What is plastic surgery?
It’s a common misunderstanding that the word plastic in cosmetic surgery means artificial. The word comes from the traditional Greek word plastikos, which implies to mold or give form. Cosmetic surgery may be a surgical specialty committed both the advance in a very person’s appearance and also the reconstruction of facial and body tissue defects caused by illness, trauma, or birth disorders.
Plastic surgery restores and improves function, also as appearance. It can involve surgery on any a part of the anatomy, except the central system, including:
- Skin, including carcinoma, scars, burns, birthmarks, and tattoo removal
- Maxillofacial (the facial skeleton)
- Congenital anomalies, including deformed ears, congenital abnormality, and congenital disorder
Plastic surgery could be a special variety of surgery which will change somebody’s appearance and skill to function.
- Reconstructive procedures correct defects on the face or body. These include physical birth defects like cleft lips and palates and ear deformities, traumatic injuries like those from dog bites or burns, or the aftermath of disease treatments like rebuilding a woman’s breast after surgery for carcinoma.
- Cosmetic (also called aesthetic) procedures alter part of the body that the person isn’t satisfied with. Common cosmetic procedures include making the breasts larger (augmentation mammoplasty) or smaller (reduction mammoplasty), reshaping the nose (rhinoplasty), and removing pockets of fat from specific spots on the body (liposuction). Some cosmetic procedures aren’t even surgical within the way that the majority people consider surgery that’s, cutting and stitching. as an example, the employment of special lasers to get rid of unwanted hair and sanding skin to enhance severe scarring are two such treatments.
When Cosmetic Surgery is Employed
Plastic surgery will be accustomed repair:
- Abnormalities that have existed from birth, like a cheiloschisis and palate, webbed fingers, and birthmarks
- Areas damaged by the removal of cancerous tissue, like from the face or breast
- Extensive burns or other serious injuries
- Plastic surgery can often help improve an individual’s self-esteem, confidence and overall quality of life.
Doctors Who Do Cosmetic Surgery?
It’s important to pick out a doctor who is certified in cosmetic surgery by the American Board of cosmetic surgery. Generally, a surgeon who is board-certified in cosmetic surgery has graduated from an accredited grad school and has completed a minimum of 5 years of graduate medical education. This usually includes 3 years of general surgery and a pair of years of cosmetic surgery. additionally, the surgeon must practice cosmetic surgery for two years and pass comprehensive written and oral exams to become board-certified. Board certification is renewed every 10 years to make sure ongoing competency within the specialty.
What Does Cosmetic Surgery Include?
Plastic surgery includes both reconstructive and aesthetic (cosmetic) procedures:
Reconstructive cosmetic surgery
In general, anaplasty is completed on abnormal structures of the body which will be caused by:
- Trauma
- Infection
- Developmental abnormalities
- Congenital (present at birth) anomalies
- Disease
- Tumors
This type of surgery is sometimes done to enhance function, but may additionally be done to alter appearance.
Cosmetic (aesthetic) cosmetic surgery
Cosmetic surgery is completed to repair or reshape otherwise normal structures of the body, generally, to enhance appearance.
Plastic surgery techniques
Some of the techniques used during cosmetic surgery are:
- Skin Grafts – where healthy skin from an unaffected area of the body is removed and accustomed replace lost or damaged skin
- Skin Flap Surgery – where a bit of tissue from one a part of the body is transferred to a different, together with the blood vessels that keep it alive; it’s called flap surgery because the healthy tissue usually remains partially attached to the body while it’s repositioned
- Tissue Expansion – where surrounding tissue is stretched to enable the body to “grow” extra skin, which might then be wont to help reconstruct the nearby area
As well as these techniques, plastic surgeons also use many other methods, such as:
- Fat Transfer or Grafting – where fat is aloof from one area and inserted in another area, usually to correct unevenness
- Vacuum Closure – where suction is applied to a wound through a sterile piece of froth or gauze to delay fluid and encourage healin
- Camouflage Make-up or cream
- Prosthetic Devices – like artificial limbs