Can I get a BBL under local anesthesia?

It is not likely that any board certified plastic surgeon, and these are the best trained surgeons to do BBL, would do such an extensive procedure in local, tumescent anesthesia, in this part of the country. You would mostly see it done by poorly trained family physicians, gynecologist, general surgeons or those without any specialty since current Florida laws allows them to do this type of surgery only in local anesthesia. Comfort and safety are significantly compromised, as well as amount of liposuction/fat transfer that can be performed and ultimately the result, based on our experience with limited number of patients done in local, tumescent anesthesia. However, you may find few experienced plastic surgeons performing this procedure in combination of sedation and local, tumescent anesthesia claiming good results, comfort and safety. I would suggest you to have in person consultation with a board certified plastic surgeon with experience in this type of surgery before you commit yourself to any surgery of this kind. Good luck. 

Thank you for your questions. You are placing your fears in all the wrong places. The risks to you from a BBL procedure are far greater (1 in 3,000 death rate) than the risks of anesthesia (maybe 1 in 200,000 death rate). You need to make absolutely sure that you are only seeing plastic surgeons who are specifically board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and not other boards. Be safe, not sorry.Best of luck!Dallas R. Buchanan, MD, FACSOwner & Board-Certified Plastic SurgeonVIVIFY plastic surgery

You do not necessarily need general anesthesia, but I do think it is a better patient experience.   I have performed many of these procedures with local and sedation, but it is certainly not for everyone and risk benefit analysis must be performed for each patient. You want the most dramatic transformation possible, and you do not want to be in pain. Kenneth Hughes, MD, ABPS Board Certified Plastic SurgeonLos Angeles, CA

Dear Barbiebbl,
in order to get fat for transfer, most patients need their abdomen, back and flanks liposuctioned and that is a large area for local anesthesia. If you are considering a surgery, I would suggest you to consult a board-certified plastic surgeon. Only after a thorough examination you will get more information and recommendations.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 

 This operation can be done under general or local anesthesia. We recently published a paper in the journal of plastic surgery called bbl under local Anastasia. In general, the larger the patient and the more fat that is removed, the better off you would be with general anesthesia. Some patients with small areas of localized fat who just want a very small augmentation can benefit from local anesthesia. Best regards

Local anasthesia is would not provide enought pain control once the surgeon is in the deeper tisssues. It is more important to find a skilled board certified plastic surgeon that is well trained in this procedure and has the proper supporting staff. I use a board certified anasthesiologist to monitor your vital signs and pain, as well as nurses and staff that are trained and certified to assist in the procedures. 

 I'm a board-certified plastic surgeon who's been practicing plastic surgery for 25 years.  My practice is devoted exclusively to liposuction and fat transfer procedures like the BBL and natural breast augmentation with fat. For the first 15 years of practice I did general plastic surgery. About 10 years ago I began specializing exclusively on body contouring using various forms of liposuction and fat transfer.  Initially I did all liposuction and fat transfer procedures using general anesthesia.  About 10 years ago I began doing these procedures with my patients awake.  I had colleagues who were also board-certified plastic surgeons who were doing liposuction with her patients awake using local anesthesia.  Initially are used conscious sedation or deep sedation for my cases but came to believe that the least amount of sedation was preferable in order to get the best results. Having the ability to have my patients turn and hold different positions throughout the procedure is invaluable in getting great results.  I now do all liposuction and fat transfer procedures using local anesthesia with only mild sedation.  I've performed over 7000 liposuction and fat transfer procedures this way of the last decade.  The majority of plastic surgeons will choose general anesthesia.  Like I said, I too used to believe that general anesthesia was most appropriate for this procedure.  My practice has evolved and once I learned the skills of how to properly apply tumescent or numbing solution  I believe this to be a better choice.  The plastic surgeons who continue to discredit this form of doing liposuction and fat transfer procedures don't have the experience I have and speak on behalf of their own personal experience and how they were trained.  You will find that the many of doctors who are not trained in plastic surgery and perform these procedures tend to also avoid general anesthesia.  In order to qualify for getting privileges in formal operating rooms in hospitals and surgery centers you have to have qualifications. Without those doctors are left to doing these as office space procedures.  That is a different topic onto itself.  There are other board-certified plastic surgeons who also choose to avoid general anesthesia for these procedures. The great majority still use general anesthesia.  General anesthesia is safe. In fact it's safer than having a BBL by far.  Best, Mats Hagstrom MD