Separate charges for local and general anesthesia?

Dear Questionqueen76,
the cost of surgery depends on a lot of factors (type of surgery, number of treated areas, anesthesia fee, surgeon, facility fee, city, etc.). It would be the best to visit or call plastic surgery offices and ask for a price.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Typically, there is an separate anesthesia fee if an anesthesiologist or anesthetist is present to deliver medication and to cover the medication and supply cost. Local is cheaper than general anesthesia.

Each surgeon or clinic has their own policies to the way charges are presented and what is exactly included. If from the get go you are having issues with the fee process maybe this indicates you need other opinions. Try a private practice boarded Plastic Surgeon or virtual consult with Real Self providers like me.

Doctors can set fees however they like.

There are a lot of variables to take into consideration. First and foremost is there an anesthesiologist or anesthetist helping with the procedure who needs to get paid?

Local anesthesia in itself is fairly inexpensive but for some procedures a long lasting brand name of local anesthesia call Exparel. This drug it is quite expensive and when used the cost is often passed onto the patients.

Some providers will cost shift towards or away from facility and anesthesia fees. In the end patients should probably look at the total cost when comparing between different providers.

Unlike insurance based medicine cosmetic surgery is much more of a free market enterprise driven by supply and demand.

No one has to have cosmetic surgery and regulations do not limit or impose restrictions on fees.

If you don’t like the surgeon you met with then I suggest consulting with a few others.

Delivering consistent quality Liposuction results is more difficult certain people believe.

Liposuction results are permanent and irreversible.

If not done correctly people can be left disfigured and poor outcomes from Liposuction have a limited remedies when it comes to revision or correcting them.

For that reason I recommend all people interested in Liposuction have multiple in person consultations. At that time you can ask all the questions you want about your own candidacy, the procedure itself and costs involved.

I also recommend patients ask providers to show their entire collection up before and after pictures during in person consultations. Seeing a handful of selected images is insufficient to get a clear understanding of what average results look like in the hands of each provider. instead patients should ask providers to show examples of excellent results, average results and less than results.

And experienced provider should have no difficulty showing you 50 or more sets up before and after pictures. Highly experienced providers will have hundreds or even 1000s of before and after pictures for this procedure.

Poorly done Liposuction is certainly not a bargain and can end up being the cost latest mistake you can make.

Price is no guarantee for quality work.

Typically the most talented and experienced providers do not offer bargain basement pricing.

Sam providers on their own facilities and have some control over facility costs while others use private independent surgery centers with fixed cost.

Some providers use anesthesiologists and others do their own sedation with local anesthesia.

It’s a free market.

Doctors can charge what they’d like and patients are free to choose among different providers.

Best,

Mats Hagstrom MD