@doneuro, Good morning and welcome to Connect. Many in this group of caring folks are dealing with all facets of Small Fiber Neuropathy (SFN). I will tag @jenniferhunter and ask her to share her experience with surgery and SFN. I believe her surgery was at Mayo and she has a great deal of information from her experience. Be safe and have a pain free day.

@doneuro My experience is with nerve compression caused by thoracic outlet syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, and compression of my spinal cord for which I had spine surgery at Mayo. TOS is a nerve compression under the collar bone in the shoulder and neck. Surgery causes inflammation which is a natural part of the healing process, and with my spine surgery the inflammation laid a framework for bone growth to heal the spine. This also causes some body wide inflammation too, so you might expect some pains in places other than the surgery site. I had to avoid the use of anti-inflammatories during my recovery so I would not affect bone healing. I don't have other types of neuropathy except those that are physical problems. Surgery also causes tight internal scar tissue, but that can be treated after proper healing with myofascial release type physical therapy to loosen the tissues so the body can move properly. My TOS was definitely more painful after my spine surgery because the incision was very close to the area where the TOS is and I could not move because I was in a neck brace for 3 months, but later after working in physical therapy, I'm back to my pre-surgery progress on TOS and progressing again. I am also rebuilding muscle that was lost due to the spinal cord compression.

As for anesthesia and pain drugs affecting neuropathy, that might be a question for your doctor. In looking for literature, I was finding studies about regional anesthesia or the local injections that are used along with general anesthesia. Conceivably, if that injection hits a nerve it could cause damage. You may want to ask the anesthesiologist that works with your surgeon (or ask your surgeon) about complications of anesthesia that could happen given your current health status and the type of neuropathy that you have. This is all detoxified by your liver and kidneys, and your doctor should have done a presurgery physical with blood work to qualify you for the procedure. Diabetes affects all of it too, if that is the cause of your neuropathy. The skin incision itself will severe some superficial nerves and I believe they can regenerate, but get that answer from the surgeon. I had numbness with my incision, but feeling has since come back. Here are some links. I hope this helps.

Myofascial release discussion
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/
https://journals.lww.com/anesthesia-analgesia/fulltext/2007/04000/Neurological_Complications_After_Regional.42.aspx
I found this about vision loss after surgery that has to do with the prone position of a patient and reduced blood flow to the optic nerves. That brings up the question, what position will you be in for the surgery, and how could that affect things and cause potential complications? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2699455/

This link talks about staple and mesh repairs causing nerve entrapment.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00705717
This is about the possible sources of pain post op.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1235436/