Awake upper eyelid surgery - what does this entail?

Hello - An upper blepharoplasty procedure under local anesthetic is fairly common now. I perform all of my eyelid surgery in the office under local without IV sedation or general anesthesia. It entails coming to the office, marking which usually takes about 5 minutes, and then the local anesthetic which can pinch and burn briefly. Once this is over, the entire area is numb and patients only feel "pulling and tugging" around the eyes. Patients are bruised and swollen for a few weeks after surgery but the whole process takes about 1 hour. This is a fairly common surgery to perform under local anesthetic so there should be plastic surgeons in your area that can accomplish this.

Surgery to remove excess skin and/or fat from the upper eyelids is regularly performed under a local anaesthetic. It is tolerated very well.

Upper blepharoplasty (surgery to address excess tissue on the upper lids) can be performed under local anaesthetic with you awake. This involves injecting the upper eyelid to make the area numb, before performing surgery to remove the excess skin (and in some circumstances a small amount of muscle or fat). The wound will then be closed with sutures and you will be able to go home shortly after your procedure.

Upper lid Blepharoplasty's may be done while patient is awake with our Halcion protocol. Patient will be prescribed Halcion to make them super drowsy/ sleepy. Combined with Benadryl at the time of arrival and our usual numbing , while patient is not fully under , 9 times out of ten they do not remember the procedure the next day.

With only a few exceptions, cosmetic upper eyelid surgery is simply removal of some skin of the upper eyelid and preserving all other structures. Therefore, as long as the patient is comfortable with it, after the marking of the excess skin of the upper eyelid is done, local anesthesia can be placed beneath this ellipse of skin, the ellipse can be removed and the repair of the opening done all under local anesthesia only with the patient fully awake. Some patients may request a small sedative to be more relaxed during the surgery. Unless it is by patient demand, the use of general anesthesia for upper eyelid surgery is not necessary. All qualified plastic surgeons should be able to accommodate this request.

Upper eyelid rejuvenation/blepharoplasty can easily be done in office under local anesthesia. This is essentially a skin removed with maybe a little central and medial fat.

In our opinion, upper eyelid blepharoplasty is a procedure well suited for an office setting using local anesthetic. We ask patients to wear comfortable clothes since they will be lying on a cushioned table for around an hour and a half. First we mark our patients while they are sitting up so we can see precisely how much skin needs to be removed from the upper eyelids, and where the resultant scar should lay. After someone lays down on their back, it may take a minute and a half to inject local anesthetic into both upper eyelids for profound numbness. This is extremely well tolerated when done properly and slowly, and with a drop of HCO3 in the anesthetic to minimize burning. Many people prefer to have blepharoplasty performed in the operating room with an anesthesiologist. There is no correct answer with this. I hope this helps! Sincerely, Dr. Joseph

Thank you for posting your question here!I would say that for the a lot of surgeons would perform upper eyelid surgery under local anesthetic , that being said , in certain circumstances patient related (anxiety etc) or procedure related (extensive work needed etc) then the surgeon might decide otherwise.I hope this helps, best of luck!

Most board certified plastic surgeons would do upper blepharoplasty awake, in local anesthesia. Minimal discomfort while anesthetic is injected under the skin is all what patient feels. In person consultation with a board certified plastic surgeon would help. Good luck.

it is very normal to do upper eyelid surgery while awake - i bit like having treatments at the dentist, the procedure starts with injection of local anaesthetic into the upper eyelid. this seems rather daunting and it stings a bit momentarily whilst you have the injection but it is well tolerated by patients generally.

'board certified' - this is not a thing in uk - its an americanism.

In uk you should see a surgeon who is on the GMC SPECIALIST REGISTER as a plastic surgeon or maxillofacial surgeon or ophthalmic surgeon. this is the most robust indication that a surgeon has been adequately trained and qualified. Another way to search for a surgeon could be to go to british association of aesthetic plastic surgeons (baaps) surgeon finder