Anesthesia (Painless Hair Transplantation)

How we minimize discomfort of local anesthetic injection?Buffering the Lidocaine by adding 7.5% sodium bicarbonate to Lidocaine neutralizes the acidic pH and decreases the pain of injection. Warming the solution to body temperature lessens discomfort as well.Cold compress with vibration before injection We use smallest needle (30G) for infiltrationSlow injectionHand holding, Talkanesthesia (talking while injecting) and Thai massage for pain distraction Many people think of anesthesia as being "put to sleep". However, there are other ways of achieving anesthesia, which just means rendering one insensitive to pain impulses. In hair transplantation we use local anesthesia, which, as the name implies, locally deadens (temporarily) the nerves, rather than the whole central nervous system (unconsciousness). This is most desirable because, when using local anesthesia, no pain is felt, the procedure can be done in the office, we avoid the expense and hazards of the hospital operating room and general anesthesia, and the patient is awake throughout the process, and can remain an active participant in decision making and respond to instruction from the physician during surgery.There is better understanding of the relationship between effective anesthesia and limitation of bleeding or "oozing" during surgery. An inadequately anesthetized, anxious patient may have increases in heart rate and blood pressure that increase risk for bleeding; thus, anesthesia level and physical signs such as heart rate and blood pressure are carefully monitored during surgery. Local anesthetics are injected into the skin and subcutaneous layers, and/or around larger nerves in the form of nerve blocks.