“Do you get a facelift under local anesthesia?”

Hi! You can opt to get a facelift under local anesthesia; however, it is not for everyone. I generally recommend general anesthesia for facelift procedures due patient comfort.

While this is possible, I would not advise doing so. It is best to perform a facelift under general anesthesia, or at least under IV sedation.

It depends. Some surgeons would do that under local anesthesia with oral medications. Some prefer with general anesthesia. Check with the surgeon that you trust and feel comfortable with.

Local anesthesia is part of almost every facelift, even when the patient has general anesthesia, because the local anesthetic will contain adrenaline, which cuts down the small amount of bleeding seen in facelifts, and because the local anesthetic will make you feel better for the first few hours after surgery.

When I do facelifts, my patients receive versed and fentanyl at the start of the surgery, undergo the injections, and once they are completely numb we start the surgery. You will be in a "twilight" state during the surgery, and whenever you feel like a little more sedation just ask my CRNA to give it to you.

Sometimes I will ask my patients to turn their heads to the left or the right in order to make it easier to see under the skin flap, and sometimes we even have short conversations, but you won't remember any of this because of the Versed.

You can get a facelift under either general anesthesia or moderate anesthesia.