Post op Pain Control- Plastic Surgery

Today I had the opportunity to use the ON-Q Pain Buster unit on 2 patients. This was the third and fourth patients that I have used it on. The ON-Q Pain Buster unit is a continuous infusion pump that instills a dilute amount of anesthetic (marcaine) into the tissues of the surgical site that helps with post operative pain. I have used the pump for 2 other abdominoplasty patients, both of which had significantly less pain than the average patient. To be clear however, there is a great amount of variability of post op pain among patients. Let's face it, some patients are more sensitive to pain than others, but my brief experience with the ON-Q pain pump compares well with the experience of others practitioners. It is easy for my patients to use, there are no adjustments for the patient, they just carry the 'bulb' filled with the anesthetic solution. The abdominoplasty patients typically have drains in place anyway, so wearing this pump and small tubing does not seem to be a problem. On my previous patients, I removed the pump the same day that I removed the drains, which is typically about the time that the pain is decreasing and they need less pain control. For more information about the pump, you can go to www.AskYourSurgeon.com