetic (Marcaine and Lidocaine) about the different nerves at the level of your ankle. Those injections are painful unless the anesthesiologist gives you the drowsy medicine. With the ankle block anesthetic there is usually a period of about five or six hours after surgery that the foot and ankle remain numb.