WHAT IS RECONSTRUCTIVE PLASTIC SURGERY

WHAT IS RECONSTRUCTIVE PLASTIC SURGERY?

Reconstructive plastic surgery is a surgical specialty that aims to restore form and function. The word plastic derives from the ancient Greek plassein – to mould or shape. Unlike all other specialties, plastic surgery is not bound by anatomical or functional region. Instead, it involves the use of a wide array of surgical techniques to reconstruct tissues that have been damaged by congenital loss, infection, trauma, cancer or even the process of ageing. Hence the reconstructive plastic surgeon often works in collaboration with other specialists wherever necessary , including head and neck surgeons, oral surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, ophthalmologists, urologists, paediatric surgeons, gynaecologists, general surgeons and dermatolo gists. Modern plastic surgery techniques enable clinicians to perform complex surgical procedures that would not have been previously possible, such as major oncological head and neck resections or skeletal fixation of open limb fractures with significant soft-tissue defects. Since plastic surgery involves the restoration of form, it is necessarily closely related to aesthetic (or cosmetic) sur gery , which has gained much attention in the media in recent decades. Many of the surgical techniques, including lipo suction, fat grafting, scar management, tissue expansion and flap contouring, are shared between the two specialties ever, plastic surgery also aims to achieve restoration of func tion. An example would be the use of a free neurotised gracilis muscle transfer from the thigh to the face to restore a smile in facial palsy , or the use of a jejunal free flap to restore swal lowing following a pharyngolaryngectomy f or squamous cell carcinoma. Indeed, the microsurgical techniques developed to Sir Harold Delf Gillies , 1882–1960, the ‘father of plastic surgery’, became the first President of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons in 1946. Sushruta , c . 600 /uni00A0 /b.sc/c.sc/e.sc , Indian surgeon; his eponymous Samhitá (‘compendium’) was translated into English in 1907. Gaspare Tagliacozzi , 1545–1599, Professor of Surgery , University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy . Carl Herman Manchot , 1866–1932, was born in Switzerland and studied medicine at the University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France. enable tissue transplantation within the same individual and the replantation of severed body parts (i.e . autografts) have, together with the discovery of immunosuppressive agents, heralded the field of composite tissue allotransplantation in the latter half of the twentieth century – including face, hand and abdominal wall transplants (i.e. homografts).

To understand: The different types of skin grafts • The principles and use of /f_l aps • The concept of microsurgical reconstructive surgery •

WHAT IS RECONSTRUCTIVE PLASTIC SURGERY?

Reconstructive plastic surgery is a surgical specialty that aims to restore form and function. The word plastic derives from the ancient Greek plassein – to mould or shape. Unlike all other specialties, plastic surgery is not bound by anatomical or functional region. Instead, it involves the use of a wide array of surgical techniques to reconstruct tissues that have been damaged by congenital loss, infection, trauma, cancer or even the process of ageing. Hence the reconstructive plastic surgeon often works in collaboration with other specialists wherever necessary , including head and neck surgeons, oral surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, ophthalmologists, urologists, paediatric surgeons, gynaecologists, general surgeons and dermatolo gists. Modern plastic surgery techniques enable clinicians to perform complex surgical procedures that would not have been previously possible, such as major oncological head and neck resections or skeletal fixation of open limb fractures with significant soft-tissue defects. Since plastic surgery involves the restoration of form, it is necessarily closely related to aesthetic (or cosmetic) sur gery , which has gained much attention in the media in recent decades. Many of the surgical techniques, including lipo suction, fat grafting, scar management, tissue expansion and flap contouring, are shared between the two specialties ever, plastic surgery also aims to achieve restoration of func tion. An example would be the use of a free neurotised gracilis muscle transfer from the thigh to the face to restore a smile in facial palsy , or the use of a jejunal free flap to restore swal lowing following a pharyngolaryngectomy f or squamous cell carcinoma. Indeed, the microsurgical techniques developed to Sir Harold Delf Gillies , 1882–1960, the ‘father of plastic surgery’, became the first President of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons in 1946. Sushruta , c . 600 /uni00A0 /b.sc/c.sc/e.sc , Indian surgeon; his eponymous Samhitá (‘compendium’) was translated into English in 1907. Gaspare Tagliacozzi , 1545–1599, Professor of Surgery , University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy . Carl Herman Manchot , 1866–1932, was born in Switzerland and studied medicine at the University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France. enable tissue transplantation within the same individual and the replantation of severed body parts (i.e . autografts) have, together with the discovery of immunosuppressive agents, heralded the field of composite tissue allotransplantation in the latter half of the twentieth century – including face, hand and abdominal wall transplants (i.e. homografts).

To understand: The different types of skin grafts • The principles and use of /f_l aps • The concept of microsurgical reconstructive surgery •

WHAT IS RECONSTRUCTIVE PLASTIC SURGERY?

Reconstructive plastic surgery is a surgical specialty that aims to restore form and function. The word plastic derives from the ancient Greek plassein – to mould or shape. Unlike all other specialties, plastic surgery is not bound by anatomical or functional region. Instead, it involves the use of a wide array of surgical techniques to reconstruct tissues that have been damaged by congenital loss, infection, trauma, cancer or even the process of ageing. Hence the reconstructive plastic surgeon often works in collaboration with other specialists wherever necessary , including head and neck surgeons, oral surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, ophthalmologists, urologists, paediatric surgeons, gynaecologists, general surgeons and dermatolo gists. Modern plastic surgery techniques enable clinicians to perform complex surgical procedures that would not have been previously possible, such as major oncological head and neck resections or skeletal fixation of open limb fractures with significant soft-tissue defects. Since plastic surgery involves the restoration of form, it is necessarily closely related to aesthetic (or cosmetic) sur gery , which has gained much attention in the media in recent decades. Many of the surgical techniques, including lipo suction, fat grafting, scar management, tissue expansion and flap contouring, are shared between the two specialties ever, plastic surgery also aims to achieve restoration of func tion. An example would be the use of a free neurotised gracilis muscle transfer from the thigh to the face to restore a smile in facial palsy , or the use of a jejunal free flap to restore swal lowing following a pharyngolaryngectomy f or squamous cell carcinoma. Indeed, the microsurgical techniques developed to Sir Harold Delf Gillies , 1882–1960, the ‘father of plastic surgery’, became the first President of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons in 1946. Sushruta , c . 600 /uni00A0 /b.sc/c.sc/e.sc , Indian surgeon; his eponymous Samhitá (‘compendium’) was translated into English in 1907. Gaspare Tagliacozzi , 1545–1599, Professor of Surgery , University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy . Carl Herman Manchot , 1866–1932, was born in Switzerland and studied medicine at the University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France. enable tissue transplantation within the same individual and the replantation of severed body parts (i.e . autografts) have, together with the discovery of immunosuppressive agents, heralded the field of composite tissue allotransplantation in the latter half of the twentieth century – including face, hand and abdominal wall transplants (i.e. homografts).

To understand: The different types of skin grafts • The principles and use of /f_l aps • The concept of microsurgical reconstructive surgery •