"Overmedicating" During Surgery

GOOD QUESTION!  The way to be safe is to go to a plastic surgeon who operates in an accredited facility and uses an MD anesthesiologist to take care of all your anesthesia needs.  Those doctors who try to tell you that it is safer for you to have them just do it all under local or have them give you some sedation and avoid having an anesthesiologist present are deceiving you except for the smallest procedures.  Often it is the non-plastic surgeon who can't get an... more

In well trained, competent hands, modern anesthetic techniques are very safe in healthy patients. The relative dangers of anesthesia have been greatly overblown, often by those who are promoting the relative safety of procedures under simple local anesthesia (which leaves the patient more anxious and saves the company money).

Medications are dosed per kilogram of body weight and adjustments are made for age, general health, regularly prescribed medications etc. That is the safe way to practice. In cases that go bad too much surgery at a time, poorly trained or non-trained surgeons and inadequate preoperative planning/preparation are the main culprits.