Explained below are the two sections of plastic surgery.
1. Re-constructive Plastic Surgery: It is performed to medicate burns, facial traumas, birth defects like cleft palates or lips and tumor removal. It is done in an attempt to restore normal anatomy and functionality of body parts. Different surgical branches, like maxillofacial surgeries, general surgeries,gynecological surgeries, etc. use some form of re-constructive surgery procedures to implement desired results.
This surgical module ranges from minor closure of wounds by simple stitches to tissue expansion and skin grafting. Irrespective of the type of surgery conducted, all re-constructive surgeries follow common technique of re-constructive ladder.
This ladder has 9 important levels, starting from the simplest and moving towards complex techniques. These levels are known as rungs that describe various wound management procedures. Surgeons while delivering required remedial measures, starts with the lowest rung and moves upwards until the most suitable method is reached.
2. Cosmetic Surgery: Cosmetic surgeries are conducted in an attempt to improve one's physical appearance and remove signs of aging. They can be performed on any part of our body. However, reports show that the most popular cosmetic surgeries include; breast augmentation, liposuction, eyelid surgery, abdominoplasty(tummy tuck surgery), and nasal surgery. Two other non surgical cosmetic procedures are botox and laser hair removal.
Techniques of Plastic surgery:
The three most common techniques followed for plastic surgeries are:
- Skin Grafts: This is a surgical procedure in which a healthy part of skin is resected from an unaffected area and is used to cover wounded area. Skin grafts are of three types. Autografts are skin tissues taken from your own body. Allografts are grafts taken from a recipient and Xenografts are tissues of recipients belonging to different species.
- Tissue Expansion: In this method, a balloon-like device is inserted under the skin near the wounded area. This balloon is constantly filled with salt water that causes its expansion. Due to this expansion, the skin on its surface gets stretched and enlarges. This extra skin can then be used to treat infected areas.
- Flap surgery: This involves transfer of body tissues along with blood vessels. Tiny blood vessels are connected by performing microsurgery.
Plastic surgeries need complete recovery time of 6 months to 4 years depending on the type of procedure performed. Some psychological counseling sessions are also required for patients who have undergone some complex surgeries. This is because, these operations bring about drastic changes in the body that require sufficient time to get accepted on an emotional level. To understand more about risks & complications related to plastic surgery click here
