How would I best control pain after the (breast augmentation) surgery?
We will give you the appropriate pain killers and instruct you how to use them. Postoperatively, after the local anaesthetic has worn off, it will be painful. However if the pain killers are used as instructed then the pain will be tolerable and last a few days, although this is so variable.
On a scale of 10 (when 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst pain ) from our audits the pain has varied from 0 to 9. The average is between 5-7. however the perception of pain is so variable between patients. I have observed that the unknown and anxiety causes pain perception to increase.
The knowledge that pain after a procedure is normal and expected will always somehow help patients dealing with discomfort along with the appropriate use of analgesics.