I would like to know about the best procedures that I can do that does not require general anesthesia with minimal down time and allows me to look like I had a facelift?
Answer:
Well, this is a question that I get asked very often. Here in South Florida, there are many patients that are unwilling to sacrifice a lengthy recovery time due to work and complex schedules. There are also many people that have reservations about general anesthesia. I addition here are many centers officering “mini-lifts” and other “named” facelifts. My answer is always the same. A facelift is a complicated procedure and anything less than a facelift, is just, well less than a facelift. I don’t think that the so-called minilift can achieve facelift-like results over the long term. That being said, I believe that there is a fantastic answer to this question. A facelift done under local anesthesia! I have been performing facelifts under local anesthesia for the last six years. I premedicate the patient with oral sedatives and use local anesthesia to numb the face and neck. The procedure takes approximately two hours. Patients do not feel any discomfort and go home the same day. Swelling is minimal and patients can return to normal activity at about a week. When the procedure is done under local anesthesia, recovery tends to be faster and with less swelling than when general anesthesia is used. Patients that undergo the facelift procedure under local anesthesia are generally very happy with the procedure and the results.
Posted by Dr. Bustillo