So What's This Pain Pump Thing?

When you are one of the top plastic surgery practices in northern Virginia, Maryland, and DC sometimes the things we do that are extraordinary become so routine that we hardly give them a thought. I have to admit, pain pumps are one of these things. We use them so frequently in our breast augmentation, tummy tuck and mommy makeover procedures, that we would assume everyone else did as well. Turns out patients don't have as much information about them as they probably should.

What they are is a medical grade device that contains and slowly delivers local anesthesia to the area you had surgery through tiny tubes for about 3 days after your procedure. What they do is decrease (not eliminate) pain by about 50% in our experience.

In fact a few years ago we conducted a study and found that patients with a pain pump for their breast augmentation used only about one half as many pain pills after surgery as those who opted not to have the pump.

Ultimately results were the same, but a bit easier to get there for those who get the pump. Trying to be the best plastic surgeons in northern Virginia, or Maryland, or DC however means giving patients options, so that is what we do with the pain pumps. We offer it as a possibility, but realize that not everyone is excited about the idea of having a fanny pack for 3 days or the tiny tubes. Since we generally don't use drains in most of surgeries, our patients are used to being a bit less restricted than some other practices.

Mostly we find people are so happy using this combined with our low narcotic use anesthesia regimens that they tell all their friend to get them when they have their surgery.