Exparel

Dr. Leonard has been doing plastic surgical procedures as a private practice surgeon for the last 30 years. One of the most important aspects of perioperative surgical care is pain management. Surgical pain is a normal aspect of postoperative care, and can provide very significant worry for patients, to the point where they may not even investigate surgery because of their fear of the pain.

Typically, patients are treated with postoperative narcotics and muscle relaxants as indicated by the procedure, which help the pain, but cause significant side effects that can be harmful to the recovery process. If you have surgery with Dr. Leonard, he will use a pain blocker called Exparel, which will numb the tissues treated for up to 2-3 days. This has been a game changer in postoperative management, and not only has made surgery easier for patients from a pain standpoint, but reduces risks significantly as well.

Exparel Background

Exparel was first released by the FDA in October 2011, and Dr. Leonard started using this pain blocker in 2016, and now uses it extensively in his patient care.

How does Exparel work?

Exparel is a local anesthetic agent, very much like the local anesthetic Novocain. People are familiar with this numbing medicine, when they have dental work, which numbs the pain during the process. Exparel has been specially formulated so instead of wearing off after 20-30 minutes, the numbing effect stays around for 2-3 days. Pain fibers after surgery fire hard during the first several days, and then after that time tend to become much less irritated and the pain dramatically reduces. It is during this time of maximum pain, immediately after surgery, that Exparel produces its dramatic effect of pain reduction. When the Exparel wears off in 2-3 days, the pain fibers are also starting to diminish, and there is no large rebound of pain. The result is dramatic decrease of pain after your surgery, less use of narcotics or none at all, and as a result decreased side effects and safer recovery.

When is Exparel used?

Exparel can be used in several forms. For patients who have breast surgery or body contouring surgery, Dr. Leonard will use the Exparel locally, whereby while the patient is asleep, he places the medication in all of the tissues that have experienced surgical treatment. In this way, all areas that have been surgically treated will experience less pain. In the specific surgery of abdominoplasty (tummy tuck), Dr. Leonard will use the Exparel pain blocker in a special procedure known as a TAP block, which will magically decrease the pain to virtually the entire abdominal wall for 2-3 days. This has made abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) a surgery for everybody, even if they have been very fearful of the postoperative pain process.

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Leonard Plastic Surgery

Water Place │ 500 Liberty Street S.E., Suite 400 │ Salem, OR 97301

(503) 391-2760 │leonardplasticsurgery@gmail.com