Generally, surgeries that require the attendance of an anaesthesiologist (including but not only general anaesthesia surgeries) have a requirement to abstain from eating and drinking before the surgery.
Fasting before surgery prevents vomiting during surgery and reduces the risk of aspiration.
Otherwise, food can regurgitate into the lungs, which may trigger airway spasm, airway obstruction, aspiration pneumonia, or even death by suffocation!
For local infiltration anaesthesia surgery without an anaesthesiologist (referred to as local anaesthesia surgery), in order to prevent hypoglycaemia from occurring, it will be recommended to eat moderately before the surgery - a small amount of light diet is recommended.
Although it is called "fasting", you can still eat - but at the right time.
But eat at the right time and in the right amount.
According to the American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) guidelines for fasting, the following are the times when various types of food should not be eaten 👇
8h before the operation: fried food, meat
6h preoperative fasting: non-human milk light food, such as steamed bread, porridge, etc.
Fasting 4h before surgery: breast milk
2h preoperative fasting: light liquids
After surgery, the anaesthetic drugs are not fully metabolised, and nausea and vomiting may occur when eating.
Generally speaking, if you are fully awake after general anaesthesia, you can drink a small amount of water first, without choking and swallowing difficulties, you can eat a small amount of food, starting from liquid, small amount of times, and gradually transition to normal diet.