Top UK Rhinoplasty Surgeon, Julian Rowe-Jones on: Can rhinoplasty be performed under local anaesthesia?

General anaesthesia

Rhinoplasty is not a trivial operation; rhinoplasty involves the airway and a structure that has an awful lot of nerves in it. The face has a very rich nerve supply, so in my opinion, rhinoplasty is better performed under general anaesthetic. We can control and protect your airway, number one, which is vitally important and number two, I think I have better control over the tissues and that is why I would advocate in ninety-nine percent of patients surgery under general anaesthesia.

Minor procedures

Now it’s possible if you just needed a minor procedure that local anaesthetic would be great, but in my experience, certainly the patients come to see me, it’s rare that just a minor procedure is required. Sometimes refinement surgery is all that’s required a little adjustment after a primary rhinoplasty and sometimes we’ll talk about local anaesthesia for that.

Safer

On the whole however, when people are talking about local anaesthetic rhinoplasty, they really mean local anaesthetic with very significant sedation and monitored anaesthetic care and my feeling is that full general anaesthetic is safer and allows me to get a better result for you than local anaesthetic with monitored anaesthetic care.

Presented by Julian Rowe-Jones, Top UK Rhinoplasty Surgeon

More about Julian Rowe-Jones

Julian Rowe-Jones founded The Nose Clinic in 1998 with a clear mission to deliver world leading standards of cosmetic nose surgery (Rhinoplasty) in Guildford, and now in Harley Street, London. His aim is to provide a level of friendly and professional consultancy, advice, support and patient care that complements and enhances these standards. His expertise as a rhinoplasty surgeon is central to the success of his patients; and you can read more about his background and experience in specialising.

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