What type of anesthesia is required for various body contouring procedures ?

Cosmetic Surgery for the body entails contouring of the abdomen, thighs, waist and hips. There are a variety of procedures available to create excellent cosmetic results for these regions. In our experience, cosmetic surgery for the body is best done under either 'twilight' or General Anesthesia, with a couple of important exceptions.

  • Tummy Tuck (abdominoplasty) Surgery - General Anesthesia for 2-3 hours
  • Lower Body Lift (belt lipectomy) Surgery - General Anesthesia for 4-5 hours
  • Arm Lift (brachioplasty) - General Anesthesia for 1-2 hours
  • Medial Thigh Lift - General Anesthesia for 2 hours

On the other hand, Tumescent Anesthesia in an incredibly powerful and useful anesthetic tool for liposuction procedures.

We can render an entire region of the body completely 'numb' using tumescent anesthesia and perform very effective and efficient liposuction. Tumescent anesthesia alone is not an ideal way to perform the other procedures because these procedures involve surgically modifying the underlying fascia and musculature, which cannot be effectively anesthesized using tumescent anesthesia alone. Therefore these more complex body contouring procedures listed above require sedative anesthesia, like General Anesthesia or 'twilight sedation' under the care of a anesthesia provider for our Seattle area patients.