“Is colonoscopy done under local anesthesia?”

These days most colonoscopies are done under Intravenous sedation . On very sick pts it can be done without sedation

Most colonoscopies are done under mild to moderate intravenous sedation.

No. Local anesthesia is not used for colonoscopies. Typically, colonoscopies are performed under sedation anesthesia. Since colonoscopies may feel crampy and uncomfortable, sedation allows for comfort to the patient while optimizing the conditions for the endoscopist. Usually, short-acting medicines like Propofol are used so the recovery time back to full consciousness is short.

No, a colonoscopy is not "done under local anesthesia". Generally, the term Clocal anesthesia implies numbing a specific small area of skin, while the term regional anesthesia generally means to apply anesthesia to one set of nerves that are in close proximity to each other, which may often result in anesthesia to a larger area than the smaller area implied by administration of a Clocal anesthetic. A colonoscopy involves exposure of a larger area of the body than a simple local anesthetic could anesthetize. Although colonoscopy is generally not considered to be particularly painful, it would usually be described as uncomfortable for someone undergoing this procedure with no anesthesia of any kind. In general, colonoscopies are performed after administering some degree of sedation to the patient, and this sedation would typically be maintained throughout the procedure.

You can receive either no medications or small doses of analgesics or to receive monitored anesthesia care that will allow you to have some sleepy medicines during the procedure.

Its either under IV sedation or monitoring anesthesia care depending on a patient and an endoscopist preferences

It is done usually under what is called moderate sedation. My personal feeling is that in reality it should be classified as a general anesthetic. It can be done without sedation but there is no local anesthesia for it.

No, it is usually done under IV conscious sedation or deep sedation.