Oral Sedation For a Mini Lift?

I perform Mini-Lifts on patients with oral sedation (Valium and Percocet) on a routine basis and on the proper patient it works great. Very little side effects or nausea. Be aware that local anesthesia is used as well. You may feel the initial needle prick but everything goes numb after 20-30 seconds.

Thank you for your question. We use oral medication for our mini facelifts, and this is usually valium, and a hydrocodone compound and injectable anesthetic, a lidocaine mixture. This is sufficient for our patients. If you are going to get very high doses, be sure to ask if they are going to be using a pulse oximeter, and if you will need supplemental oxygen. Be sure your airway is not compromised if the sedation gets too heavy. I hope this helps.

Oral sedation has been utilized frequently in my practice with great success.  The sedation is frequently a combination of benzodiazepine and/or narcotic medication and/or other types of drugs.  Local anesthetic is used to numb the areas that will be addressed.  The recovery is generally quicker under this anesthesia, and the postoperative nausea and vomiting associated with general anesthesia does not occur.  Your comfort and success, like all aspects of surgery, is largely dependent upon the skill and experience of your surgeon.

   Different surgeons have different ideas on this, but general anesthesia offers the greatest level of patient comfort.  If the plastic surgeon has GREAT credentials, I would trust that more than the type of anesthesia.  Kenneth Hughes, MD HughesPlasticSurgery Los Angeles, CA

Mini facelift can be safely performed with oral sedation and local anesthesia provided that patient is calm and the procedure is not unduly long. Typically a mini lift can be performed under 2 hours and is well tolerated by most patients. I have performed over 90% of the mini facelift with oral sedation/local anesthesia combination. Of course the same procedure can also be performed under general anesthesia or IV sedation if it's the patient's preference. 

Stewart Wang, MD FACS

Oral sedation works just fine when your doc uses local tumescent anesthesia. The anesthesia lasts about 6-8 hrs and the only discomfort is the initial injections which aren't painful if the doc goes slow and knows what he is doing. It is so much safer and easier to undergo than general anesthesia. A little IV sedation is a nice addition if available but not necessary. A minilift which covers the jawline, jowls and neck for $6000 is an affordable procedure which can change a person's life and bring back that self confidence that is very attractive. Sincerely,

David Hansen,MD

If a mini-lift is the procedure that will give you the result you want, then oral sedation is acceptable. As Dr. Rand pointed out if your concern is mainly your neck a mini-lift will not give you a lasting improvement in that area. If it's mainly your jawline or early changes in the jowl area a mini-lift will likely be adequate. If you have early aging changes that a mini-lift will adequately address then oral sedation is a reasonable choice. If you need more extensive rejuvenation of your neck, then you would be better treated with IV sedation or general anesthesia. I hope this information is helpful.Stephen Weber MD, FACS

The use of oral sedation with local anesthesia (level 1) is a safe and effective method of providing patients with a high level of comfort for this type of procedure. In fact there is some evdience that in an office based setting, the use of oral sedation is safer than IV sedation, with a higher margin of safety as it relates to sedation complications. The main issue with this type of sedation in my experience is physican experience and surgical volume. The other important variable is physician comfort using various dilutions of local anesthesia to achieve a painless experience. Hope this helps.

 

 

Dear delray, thank you for your question. A mini facelift can improve the jawline and
neck , and in some cases the cheeks. Our La Jolla Lift procedure is performed
with gentle twilight sedation. Consult with a board certified facial plastic
surgeon to see what your best option is. Good Luck!

Most patients do not want to have "conscious awareness" for their surgery.  Best to be asleep by a board certified MD anesthesiologist for patient safety.  It needs to be done in a Certified operating room as well