What are the benefits of Facelift under Local Anesthesia?

Most patients are surprised to find out that they can have a facelift performed while awake. After the initial surprise, they come to understand why this may be the best option. Many of our patients undergo deep-plane face and neck lifts under local anesthesia with light IV relaxing medicine in our office surgery suite. in Dubuque, IA.

A deep plane face and neck lift is a powerful surgery for rejuvenation of the appearance of the lower face and neck, but most patients find that the recovery is almost painless. Similarly, the procedure itself is painless when performed with local anesthesia. Local anesthesia is a combination of high-concentration numbing injections placed along incision lines, along with dilute numbing solution injected into the remainder of the face. Oftentimes, a light IV sedative and pain medication are used as well to promote a relaxed and pain-free environment.

If you are the type of person who immediately thinks "I can't be awake for this", you are probably right and a general anesthetic performed by a licensed anesthesia provider is definitely a better option for you. Most people, however, are able to have a perfectly comfortable experience with a facelift and necklift under local anesthesia.

General anesthesia sometimes causes nausea, body stiffness, and a "hangover" feeling. This can take 1-2 days after surgery to recover from. In contrast, a facelift and necklift performed under local anesthesia does not cause any of these hangover symptoms, and patient are immediately back to their normal level of alertness.

Importantly, Dr. Givens takes an individualized approach to each of his patients. whether your procedure can be performed in our office surgery suite, or will require a general anesthetic, you will achieve the utmost in results.