Midazolam (Versed) in ambulatory surgery.

Midazolam is a very useful drug in outpatient aesthetic surgery. Its principal advantages are (1) short duration of action (a half-life of 2.3 hours), (2) painless injection, (3) no incidence of postoperative phlebitis (as compared with diazepam), and (4) a high degree of safety and effectiveness. Since one of the main objectives in outpatient surgery is to have the patient recover as quickly as possible and be discharged without any significant drug hangover, we recommend the incorporation of midazolam into the armamentarium of the aesthetic surgeon. Subsequent to the presentation of this paper (Twentieth Annual Meeting of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, in Los Angeles, California, March 23, 1987), we have administered midazolam to an additional 400 patients undergoing outpatient surgery and no apnea has occurred requiring an airway or supportive respiratory measures.