I'm looking to get gynecomastia surgery. Local or general anaesthetic?

Your surgery can easily be done with a light oral cocktail (1 mg Xanax, 25 mg phenergan and two pain pills . . . or nothing) and local tumescent anesthesia. The option used depends on the surgeon’s experience, some have never learned the local method and rely on MAC (IV sedation with an anesthesia provider) every time. I used to use MAC for everything myself until I learned how to do local surgery.

Hello, in many men it is very frequent to find excess fat and/or excess mammary gland, this is called gynecomastia. There are different degrees of gynecomastia and depending on which one you might have, the treatment option that we would suggest. In mild cases usually we treat this tissue excess with liposuction only, whereas in more severe cases we would suggest taking some of the excess gland out directly by a very small incision under the nipple.
Both options don´t require more than a couple of days to recover completely and it is usually done under sedation and local anestesia. We do NOT do this procedure under general anestesia unless we need to lipo more body regions. The main reason to do it with sedation is for us to have complete control of your body response to the procedure and local anestesia. Also, it is much less uncomfortable for you because even though you are conscious, you don´t feel any pain.

I prefer general anesthesia for gynecomastia surgery, but a local anesthetic plus oral sedation is possible in some cases. It drpends on the severity of your situation. If you have minimal amount to be reduced, then it csn be performed under local anesthesia at a clinic. However, most patients are candidates for surgery under general anesthesia due to the amount of tissue to be removed

Each particular doctor may have an anesthesia preference to treat gynecomastia. It can be done with either general or local/sedation. I prefer local/sedation and patients tolerate it extremely well. It reduces cost and there is usually less post-op fogginess, nausea and sore throat.

Thanks for your question! Here at our practice, we bring in a board-certified anesthesiologist who performs IV sedation. This is also called twilight sedation and is done on an outpatient basis. This means fewer risks than general anesthesia and that you can go home after surgery the same day. I recommend speaking with a board-certified plastic surgeon to discuss your options in more detail!