Anesthesia for blepharoplasty patients

Eyelid surgery typically cannot be done without anesthesia

Eyelid tissues are very vascular and they bleed easily. Local anesthetic, at the minimum, must be used to decrease pain and bruising.

Occasionally, a little oral sedation might be helpful. You do not need to go to sleep to have eyelid surgery. However, you are the best judge of your pain tolerances.

You may not want to know what is going on and might do best with IV sedation or general anesthesia. (Manish H. Shah, MD, FACS, Denver Plastic Surgeon)

Anesthesia and Blepharoplasty

Eyelid surgery can be done without general anesthesia or sedation. However, you must have some local anesthesia to be injected to one make the procedure painless and two limit the bleeding during the procedure. (Steven Wallach, MD, Manhattan Plastic Surgeon)

You always need some kind of anesthetic!

Upper lids can be done with local anesthesia to numb the tissues. If you are very calm, that might be all you need. If you are slightly anxious, some sedation either oral or IV can help.

If you are very anxious you might be best with a brief general anesthetic.

Lower lids are more complex and usually require some sedation or general anesthesia in combination with the local anesthetic.

blepharoplasty patient

Once you have selected the best doctor for your care, ask them how they would recommend you do this. You want the surgeon to be in their “comfort zone” doing things as they usually prefer to do them to get your best result. (Richard P. Rand, MD, FACS, Seattle Plastic Surgeon)

Blepharoplasty under local anesthetic

I do virtually all of my upper lid blephs in the office under local anesthetic, and I do most of my lower lids, through the inside of the lower eyelid, under local anesthetic. I give all patients a pill to help keep them relaxed. However, different doctors have other philosophies, so they are not wrong if they do not feel comfortable doing it this way. (David E. Berman, MD, Sterling Plastic Surgeon)

Need Some Form of Anesthesia

blepharoplasty eyelid surgery

There are alot of good answers here already. At a minimum you would need local anesthesia which anesthetizes the area allowing for the surgeon to work with minimal discomfort and also decrease any bleeding from the effect of adrenaline.

For added comfort, you may wish to have a small dose of an oral sedative. If you are particularly nervous, IV sedation, administered by an anesthesiologist, could be a best for you. Finally, general anesthesia is uncommonly used for isolated upper eyelid surgery. (Anil R. Shah, MD, Chicago Facial Plastic Surgeon)

Blepharoplasty typically done under local anesthesia

The Local anesthesia

There are three main forms of anesthesia:

  1. Local – just like at the dentist’s office and you are completely aware and just numb at the surgical site
  2. Eyelids – sedation or twilight, where you are groggy and may not remember anything, but you are awake; and lastly
  3. General anesthesia – where you are asleep and will not be aware of anything.

PIC Anesthesia for blepharoplasty

Typically, eyelift surgeries can be done under local anaesthetic alone, but some patients may want to add sedation just to be more comfortable. This is especially if the surgery is going to be longer than one hour, which can be if you are doing both upper and lower eyelids or combining with another procedure. If you are doing upper eyelids alone, local anaesthetic works really well and you will avoid the potential side effects of anesthesia such as nausea. Discuss your personal options with your board certified plastic surgeon. (Bahram Ghaderi, MD, Chicago Plastic Surgeon)