Dr. Nichter is pleased to announce that the long-lasting local anesthetic Exparel® will soon be available to his patients at the Pacific Center for Plastic Surgery.

Essentially Exparel is a very long-acting local anesthetic that has just been released. It lasts approximately 3 or more days following injection. This is the same length of time that a pain pump lasts and will therefore take the place of a pain pump. This means patients can enjoy the same effect of a pain pump, but without any catheters and no pain pump to carry around.

Exparel will be available for those concerned about minimizing discomfort after surgeries such as tummy tuck and breast augmentation.

Exparel costs the same as a pain pump and produces the same result but with less hassle.

From Exparel’s fact sheet:

To help control your pain after surgery, your surgeon injected EXPAREL into your surgical incision just before the end of the procedure.

• EXPAREL is a local analgesic that contains the local anesthetic bupivacaine. Local anesthetics provide pain relief by numbing the tissue around the surgical site.
• EXPAREL is specifically designed to release pain medication over time and can control pain for up to 72 hours.
• In addition to EXPAREL, your surgeon may provide other pain medications to control your pain.
• Each patient is different and responds differently to pain medication. Depending on how you respond to EXPAREL, you may require less additional pain medication during your recovery.

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When your pain is under control, your body can better focus on healing. This is not the time to test your pain tolerance, or grin and bear it.Work with your surgeon and nurse to make your recovery as speedy and pain-free as possible.

• Follow the post-op orders your nurse gave you.
• Eat a healthy diet and drink plenty of water. Surgery stresses your body; your body responds by needing more energy to heal

Image Source: Exparel Efficacy Page