Is general anesthesia necessary?
No. While several practitioners do use it, general anesthesia would appear to be a matter of individual preference rather than essential. While its safety record is very good, general anesthesia is not a frivolous undertaking. Other techniques of anesthesia are available and are routinely used in this practice: e.g. topical anesthesia, cryo-anesthesia and local nerve blocks. Dr. Oon Tian Tan, who has had the longest clinical experience of any physician with this new generation of lasers, has not used general anesthesia in the treatment of thousands of patients.
