Explanation

Anaesthetics are a special mixture of drugs that you are given to make sure you won't feel any pain when you have an operation. 'Anaes' means without and 'thesia' means feeling, so an anaesthetic stops you from feeling EVERYTHING, not just pain. You either breathe an anaesthetic in, or you are given it as an injection by an anaesthetist.

You may have a localanaesthetic meaning that you will be awake all the time and will just feel numb in the part of your body where you are having the operation, or you may have a If you have a general anaesthetic.