Health is the greatest blessing of God, which we will not appreciate until it is harmed. Most people, at some point in their lives, may undergo surgery and anesthesia for various reasons, which will be stressful in addition to the disease.
Awareness of what will be done to the person during anesthesia and surgery and what problems to expect afterward may reduce some of this stress.
In most cases, people believe that many unwanted complications after surgery are related to anesthesia and its drugs. In contrast, accurate information about the natural and unreal problems related to anesthesia will help them to treat these problems.
People think that memory loss, skin problems, hair loss, and other problems after surgery are related to anesthesia, but in fact, these are unrelated problems, which we briefly explain below.
Anesthetic drugs cannot cause acne, but the stress of surgery can cause acne-like any other stress. Sometimes, taking antibiotics after surgery can also cause acne.
Relation of anesthesia with memory
Anesthesia with inhaled gases can temporarily cause forgetfulness up to 2 hours after anesthesia, but sometimes, some people suffer from postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD = Postoperative cognitive dysfunction) after surgery. According to research, this is due to a lack of oxygen or reduction. It is not blood supply to the brain, but the cause is the start of the body’s inflammatory response to surgical stress.
POCD (postoperative cognitive disorder) occurs after general or regional anesthesia alike and is standard after cardiac surgery as well as after major non-cardiac surgery.
Advanced age, long duration of surgery and anesthesia, major surgeries and complications during surgery, and the occurrence of postoperative infection are associated with a higher incidence of POCD (postoperative cognitive disorder). Also, people with uncontrolled co-morbidities such as diabetes and high blood pressure that are not under regular treatment, older people with problematic mental functioning, previous history of stroke, and lower educational levels are more prone to POCD (postoperative cognitive disorder).
Taking anti-inflammatory drugs before surgery, controlling body temperature during surgery, optimal pain control during and after surgery, and controlling and preventing infection after surgery are ways to control and prevent POCD (postoperative cognitive disorder).
Also, the occurrence of sleep disorders and the inability to sleep well in hospitalized people can cause learning and memory disorders.
Relation of anesthesia with hair loss
Major surgeries are always done with anesthesia, and most people attribute their hair loss to anesthesia. However, there is no evidence that anesthetic drugs are associated with hair loss, and most of the stress of the surgery and the recovery process causes it.
Hair loss in patients can be due to acute infections, severe injuries and accidents, major surgeries, chronic accompanying diseases such as cancer, liver, and kidney disease, hormonal changes (pregnancy, thyroid diseases), dietary changes due to illness, or later from surgery and taking different drugs after surgery.
The relationship between anesthesia and skin acne
Anesthetic drugs cannot cause acne, but the stress of surgery can cause acne-like any other stress. Sometimes, taking antibiotics after surgery can also cause acne.
Staying and being hospitalized can also be one cause of acne after surgery because it makes you wash your face less frequently or at all.
But a series of side effects after surgery are also related to anesthesia; we mention some of the most common ones: nausea and vomiting.
Nausea and vomiting after surgery usually occur in the first 24 hours in 20-30% of patients, the risk factors of which are:
1- Female sex
2- History of Motion Sickness (causing nausea and vomiting when riding in a car or plane)
3- History of nausea and vomiting in previous surgery
4- Using narcotic painkillers or N2O gas during anesthesia
5- Some surgeries are associated with more postoperative nausea and vomiting, such as ear surgery, intestinal surgery, laparoscopic surgery, and eye deviation surgery.
Using the following methods is effective in preventing or reducing the severity of nausea and vomiting after surgery:
1) Using regional anesthesia instead of general anesthesia if possible
2) Use of non-narcotic painkillers
3) Use of antiemetic drugs before and after surgery
Sore throat
Sore throat and hoarseness occur in more than 40% of patients in the first hours to the first days after anesthesia. Risk factors for its occurrence:
1- Female sex
2- Age below 50
3- Surgery and usually anesthesia that lasts more than 3 hours.
Ways to prevent or reduce the severity of a sore throat include:
1) Using regional anesthesia instead of general anesthesia if possible
2) Using a smaller endotracheal tube
3) Using anti-inflammatory painkillers with throat-cooling tablets such as Strepsil or mouthwash with diphenhydramine.
Headache
Headache after anesthesia can be due to anesthesia, surgery, body dehydration, and anxiety, which often resolves within a few hours and responds to painkillers.
Sometimes, after regional anesthesia from the waist down, a severe headache occurs, and the following factors are more involved in its occurrence:
1- Using large needles for spinal anesthesia
2- Female sex
3- Pregnancy
4- Younger ages
5- History of headache in previous regional anesthesia
It is hoped that by reading this article, some misconceptions about anesthesia will be corrected, and the real side effects of anesthesia will also be treated correctly.