Plastic Surgery and Aesthetics

Plastic surgery is a medical specialty that focuses on restoring, enhancing or correcting the way various body parts appear or perform. The field can be divided into reconstructive surgery and aesthetics (also referred to as cosmetic surgery). Some plastic surgeons specialize in treating burns or in craniofacial surgery, hand surgery or micro-surgery.

Reconstructive surgeons focus on restoring function after traumatic injuries or burns. Pediatric reconstructive surgeons may focus specifically on correcting congenital defects and craniofacial surgeons treat victims of traumatic injury as well as children with congenital defects. Reconstructive surgery may also be performed on patients following infections or diseases that impair function, or after disfiguring surgery on tumors or other disorders. In addition to restoring function, reconstructive surgery aims to create a normal appearance for patients.

Common reconstructive surgeries include stitching cuts, removing tumors and scars, breast reductions and reconstructions following mastectomies, and correcting congenital conditions such as cleft palates, cleft lips and missing outer ears. Hand surgery is critical in restoring dexterity in the event of injury or peripheral nerve damage.

Medical aesthetics aims to maintain, restore or enhance patients’ appearance through surgery and medical treatments. The field is growing extremely rapidly in the US and other developed countries. Common procedures include nasal surgery (“nose jobs”), liposuction, eyelid surgery, breast augmentation and abdominoplasty (“tummy tucks”) as well as many other procedures. In recent years a growing proportion of aesthetic procedures have been non-surgical. These include botulinum toxin injections (Botox), chemical peels, collagen injections and laser hair removal.

Skin grafting is an important procedure for both reconstructive surgery and medical aesthetics. Most practitioners aim for autografts, in which skin from one part of the patient’s body is grafted onto another part. Other types of grafts include allografts, in which skin is taken from a human donor, and xenografts, in which skin is taken from another species. In recent years, surgeons have increasingly utilized cultured sheets of epithelial cells or synthetic materials to promote growth of new skin and protect the surgical site in the interim.

When possible, plastic surgeons make incisions within skin folds or lines to minimize the signs of surgery. A wide range of near-invisible suture materials are available and wounds are held together until they heal primarily with sutures that are buried under the surface layers of the skin to minimize scarring.