Laparoscopy: What It Is, What To Expect & Recovery (original) (raw)

How should I prepare for a laparoscopy or laparoscopic surgery?

Follow these guidelines before the procedure or surgery:

• Don’t eat, drink (including water) or smoke after midnight the day before your procedure or surgery.
• Wear loose-fitting clothing. You’ll have some abdominal tenderness and cramping.
• Wear low-heeled shoes on the day of surgery. You might be drowsy from the anesthesia and unsteady on your feet.
• Don’t wear any jewelry. (You can wear your wedding ring.)
• Remove any nail polish before the procedure.
• Arrange for someone to drive you home after the surgery.

What happens during a laparoscopy or laparoscopic surgery?

You’ll lay on the operating table slightly tilted with your head lower than your feet. Your anesthesiologist will give you general anesthesia to relax your muscles and prevent you from feeling pain during surgery.

Your surgeon will then make a small cut near your belly button or under your rib cage. They’ll insert a gas tube into this incision to fill your belly with gas. Pumping the area with gas makes your organs easier to see on the monitor.

After removing the gas tube, your surgeon inserts the laparoscope. They may insert surgical instruments through incisions nearby to take tissue samples or perform surgical procedures.

Your surgeon will let the gas out of your body once the procedure is over and close your incisions.

A diagnostic laparoscopy usually takes from 30 minutes to one hour. Laparoscopic surgery can take from one to three hours, depending on how complicated your condition is. If the surgeon can’t safely complete the operation using laparoscopically, they may need to switch to a traditional open procedure with a larger incision.

What happens right after the procedure?

After surgery, you’ll usually stay in a recovery room for about one hour while providers monitor your vital signs until you wake up.

Will I be in pain when I wake up?

You may have pain after surgery from small amounts of gas left in your body, as well as internal pain from the surgery or around your incisions. It’s also common to have shoulder pain. Your provider will give you pain medication to make you more comfortable.

Before leaving the hospital, schedule your follow-up appointment so your healthcare provider can check your healing progress.