Introduction

Local anaesthesia involves numbing an area of the body using a type of medication called a local anaesthetic.

These medicationscan be used to treat painful conditions, prevent pain during a procedure or operation, or relieve pain after surgery.

Unlike general anaesthetics ,local anaestheticsdon't cause you to lose consciousness. This means they're generally safer, don't normally require any special preparation before they can be used,and you can recover from them more quickly.

Content supplied by the NHS Website

Medically Reviewed by a doctor on 30 Nov 2016