Is it true that Power Assisted Liposuction is performed under local anesthesia?

Your confusion is not uncommon because of the marketing used by some providers. Air-sculpting is a marketing term and has nothing to do with "air" or any specific technique. Liposuction refers to removing fat with suction. In all cases local anesthetic (almost always dilute lidocaine with epinephrine) is placed into the fat that we what to reduce in order to make the procedure comfortable and safer. Some providers are only able to provide this procedure under local anesthetic in an office based treatment room while most Plastic Surgeons do this surgery in fully accredited ambulatory surgery centres. In these centres, patients can choose to be asleep (general anesthesia) or awake using local anesthetic only. There are pros and cons to both. Power Assisted Liposuction is potentially more efficient - not better, not more or less traumatic and not necessary for smaller amounts of fat being removed. The results and your safety should be the most important considerations. For safety, choose a board certified Plastic Surgeon and an accredited ambulatory surgery centre.

Hello and thank you for your question!

Liposuction under local is not only possible, but common, safe and comfortable for patients. Every surgeon/practice has different thresholds/recommendations but typically smaller volumes/number of areas are go-to's for local anesthesia only, while larger volumes, more areas may be easier, more efficiently accomplished and more comfortable for patients under general anesthesia. Patients with high anxiety may do better under anesthesia. There is bruising and swelling with any liposuction procedures but the medications in the tumescent solution (the fluid used prior to starting liposuction) help to minimize this. The next best step is an in person consultation with a board certified plastic surgeon to help walk you through your options!

While it is possible to do small areas under just local, I find most patients are much more comfortable with at least some sedation either oral or iv sedation and tumescent fluid. Tumescent fluid is what most people call local only as it has local in it but it has the advantage of slowing the time of absorption, so it makes it safer to perform and more comfortable than just local. If you wanted to do both your arms and abdomen, I would suggest doing it under tumescent and with sedation either IV or oral. The advantage of IV sedation is it is easier to control and keep you comfortable. Oral sedation takes a while to take effect, so if you need more, you will feel it for a while. Also, in my practice IV sedation is administered by an anesthesiologist, so there only job is to monitor you and make sure you are comfortable so I can focus on only doing the liposuction. Bruising and swelling do occur, but most patients find the results are worth the recovery time.