The difference between topical anesthesia and local anesthesia

As we all know, anesthesia is required before surgery, and anesthesia can be divided into local anesthesia, general anesthesia, surface anesthesia, etc. If the surgery is large or involves a large number of nerves, general anesthesia will be required. Ordinary minor surgeries only require anesthesia of the skin near the surgery. There is a huge difference between topical anesthesia and local anesthesia. So, what is the difference between topical anesthesia and local anesthesia?

1. The difference between topical anesthesia and local anesthesia

1. Surface anesthesia is to spray or apply local anesthetics on the surface of the mucous membrane, which penetrates into the subcutaneous tissue to achieve local anesthesia. Regional anesthesia means that the patient is in a conscious state, and local anesthetics are applied to a part of the body, so that the sensory nerve conduction function in a certain part of the body is blocked, but the motor nerve conduction remains intact and this blockade does no damage to the tissue at all.

2. Local anesthesia has no effect on consciousness and can also provide a certain degree of analgesia. Because surface anesthesia acts on the nerve endings under the mucosa, its range of action is very small and has no effect on the whole body.

3. Local anesthesia is simple, safe, has few complications, and has little effect on the patient's physiological functions. It has the advantages of reducing the stress response caused by surgical trauma and quick recovery. Surface anesthesia is easy to operate and does no harm to the body.

2. What is the difference between general anesthesia and local anesthesia?

Local anesthesia is the use of local anesthetics at the site of surgery. It is suitable for short and simple operations, such as double eyelid surgery, debridement and suture of skin wounds, etc.

General anesthesia is the administration of anesthetic drugs through intravenous or inhalation. The drugs act on the central nervous system to produce anesthetic effects. Most surgical procedures require general anesthesia. General anesthesia includes sedation, analgesia, muscle relaxation and other parts. During the general anesthesia process, the patient is generally unconscious, that is, he or she is completely unaware of the surgical process.

3. What are the types of anesthesia?

1. General anesthesia is the use of general anesthetics to suppress the brain's nervous system and cause the patient to lose consciousness. The patient does not feel pain during the operation and loses cognitive ability. It is a temporary, reversible unconscious state, characterized by the patient's loss of consciousness and no pain throughout the body. This is what ordinary people understand as the "falling asleep" anesthesia method.

2. Intraneural anesthesia includes subarachnoid block and epidural block, which refers to the method of injecting local anesthetics into the subarachnoid space and epidural space of the spinal canal respectively to produce an anesthetic effect. This is what ordinary people usually understand as "half-body anesthesia."

3. Local anesthesia refers to the method of injecting local anesthetics into the nerve plexus, nerve trunk or peripheral nerve endings to produce anesthetic effects, including surface anesthesia, local infiltration, regional block and peripheral nerve block. Among them, surface anesthesia and local infiltration are the most common anesthesia methods that ordinary people are exposed to in their daily lives, which can be cured with just one injection.