Twilight Sedation
All facial plastic surgery can be easily performed under local anaesthetic alone, the time of deep general anaesthetic for facial cosmetic procedures have mostly been archived in the annals of history.
Awake Facelift
Even revision deep plane face and neck lifts can be performed under local anaesthetic alone, so called awake facelifts, but as they can take up to four hours we prefer to lightly sedate our patients so they comfortably snooze through the procedure, then awake having not noticed the time.
What Is Twilight Anaesthesia?
Twilight is “the period between night and day when peace pervades” which is the perfect description of this type of sedation, local anaesthesia as opposed to a general anaesthetic- not quite knocked out but not awake and aware.
Patients say:
- I would rather be asleep
- I don’t want to be aware
- I don’t want to remember it
- I don’t want to feel anything
All of these are achieved with sedation which has every benefit of General Anaesthetic without the breathing tube, paralysing agents and toxic drugs.
Pros
Of Sedation
- Reduced sickness
- No cough
- No breathing tube
- No hangover
- No headache
- No pain
- No prolonged starvation
- Real time facial nerve monitoring
Cons
Of Sedation
A talking patient!
Sedation Over General Anaesthetic Every Time
Without a breathing tube and paralysing agents, we are able to actively monitor facial nerve function during deep plane facelift surgery.
We are able to sit patients upright and gauge lift vector whilst there is normal non-paralysed tone in the facial muscles. Sedation is far better in every way for the patient and better for the result. In fact, the only beneficiary of general anaesthetic ove facelifts or necklifts under local anesthesia is for the surgeon as they have an unconscious immobile patient to work on.
Who Monitors Sedation
A lot of practices will have the surgeon or their nurses give sedation during the procedure.
Whilst this is possible and a cost saving, I prefer to have one of our hand-picked Consultant Anaesthetists look after my patients so I can focus completely and meticulously on the surgery. Focused expertise and teamwork are a key tenet of our practice philosophy.
