Time to Wake up to “Awake” Cosmetic Procedures

January 21st, 2011. By LucyC

It’s that time of year when everyone—well almost everyone—thinks about losing weight and getting in shape. Gym memberships go nuclear as do memberships to organizations like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig. All good. But there’s also some not so good.

One trend—that sounds too good to be true—is “Awake Procedures.” According to a report on MSNBC.com, bargain prices are being offered on cosmetic procedures such as breast augmentation and liposuction without general anesthetic—and apparently without an anesthesiologist, or even a qualified plastic surgeon.

The procedures, such as Awake Liposcuplture and Awake Abdominoplasty, are aimed at women who are afraid of having or don’t want a general anesthetic, who want to remain in control during the procedure (?), or who don’t want to go to a hospital. Here’s a blurb from a website offering information about Awake Liposculpture:

“Because liposculpture is generally performed under local anesthesia, it is an outpatient procedure that can be performed in a short 1-2 hours in the comfort of the liposculpture surgeon’s office or clinic.”

Sounds comfortable, safe, private, non-threatening…but what if things don’t go according to plan? Let’s take breast augmentation for example. In the piece on MSNBC, Dr. McGuire, M.D., a director of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, cites numerous potentially life-threatening complications that could occur during the procedure “including blocked airways, blood pressure changes or collapsed lungs.” The most invasive procedure, full tummy tucks—presents even greater risks apparently, including pulmonary embolism and abdominal perforation. It is “inconceivable that anyone would do such a major procedure under anything less than a light general anesthesia,” he said.

The reason general anesthesia is not used is because it’s expensive. So, by eliminating the general anesthetic, doctors can offer the Awake procedures at prices greatly reduced from those involving a team of experts performing the procedure in a hospital with appropriate anesthesia.

And that brings up another disturbing point in all this—many of the doctors performing these types of procedures are not board certified plastic surgeons. But don’t just take my word for it—just look in the news—we recently posted about wannabe cosmetic procedure practitioner, Whalesca Castillo and her in-home silicone injection “treatments”.

And again, according to the report on MSNBC, a study done by surgeons at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California, published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in 2010, found 40 percent of liposuction practitioners had no training in the procedure before entering practice. In fact, the study revealed that while plastic surgeons were the most frequent providers of plastic surgery, ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctors came second.

How does that work? Simple—they take a weekend course. Reportedly, there is a network of organizations that offer short courses in Awake liposuction, tummy tucks and breast augmentation. But a crash course does not a surgeon make. In fact, lack of surgical experience was found to be a “notorious contributing factor,” in a 2008 German study of liposuction-related fatalities.

Of course there have been lawsuits, and there will likely continue to be lawsuits. The poster child for Awake procedures lawsuits would probably have to be Pauline Hacker, a 30-something mother who underwent several Awake procedures in one go, and ended up severely disfigured. She now suffers chronic pain as a result. As she says in an interview, “I thought I was an educated consumer, an intelligent person. I wish I had known: If they’re not properly trained and certified as a plastic surgeon, they have no business cutting through your skin. If something seems too good to be true, then it is.” (msnbc)

To go back to Dr. McGuire, “Awake surgery is a carnival sideshow event,” he said. “Your life could be at stake with some of these kooks.” He goes on to say that “Awake surgery is part of a disturbing trend of non–plastic surgeons attempting procedures that have not been thoroughly tested—such as the not-yet-FDA-approved “stem cell face-lift,” and Macrolane injectable breast enhancement—and unabashedly touting them to the public as the Next Big Thing.” (msnbc)

But even if something is FDA-approved there’s still no guarantees—just look at Botox.

So, all things considered, I’m sticking to Weight Watchers. Really—what could be safer, cheaper and healthier than five servings of vegetables a day?

Tags: Awake Breast Augmentation, Awake Liposuction, Cosmetic Procedures

This was posted on Friday, January 21st, 2011 at 3:07 pm and is filed under Consumer Fraud, Drugs/Medical, Emerging Issues . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.