So what type of anesthesia is needed for ear reduction surgery?
If you research online, you will discover that many plastic surgeons will put patients under completely. Meaning, they will give you a general anesthetic to go fully asleep if you are having cosmetic ear reduction surgery performed. Unfortunately, in most cases of adult ear reduction surgery, this is considered overkill by our office.
Dr. Hilinski has been performing ear reduction surgery in San Diego for many, many years. And, for the most part, he can perform the entire surgery under local anesthesia. In some patients, he will offer an oral sedative to help take the edge off of the experience of having a surgery performed while awake.
And in even more rare cases he may suggest intravenous sedation, which is often referred to as ‘twilight’ anesthesia. This type of anesthesia is given to you through the vein and makes you very relaxed and somewhat forgetful of the surgery. But you are still breathing on your own and do not require a breathing tube to be placed. If you are, by nature, a more anxious individual who and don’t think you could handle being fully awake for ear reduction surgery, simply let us know. We can help make arrangements to have an anesthesiologist present to provide you with a safe intravenous sedation.
The reason we try to discourage general anesthesia for cosmetic ear reduction surgery is mainly due to risk avoidance. The general anesthetic can lead to more intense initial recovery that may include more nausea and vomiting as a result of the anesthetic agents. If you can safely and effectively make the ears smaller in size without exposing patients to these anesthetic risks, why wouldn’t you do so?