Post-operative pain control and management is always a hot topic in outpatient cosmetic surgery. Generally, patients who undergo procedures of the face, such as a facelift and blepharoplasty, do not experience as much discomfort post-operatively as those who undergo more extensive procedures of the body, such as a tummy tuck. For these types of procedures, pain control after surgery used to be much more complicated.
“In the past, surgeons used to send patients home with things like an ON-Q pump, which would have to be managed by the patient,” Dr. Cooper explained. “The patient would oftentimes have to pull out additional drains, which is part of the ON-Q pump system, and have a reservoir with them at all times in the post-operative period.”
There is now a superior solution called Exparel, which is a non-narcotic local analgesic. This injection lasts for four days and provides a significant amount of pain control, and in many patients almost eliminates post-operative discomfort.
Exparel: A Game Changer
Overall, Exparel offers many benefits to patients and is the superior choice of analgesics. This is why Dr. Cooper uses Exparel during extensive procedures. Not only does Exparel allow patients a more comfortable recovery, it does not require patients to carry around a reservoir.
“It’s really to the point where we have to tell our patients who are going home shortly after surgery that they need to actually take it easy, because they’re oftentimes up walking around the office in the first hour after surgery,” said Dr. Cooper.
“Exparel has really changed the game and shifted the focus to one where we’re telling patients to take it easy and be mindful that they just had a big operation, whereas, in the past, patients would be laid up in bed and very uncomfortable. This increased the likelihood that they might get a blood clot or they might have a fever related to not breathing deeply after surgery, because they don’t want to take a deep breath because they’re in so much pain. It’s really changed things and it’s really working out nicely, and there’s no need to carry an additional reservoir with fluid and things like that, because we do all the injections while they’re asleep during the operation.”
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Individuals in the Jupiter, FL area who are interested in plastic surgery can contact our office today to schedule a consultation. We offer a comprehensive selection of plastic surgery procedures to help meet an array of patient needs.