Plastic surgery without anesthesia

What are your options?

It seems that hypnotism is not just for seduction any more. A program on British television recently showed the first ever plastic surgery operation with hypnosis as the anesthetic. Why is this important? While any surgery itself is risky, during any surgical procedure, anesthesia itself can create complications. Anesthesia also is the cause of problems like sick stomach, breathing problems, grogginess, and exhaustion. That is why it is important that a qualified anesthesiologist is present at all times during the surgery.

In this particular procedure, Tom Hennigan, a surgeon from the Princess Royal Hospital in Britain, was assisted by a hypnotist John Butler.

Can you expect to see this happening any time soon on a grand scale?

Probably not yet, since the number of hypnotists qualified to do this is still small and there are all sorts of legal issues to deal with. One thing you will see more often though is the use of local anesthesia for even complex surgery.

On the American television program "Insider," they showed the case of Maureen Daly who had a face lift with Dr. Zach Gerut in New York. He has developed a unique procedure to perform the facelift without sedating the patient.  It was quite surreal to watch Ms. Daly talk to the surgeon as the procedure was going on.  "The feeling will be like a really long haircut," Dr. Gerut said on the program. "She will hear some snipping and she will feel some pulling, but it won't be any different."

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