The medical sub-specialty known as plastic
surgery is mainly concerned with the restoration of both physical form and
function of a part of a body. The best known form of plastic surgery is
aesthetic or cosmetic surgery. However, other forms of plastic surgery exist
such as craniofacial surgery, microsurgery, hand surgery, surgical treatment of
extensive burns and reconstructive surgery.
Procedures.
1. Skin
Grafting.
The most common procedure in plastic surgery is
skin grafting. Skin grafting is a term used to describe the procedure of
transfer of whole or a part of skin tissue. Usually skin grafting is used to
manage extensive wound trauma, burns, extensive skin loss as a result of
dermatological infections (such as purpura fulminans and necrotizing
fasciitis); and for specific surgeries such as wide surgical excision of skin
cancers.
The skin graft can either be taken from a donor
or from within the recipient as described hereafter. Autografts are skin grafts
taken from the patient undergoing skin grafting (who in this case is referred
to as the recipient). However, if the recipient is deficient in natural healthy
skin tissue, the two alternatives that are feasible are to either to culture
sheets of epithelial cells (harvested from the recipient) in vitro or to
utilize synthetic compounds ( for example integra which is made up of synthetic
silicon complexed with bovine tendon which still contains its natural glycosaminoglycans).
Allografts are skin grafts derived from another person (donor is the same
species as the recepient) and lastly xenografts are skin grafts derived from
donors who belong to a different species relative to the recipient.
To obtain excellent outcomes from skin grafting,
it is mandatory that the plastic surgeon should plan his or her surgical
incisions to coincide with the natural skin folds and tension lines. Excellent
results from skin grafting are also obtained when the plastic surgeon uses the
most appropriate option of wound closure (which mainly involves wound
suturing), uses the most appropriate suture materials and also ensures that
exposed sutures are removed as early as possible so as to ensure that the
buried sutures do hold the closed wound.
2. Aesthetic
surgery.
Cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is an elective
procedure performed by plastic surgeons on normal and healthy body parts with
the explicit objective of removing any signs of aging or just for beatification
purposes. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the
most common forms of aesthetic surgery performed in the United States of
America are breast augmentation (a type of mammoplasty), abdominoplasty (a
surgical procedure aimed at reshaping and restoring the firmness of the entire
abdomen), liposuction (a surgical procedure aimed at excising excessive fat
tissue from the body), eyelid surgery (aimed at reshaping the eyelids) and
nasal surgery (aimed at reshaping the structure and restoring the firmness of the
nose). Facelift and rhinoplasty are also popular worldwide.
Some of the aesthetic surgical procedures are
augmented by non-surgical procedures such as laser hair removal and Botox
treatment. In some parts of Asia, especially Thailand, sex reassignment surgery
done in conjunction with breast augmentation is quite popular.
Other popular cosmetic procedures are
phalloplasty, buttock augmentation, chemical peel, cryolysis,
cryoneuromodulation, lip enhancement, otoplasty, labiaplasty, genioplasty,
orthognathic surgery, cheek augmentation, brachioplasty, keloid removal and
laser-guided skin rejuvenation.
