Abstract

Background: Local anesthesia offers the advantages of being less expensive, more efficient and having less anesthetic risk. However, patient comfort must also be considered. Objective: To define the term local anesthesia, describe the author’s specific technique, present pain scores from patients undergoing septorhinoplasty (SRP) under local anesthesia compared with a control group, present a representative case, and review the pertinent literature. Methods: Retrospective cohort study (Level of Evidence Category 2b). Over a six month period (July 2013-January 2014), the author performed 200 outpatient, local anesthesia, facial aesthetic surgery cases, 24 of which included SRP. For the SRP group, 12 of 24 patients were surveyed and asked to grade intraoperative and postoperative pain on a 0-10 scale, with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain imaginable. To serve as a control group, 19 randomly selected patients who did not have SRP were also asked to grade intraoperative and postoperative pain. Third party statistical analysis was performed on the results. Results: The average operative pain score for the SRP group was 2.33 and for the control group 2.26. These values showed no statistically significant difference. The postoperative pain scores for the SRP group was 2.66 and for the control group 3.00. These values showed no statistically significant difference. Ancillary procedures for patients in the study included rhytidectomy, blepharoplasty, facial laser, browlift and autologous fillers. The average number of procedures in the SRP group 2.58 and for the control group 2.79. Conclusion: For the right patient and with appropriate surgical planning and surgical acumen, SRP under local anesthesia is a viable option. Disclosure: The author has no conflict of interest.