Advantages of Local Anesthesia over General Anesthesia

It is an unavoidable reality of any plastic surgery that some form of anesthesia has to be used during the procedure. For traditional blepharoplasty patients this often means general or sedation anesthesia, which holds its own set of risks and possible complications that all people looking into plastic surgery should be aware of. The more advanced CO2 laser eyelid surgery allows for local anesthesia to be used as an alternative to more invasive anesthesia methods which makes the overall procedure much safer and easier to recover from.

General anesthesia, a method of putting the patient under by injecting intravenous anesthetic drugs combined with a control of the patient’s breathing through mechanical ventilation, is essential in some plastic surgery procedures but in case of laser eyelid surgery local anesthesia is advised. It is agreed by all medical professionals that if at all possible general anesthesia should be avoided. The reason for this is that there are a number of risks associated with general anesthesia that should ideally be avoided. These include cardiovascular collapse, respiratory depressing, hypoxic brain damage, damage to teeth, nausea and vomiting as well as pain among others. Sedation carries the added risk of respiratory failure.

Local anesthesia is a much safer option for laser eyelid surgery patients in specific, as well as all medical patients in general. By injecting local anesthetic to the area that is to be worked on it can be completely numbed. The pain is blocked by stopping brain signals being carried by the nerves to the brain. There is no need for an external breathing machine as the muscles are not paralyzed during local anesthesia. It is very uncommon to develop side effects during local anesthesia though a few patients can experience headaches and dizziness as a result. In addition, while general anesthesia can be problematic for patients suffering from underlying illnesses, local anesthesia is often still an option.

Undergoing a blepharoplasty with the CO2 laser, using local anesthesia, has the added benefit of a faster recovery. Patients do not have to wait while their body metabolizes and clears general anesthetics. The effects of general anesthesia can often last for several days following surgery, a factor, which is not present with local anesthetics.