Scientific data on the risks involved with intravenous sedation or general anesthesia.  Lifestyle Lift does not use either because safety is primary concern. 

There have been several recent reports in the media concerning incidents during cosmetic surgery procedures. When one hears such news, it is important to understand what type of anesthesia was used, as this is often the dominant factor in the incident.


All Lifestyle Lift® procedures are performed in a private medical office under local anesthesia (numbing medicine) with some medication taken by mouth to relax the patient. General anesthesia (patient is unconscious), where a breathing tube is placed in the patient’s windpipe, is not used, nor is intravenous sedation (patient is semi-awake), where drugs are 
injected through a needle into a vein. 


With intravenous sedation, the patient may become restless, requiring more anesthetic agents for a deeper level of sedation than planned. A resultant decrease in breathing and possible compromise of patient safety may occur during the procedure.  In addition to the risks of being put completely “under” and mechanically ventilated during general anesthesia, there is increased incidence of nausea and vomiting, and patients are usually groggy after surgery.

A recent Florida study found that office procedures done with general anesthesia were more likely to have bad outcomes than those done with local anesthetics. “The vast majority of complications arose when using general anesthesia that renders patients unconscious, with almost none when using local anesthetics that numb a part of the body or leave the patient semi-conscious,” the study found.


In his textbook, "Anesthesia for Facial Plastic Surgery," Thomas A. Nique, M.D., D.D.S., writes that “even the most carefully administered general anesthetic will have a much higher incidence of operative and postoperative complications when compared with conscious sedative techniques."2

Obviously, aggressive anesthesia techniques have dangers of their own, and are not even needed for minimally invasive procedures like the Lifestyle Lift®.

Lifestyle Lift® takes patient safety very seriously. We use scientific data, such as the above-mentioned study, to establish the best patient safety protocols. Lifestyle Lift® procedures were specifically designed to remove years of aging while being safer than traditional methods of facial rejuvenation. 

With the conservative Lifestyle Lift® anesthesia method, patients—although relaxed and comfortable—are awake and able to converse with their doctor. Many Lifestyle Lift® patients comment that they like the ability to be comfortable, yet still aware of their surroundings.

There have been more than 250,000 unique procedures3 performed on more than 100,000 patients at Lifestyle Lift®, without any major anesthesia-related incident. This in itself is a testament to the safety of the experience.

  

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