When having a facelift/neck lift, is local anesthesia the best way? And do you feel any pain?

Personally I believe that the best, safest, and most cost-effective way to perform a face and neck lift is under local anesthesia with oral sedation. In my hands, there is no compromise whatsoever in the quality of results with this technique. I want to emphasize that there are many excellent surgeons with great results who prefer other forms of anesthesia. I have a great deal of respect for all of my colleagues, especially those who excel in facelifts. But in my hands, with my experience, the procedure is best performed under local anesthesia with oral sedation. To answer your question about pain, there is no pain during the procedure. If there were any pain, the patient would be complaining and would simply be wiggling around too much for the procedure to be performed.  Obviously, such a situation is not an option - and so every patient is perfectly comfortable and pain-free during facelifts performed under local anesthesia.

Hi there, 
Every surgeon has techniques they feel comfortable with but in our practice we find patients are most comfortable with twilight anesthesia (IV sedation). This allows the patient to have no memory of the procedure and allows us to provide the procedural details and level of precision our patients expect.
Hope that helps and best wishes, 
Dr. Donath 

Hello, I generally don't recommend anyone have a facelift under local anesthetic unless there are medication allergies or medical issues involved. While surgeons can use local anesthetic to numb the area, some pain, tugging feeling can be felt. Also, when only local anesthetic is used, the patient can see, hear, and smell what is going on in the OR...which could be unpleasant and lead to a spike in blood pressure for the patient, etc. The biggest risk is if the patient moves while this is being performed, it could cause permanent damage or result in less than ideal results. It's better to just receive general anesthesia. Hope this helps. Best Wishes, Dr. Lane Smith Las Vegas, NV