I was awake during facelift+ Facial surgery. I told the Dr I was awake and he did not do anything. I felt every injection, slice of skin, and stitches. It was horrible. After the procedure, I told them of my ordeal. No person on the surgical team nor Drs had any remorse nor cared. They had hoped the Versed eliminated my memory but it did not. I am in agony over this, I have panic attacks and nightmares every night. Is this acceptable? I can not get past this without therapy. Please advise.
September 27, 2016
Answer: Awake During Facelift First of all, I am very sorry that you had a bad experience. The reason I perform 100% of my facelifts under sedation is to avoid the scenario that you had to endure. In my opinion, a several hour OR experience is beyond the capacity of most people. The analogy I use is the "lounge chair by the pool". How long is this comfortable for you? For most patients, one hour is plenty and most well performed facelifts far exceed one hour. Secondly, if you had this experience and you actually paid for anesthesia, you may want to discuss this again with your Surgeon. Versed alone, which is very short acting, is an insufficient way to sedate most anxious patients.
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September 27, 2016
Answer: Awake During Facelift First of all, I am very sorry that you had a bad experience. The reason I perform 100% of my facelifts under sedation is to avoid the scenario that you had to endure. In my opinion, a several hour OR experience is beyond the capacity of most people. The analogy I use is the "lounge chair by the pool". How long is this comfortable for you? For most patients, one hour is plenty and most well performed facelifts far exceed one hour. Secondly, if you had this experience and you actually paid for anesthesia, you may want to discuss this again with your Surgeon. Versed alone, which is very short acting, is an insufficient way to sedate most anxious patients.
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September 26, 2016
Answer: Its unfortunate I'm sorry that this happened to you. Usually if you feel pain, more local anesthetic is given. I'm not making excuses for this doctor, but there are certain circumstances where patients might end up feeling more discomfort than they should. If you were bleeding heavily, the effective local anesthesia time decreases. If they were at the dosage limit for lidocaine, they might have not wanted to give much more. If the actual surgical time took longer than expected, this would impact the local anesthesia. Unfortunately, you would probably feel the initial local anesthetic injections, but would be lessened by versed. I'm sorry that this happened to you and I dont know who did the surgery, but you might want to sit down with your doctor and discuss your feelings.
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September 26, 2016
Answer: Its unfortunate I'm sorry that this happened to you. Usually if you feel pain, more local anesthetic is given. I'm not making excuses for this doctor, but there are certain circumstances where patients might end up feeling more discomfort than they should. If you were bleeding heavily, the effective local anesthesia time decreases. If they were at the dosage limit for lidocaine, they might have not wanted to give much more. If the actual surgical time took longer than expected, this would impact the local anesthesia. Unfortunately, you would probably feel the initial local anesthetic injections, but would be lessened by versed. I'm sorry that this happened to you and I dont know who did the surgery, but you might want to sit down with your doctor and discuss your feelings.
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