Should I be this afraid of anesthesia and complications?

The best indicator as to how you will do with anesthesia is that you have had the procedure before. Typically, patients that have previously had anesthesia without problems should have the same results. While the amount of surgery can impact the recovery, the anesthetic risks which are minimal should be the same. I hope this information helps.

Hi April,

Your feelings are normal and common before any type of surgery.  Discuss your feelings with your surgeon and have the type of anesthesia you will be recieving explained to you.  Usually with rhinoplasty we are able to keep patients relatively "light" under anesthesia because of the local anesthesia that we inject before the operation.  This generally makes the risks of anesthesia much less.  Once you can trust your surgeon, you can project your fears and anxiety onto your surgeon (who does this operation 100's of times), instead of keeping within yourself (you have had anesthesia once or twice).  George Burns, when told by his bypass heart surgeon before his surgery that he "doesn't look nervous at all", replied to his surgeon, "I'm not nervous, YOU are the one who should be nervous!"  Trust your surgeon, and let him/her be nervous for you.  Good luck and be well.

Dr. P