What are the disadvantages of doing chin lipo under local anesthesia versus general?

The disadvantages of undergoing chin liposuction under general anesthesia are all the risks associated with general anesthesia like nausea, vomiting, weeks of generalized weakness as well as side effects to each one of the medications that are given to put someone to sleep.
When chin liposuction is performed under local anesthesia, all the risks of general anesthesia are avoided, thus making the procedure safer.
I routinely perform chin liposuction under local anesthesia with the patient wide awake and without any discomfort. As people can see on my Instagram stories and other social media posts, patients are not uncomfortable at all during the procedure under local anesthesia. They all unanimously say it does not hurt and that is way better than going to the doctor or undergoing any procedure under general anesthesia.
Chin liposuction under local anesthesia might be uncomfortable if the surgeon is not familiar or specialist on chin liposuction under local anesthesia.

I prefer to perform chin and jawline liposuction with local anesthesia and intravenous sedation. There is no need for general anesthesia. The disadvantage to using local anesthesia alone is that the initial injections of local anesthesia are painful to most patients. There is no nerve block in this area. Multiple injections are needed and this can be uncomfortable. Intravenous anesthesia eliminates this painful part of the procedure.

Dear TomH453,
generally speaking, local anesthesia can be used for chin liposuction however the results might not be as good as in case of general anesthesia. If you are considering a surgery, I would suggest you to consult a board-certified plastic surgeon. Only after a thorough examination you will get more information and recommendations.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Chin Liposuction can be done to completion using local anesthesia with or without sedation.

If your surgeon doesn’t have experience doing this procedure with patients awake then they may be apprehensive for the reasons they stated. there’s a learning curve to doing procedures under local anesthesia and when doctors are learning to do things under local anesthesia that they used to do with an anesthesiologist and general anesthesia it’s going to be a little more challenging on the first few cases until the doctor figures out how to do it correctly. that means potential discomfort.

Your doctor simply doesn’t have experience doing this procedure under local anesthesia and so he or she is recommending what they know will be comfortable for you.

If you want that doctor to do your procedure then you should follow their recommendations.

Alternatively you can find a different plastic surgeon to do the procedure who does these as in office or under local anesthesia procedures on a regular basis.

There is potential cost savings with avoiding general anesthesia but having a painful procedure isn’t great either.

By far the most important variable patients should consider is who does the procedure based on skill and experience.

If this doctor showed you 100 impressive before and after pictures and as the one you want to do your procedure and has untouchable reviews without any complaints from previous patients then may be doing it the way they recommend is the way to go.

If it’s just another doctor or someone who offered a better price then switching doctors or considering having a few more consultations may be a better option.

Once upon a time many years ago I do what I’ve done this in an operating room with an anesthesiologist but today I would only use local anesthesia for local anesthesia with a little bit of sedation as an office based procedure.

Best,

Mats Hagstrom MD