Plastic surgery procedures include both cosmetic enhancements as well as functionally reconstructive operations. In the former case, where aesthetics are considered more important than functionality, plastic surgery is also referred to as `cosmetic surgery`. Most procedures involve both aesthetic and functional elements.
Plastic surgeons typically mold and reshape the following tissues of the body: bone, cartilage, muscle, fat, and skin.
The basic goals of plastic surgery include the following :
Facial Appearance
• Correction of perceived disfigurement
• Restoration of impaired function
• Improvement of physical appearance
During plastic surgery the following procedures are common:
• Tissue may be moved to fill a depression, to cover a wound, or to improve appearance.
• Tissue may be completely removed to alter the contours of a feature.
The benefits of plastic surgery may include :
• Correction of a congenital or acquired deformity
• Correction of a perceived physical imperfection
• Psychological benefits.
Techniques and procedures
Common techniques used in plastic surgery are:
• incision
• excision
• microsurgery
• chemosurgery
• electro surgery
• laser surgery
• dermabrasion
• liposuction
In plastic surgery the transfer of skin tissue (skin grafting) is one of the most common procedures. (In traditional surgery a “graft” is a piece of living tissue, organ, etc., that is transplanted.
Usually, good results are expected from plastic surgery that emphasizes:
• Careful planning of incisions so that they fall in the line of natural skin folds or lines without the mark of any scar on the skins surface;
• Appropriate choice of wound closure. The left over invites wrinkles;
• Use of best available suture materials and medication procedures;
• Early removal of exposed sutures so that the wound is held closed by buried sutures.
`Reconstructive plastic surgery` : Reconstructive Plastic Surgery is performed to correct functional impairments caused by:
• Burns;
• traumatic injuries, such as facial bone fractures;
• congenital abnormalities, such as cleft lip, or cleft palate; Surgery
• developmental abnormalities;
• infection or disease;
• Removal of cancers or tumors, such as a mastectomy (Breast cancer/reconstruction).
It is generally covered by insurance coverage but this may change according to the procedure required. `Plastic surgeons` developed the use of microsurgery to transfer tissue for coverage of a defect when no local tissue is available. Tissue Flips comprised of skin, muscle, bone, fat or a combination, may be removed from the body, moved to another site on the body and reconnected to a blood supply by suturing arteries and veins as small as 1-2 mm in diameter.
