IV sedation vs. Local anesthesia for tumescent neck lipo?

Most of my patients have neck liposuction with local anesthesia. I give a little muscle shot for sedation so they are relaxed. If someone is very anxious or a control freak I recommend they have sedation or twilight anesthesia. They will not feel anything and just wake up when it is over.

Liposuction of the neck can be done using local anesthesia, local anesthesia with sedation or general anesthesia (with local anesthesia).Local anesthesia is always used because the tumescent solution reduces blood loss and minimizes bruising.
The mountain discomfort from the procedure is highly dependent on the skill and experience of the provider. Having liposuction with no sedation, using local anesthesia alone, can be a little intense for sensitive individuals and can be painful if the surgeon does not have a lot of experience doing these procedures without an anesthesiologist.
Delivering consistent quality, liposuction, results is more difficult than most people realize. The number of plastic surgeons with truly mastered this procedure are in a small minority. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of provider selection when it comes to permanent irreversible body contouring procedures that can leave people disfigured.
The two most important variables are the patient’s candidacy for the procedure provider.
I suggest focusing your effort on finding the most talented provider and follow their recommendations in regards to anesthesia choice.
Defined the best provider for Liposuction. I suggest having multiple in person consultations. During each consultation, asking for Rider to open up your portfolio and show you their entire collection of before and after pictures of previous patient who had similar facial or next characteristics to your own. An experienced plastic surgeon should have no difficulty showing you the before and after pictures of at least 50 previous patients. Being shown a handful of pre-selected images, representing the best results of a providers career is insufficient to get a clear understanding of what average results look like in the hands of each provider or how many of these procedures they’ve actually done.
Continue having consultations until you feel very comfortable. You found the right provider for your needs.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of provider selection when it comes to Liposuction.
I personally focused the second half of my career exclusively doing only Liposuction and fast transfer. I do all my procedures using local anesthesia with mild sedation and fine. This is ideal for my needs.
During my training or Liposuction was done using general anesthesia, so I had to learn on my own how to keep patients comfortable to major Liposuction procedurs you think with mild sedation. Doing liposuction comfortably with patients awake has a steep and long learning curve.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom, MD