Amputation can be undertaken under the influence of general anaesthesia, which is a medically induced sleep, or spinal anaesthesia, which numbs your body down from the waist. During the surgery, the damaged tissue from the affected limb is removed by the surgeon, leaving out on as much of the healthy tissue as possible.
A surgeon usually considers the following to decide the area of the limb to cut and portion of the tissue to remove.
- Checking the pulse in and around the part of the body where the amputation surgery will be undertaken.
- Evaluating the temperature of the skin of the body part that will be amputated and comparing it to the skin temperature of healthy limbs.
- Checking for areas with red skin.
- Checking the sensitivity of the skin of the body part that will be amputated.