Anesthesia and Gender Surgery
Surgery is not a routine experience for most of us. The Gender Confirmation Center recognizes surgery can be an anxiety-provoking experience, and we believe a description of surgery can help you feel more comfortable with the experience.
Your surgery will be performed in an operating room. The team includes a board-certified anesthesiologist, a trained operating room technician, and a registered nurse in charge of the operating room.
When you arrive, you will be asked to change into a gown and robe. You will meet with your surgeon and the anesthesiologist before you go into surgery. This is the time for final surgical planning; it is also when we will do basic preparation or draw on your skin as needed. There will be time for last minute questions.
Once you enter the operating room, the staff will do everything they can to make you feel comfortable. Our staff will connect you to monitoring devices, such as a blood pressure cuff and heart monitor. You will receive sedative medication, which will make you feel drowsy, through an IV in your arm.
When your surgery is over, you will be moved to the recovery room, or post-anesthesia care unit (PACU). You will be connected to monitoring equipment for the entirety of your stay in the recovery room. During this period, a nurse will take care of you and remain with you at all times. Your stay in the recovery room will last from 1 to 4 hours, depending on how quickly you wake up and feel okay. Most patients are fully awake within 30-60 minutes after surgery but may not remember much about their stay in the recovery room.
