I have sleep apnea. I am getting a mid facelift and I will have oral sedation - is this OK?

Depending on the sleep apnea oral sedation can make you stop breathing completely making it an emergency to place a breathing tube into the windpipe.  You have to discuss this in detail with you surgeon prior to surgery.RegardsDr. J

All plastic surgery has risks and complications. Sleep apnea is itself a risk to one's health condition. When combined with oral sedation for anesthesia, these risks increase. For procedures done in an accredited facility, a board certified anesthetist is present to help mitigate the anesthesia risks with plastic surgery. For example, an anesthesiologist will monitor your heart, breathing, and vital signs while the plastic surgeon concentrates on the surgery. Prior to surgery, one can clarify with their facelift plastic surgeon as to who is providing the anesthesia and their certificate training.Lastly, patients with sleep apnea may need to continue their sleep apnea treatment after surgery, which may or may not interfere with facelift recovery. Again, this should be reviewed with your facelift surgeon.Best,Dr. Chaboki

Light oral sedation with you awake, but sedated is an excellent option.  You will be able to talk (and hear), and depending on the local anesthesia for the numbing.Make sure this is not a long procedure as you don't really want to keep taking medication orally during your procedure.  And make sure someone monitors you and not just the surgeon.Make sure your oxygen is being monitored with pulse oximiter that will alarm if your oxygen or pulse levels get too low.And go very light on the pain medications at night during your recovery.Home pulse and oxygen oximeters can be purchased online.

There are different types of anesthesia used to perform facelift surgery. This includes:1) Local anesthesia ( with or without oral medication)2) Twilight Anesthesia / IV sedation 3) general anesthesia Having sleep apnea can have impact on any of the forms of anesthesia and is important for your physician and anesthesiologist to know. It should not be a problem but they must know and you should me monitored more closely. We perform the majority of our facelift under IV sedation with a board certified anesthesiologist. In doing so, this assures the safest and most comfortable environment possible. If I were a patient I would feel most comfortable with a board certified anesthesiologist providing my anesthesia care.