Can an arm lift be done using conscious sedation?

Yes. Absolutely.  The combination of IV sedation and local anesthesia is a excellent and popular anesthetic combination. Many cosmetic surgical procedures are performed with conscious sedation. It is safer, and less side effects than general gas inhalation.

Hello, thank you for your question regarding whether you can undergo an arm lift ( brachioplasty) or more accurately, an arm reduction, under local anesthesia.  The short answer is “yes”, an arm reduction can be performed under local anesthesia.  However,  I would NOT advise it. I specialize in arm reduction surgery and have performed thousands of arm reduction procedures.  If you want the arm reduction done under local anesthesia, you will experience pain.  You’ll feel almost every injection of the local anesthetic.  In addition, you may feel the tumescent solution being injected. Tumescent solution is used for arm liposuction.  After that, you may also feel some of the cutting involved to remove excess arms skin.  My patients require a significant amount of arm skin and fat to be removed.  To minimize pain, I inject a lot of tumescent solution and local anesthetic.  Because I inject so much local anesthetic, toxic doses can be quickly reached. Therefore, if a patient can only have an arm reduction done under local anesthesia, I can only do one arm at a time because of the maximum doses of lidocaine involved.  One or two weeks later, then I return and do the other arm.  I don’t think this is optimal, but some patients demand local  anesthesia. My question to you would be why would you want to undergo an arm lift under local anesthesia? First,  arm reduction under local anesthesia takes longer. Second, the recovery period for an arm reduction done under local anesthesia is longer. Third, I believe a staged arm reduction under local anesthesia is more unsafe then undergoing Single stage general anesthesia for bilateral arm  reduction.  I hope that I’ve answered your questions regarding arm lift, brachioplasty, or arm reduction under local anesthesia. If you have any more questions regarding the arm reduction surgery under local anesthesia, please contact my office. When seeking an arm lift or  plastic surgery in general, please seek an experienced, board-certified plastic surgeon who is an expert in the field of arm reduction surgery. Travel out of state if you must. Sincerely, Dr.Katzen. (Certified by the American Board of Platic Surgery and member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.)

Limited liposuction can be done under local anesthesia.   You do not want to be in pain during the procedure so that the surgeon must stop the procedure or do less than what is necessary.   For this reason, general is a better option for my patients.   I do not use local exclusively unless a small area of liposuction is planned.
Kenneth Hughes, MD, Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
Los Angeles, CA

. . . although proper arm lifts usually take around 3 hours, which is awhile for anesthesia to be titrating (adjusting in real time) the amount of conscious sedation you may need (and we don't want someone moving their arms during the procedure if they are too "light"). Therefore, we routinely do this procedure under general anesthesia, which is very well-tolerated.

In the proper patient, IV or conscious sedation should be well tolerated.This would be determined during consultation with a plastic surgeon to ensure you are a candidate for an arm lift (some may be treated with Vaser ultrasound liposuction instead) as well as discuss options, expectations, procedures, anesthesia, etc.

Thank you for your question. The answer depends on your severity of excess skin and soft tissues. Usually, most plastic surgeons feel comfortable performing a mini-brachioplasty in the office under local and oral sedation, but as far as full brachioplasty it will depend on your surgeon as there are several techniques that differ amongst us. IV sedation is a reasonable method of anesthesia for a full brachioplasty depending on the severity. I would encourage you to consult with a board certified plastic surgeon. Best of luck!

If you have only minimal tissue to remove you may be able to consider alternatives to general anesthesia. However if a traditional arm lift is performed, which may also include liposuction, it is best to have it while under general anesthesia. This is for your comfort and safety and to give your surgeon the opportunity to optimize your results.

Arm lift, or brachioplasty, May be safely performed under local anesthesia or conscious sedation.  Usually, the tumescent solution used in the liposuction portion of the case provided adequate pain control to perform the skin removal as well.  Please be sure that your procedure is performed at an accredited surgical facility.

Yes an arm lift can be done with conscious sedation and is the way I usually perform the surgery.  The benefits are quicker recovery from anesthesia and usually less post operative pain in my experience.  

Different surgeons will have different preferences on this, but the short answer is yes, it is possible.  I generally prefer to use general anesthesia, but that is just me.  Discuss it with your surgeon to see what they recommend based on their experience.