Liposuction: Info, Prices, Photos, Reviews, Q&A

The type of anaesthesia will not in any way determine the final outcome of the liposuction procedure, rest assured. Local anesthesia with sedation is preferred by us when we need to address a small areas with the patient preferably supine. (Sameer Karkhanis, MS, DNB, India Plastic Surgeon)

I perform liposuction under intravenous sedation, except for in the submalar area. The last thing a surgeon needs is for a patient to move around while he is performing the procedure.

It is important for me to concentrate on the procedure and it becomes more difficult to do so when the patient isn’t sedated.

Additionally, if you are having “five areas” suctioned (and I am assuming that this means five separate areas rather than the use of the expression for billing purposes), that would seem to be a longer procedure and you will not be comfortable for that length of time. (Robert L. Kraft, MD, FACS, New York Plastic Surgeon)

I perform almost all liposuction procedures under general anesthesia, as do all of the board-certified plastic surgeons that I know (unless the area to be treated is fairly small). It’s far more comfortable for the patient, and easier for the surgeon to be aggressive where necessary and delicate if needed as well.

If you are in reasonably good health, general anesthesia for liposuction is extremely safe when performed in an accredited operating room by a board-certified anesthesiologist. Some doctors who perform liposuction but are not surgeons are not able to obtain approval to work in an operating room with general anesthesia, so they use an awake technique in an office setting by necessity.

This can at times be a reasonable option too, but I personally would choose general anesthesia for myself or a member of my family. (Andres Taleisnik, MD, Orange County Plastic Surgeon)

Some doctors perform liposuction under local. I usually perform liposuction under sedation especially when performing it on multiple areas. I think the patients are more comfortable and I can do my best work. (Steven Wallach, MD, New York Plastic Surgeon)

Liposuction can be done under local or general anesthesia with equal results. For the abdomen, I prefer general because the anesthesiologist can block the abdomen from going up and down, and this is safer.

Larger areas are more amenable to general, smaller to local. (Peter J. Simon, MD, Fort Lauderdale Plastic Surgeon)

Local vs general anesthesia for liposuction

There are many reasons for choosing one way vs. the other. In general, tumescent liposuction is performed whether you are under local or general anesthesia.

There are several different modalities to are used in addition to tumescent liposuction. Most of my patients start getting anxious after about 3 to 4 hours of lipocontouring under local anesthesia. Doing the procedure longer is possible, but becomes quite unpleasant for the patient. (Stewart Wang, MD, FACS, Los Angeles Plastic Surgeon)

Local Anesthesia For Lipo

Liposuction Results Often Depend on Whether You Are Awake or Under General.

There is no doubt that you get the best results when your surgeon can fine-tune the results by standing and sitting you up and turning you in all positions during the procedure. It just makes sense.

He/she is able to see and feel exactly what needs to be further smoothed out and refined to give you what you want. You and the doc do this together. Being awake and comfortable is so much safer as well and you have a good experience and get what you want.

A lot of docs don’t use the tumescent liposuction with the smaller cannulas because it takes twice as long to do the procedure and is more work but the results are so much better.

To be fair, you still can get a decent result under gen. anesthesia but why take the risk. Other factors such as the doc’s experience in lipo, doing it in an accredited op room, trusting him, feeling comfortable with your doc, great before/after photos, etc…all contribute to your end results as well. (David Hansen, MD, Beverly Hills Dermatologic Surgeon)

Propofol

The results of liposuction are generally very good regardless of the type of anesthetic that is used. I am not aware of any surgeon who stand up patients during the procedure.

Liposuction is an imperfect technique and realistically not all the fat can be removed perfectly (Aldo Guerra, MD, Scottsdale Plastic Surgeon)

Awake or asleep for lipo

It can be done safely either way. Usually, we use general anesthesia for the larger lipo cases, and local / IV sedation for the smaller ones.

There are pros and cons for both methods, but the results are comparable, and depend more on the surgeon’s skill / proficiency rather than the type of anesthesia. (Thomas Fiala, MD, Orlando Plastic Surgeon)

Both are fine and depend on what your doctor prefers. I do smaller cases awake and larger cases asleep. I like the vaser system and think it can be done on awake or asleep patients!. (Gregory T. Lynam, MD, Richmond Plastic Surgeon)