Relaxation Strategies for Patients During Dermatologic Surgery
Patients can often become stressed or anxious prior to skin surgery. This stress can create procedural issues such as postponement or cancellation or surgery. Other issues include fainting, abnormal changes in blood flow and severe emotional disturbance.
This paper investigates a number of different strategies for reducing preoperative anxiety. These include slower breathing, biofeedback, progressive muscular relaxation, guided imagery, hypnosis, meditation and music. The advantages of hypnotherapy and self-hypnosis recordings over other strategies are discussed.