Anesthesia for Breast Augmentation: General, Sedation, Local, or Wide Awake?

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to anesthesia. We tailor it to your procedure, your health, and your preference. There are three main options.

General anesthesia. You are fully asleep and unaware, with your breathing managed by the anesthesiologist throughout. It remains a safe and excellent choice, particularly for longer or combined procedures, or for patients who simply prefer to be completely asleep.

Intravenous twilight sedation. Also called monitored anesthesia care, this is given through an IV to make you deeply relaxed and largely unaware, similar to the sedation used during a colonoscopy. You breathe on your own, there is no breathing tube, and most patients have little or no memory of the procedure. Recovery tends to be faster and with less grogginess than general anesthesia.

Local anesthesia, wide awake. For Preservé breast augmentation, the gentleness of the technique allows surgery under local anesthesia, numbing medication placed directly in the surgical area, with either no sedation or light sedation. You stay awake and comfortable, feeling pressure but not pain, and you avoid general anesthesia entirely. You can read more on our Wide Awake Preservé page and our Awake Preservé educational page.

Whichever option is right for you, your anesthesia is administered by a board-certified physician anesthesiologist at our accredited on-site facility. You can meet our anesthesiologists on our anesthesia team page. We review all of these choices with you at your consultation.