Noun A doctor who performs surgery to rebuild or repair parts of the body by transferring tissue. A pioneering plastic surgeon whose work represented a revolution in craniofacial techniques. It's a common misunderstanding that the word plastic in plastic surgery means artificial. Rather, the word has its origin in the ancient Greek word plastikos, which means to mold or shape.
Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty that deals both with improving a person's appearance and with reconstructing facial and body tissue defects due to diseases, injuries or congenital disorders. Plastic surgery is a broad surgical subspecialty that, unlike other specialties, is not limited to a single organ system. As a result, it's a technically demanding and naturally creative field that is constantly changing and reinventing itself. Plastic surgeons treat conditions ranging from congenital anomalies to cancer, trauma and degenerative diseases.
In addition, plastic surgeons work as a team by nature, since they work together with other specialties, such as general surgery, gynecology, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, oral surgery, orthopedic surgery, otorhinolaryngology and urology, to reconstruct any abnormality or defect in the body in order to to restore both form and function. Several ancient Sanskrit medical treatises mention some types of plastic surgery in India, such as the works of Sushrota and Charaka. A significant number of plastic surgeons choose to focus their practice on cosmetic surgery and, as such, the terms are often used interchangeably. Since cosmetic surgery and plastic surgery each have different practice objectives based on a set of specific procedures, it only follows that the training and certification process of a certified cosmetic surgeon will be very different from that of a board-certified plastic surgeon.
Plastic surgeons are an integral part of caring for pediatric and adult patients who suffer from burns. Plastic surgery procedures include not only cleft lip and palate surgery, but also primary and revisional rhinoplasties. Plastic surgeons use microsurgery to transfer tissue to cover a defect when local tissue is not available. Complex reconstructive surgeries of the chest and abdomen are a common aspect of plastic surgery practice. Ethnic plastic surgery is plastic surgery that is performed to change ethnic attributes and is often considered to be used as a way of passing.
In 1930, Gillies' cousin, Archibald McIndoe, joined the practice and committed to plastic surgery. If you've always thought that cosmetic surgery and plastic surgery were the same thing, you're not alone. Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty that involves the restoration, reconstruction, or alteration of the human body. While both cosmetic surgery and plastic surgery are concerned with improving the patient's body, the general philosophies that guide training, research, and goals for patients are different. Plastic surgeons also collaborate with dermatologists to reconstruct defects caused by Mohs surgery for skin cancer, especially those in cosmetically sensitive areas, such as the face or hands.
Microsurgery is a field of plastic surgery in which magnifying glasses or microscopic amplifications are used to anastomose small blood vessels (arteries and veins), nerves and lymphatic vessels. The Romans also performed cosmetic plastic surgery, using simple techniques, such as repairing damaged ears, around the 1st century BC.
