BENGALURU: Plastic Surgery transforms lives of millions across the globe every year by offering reconstructive and aesthetic surgeries. Our repertoire of surgeries can achieve a variety of goals like restoring the smile of a child born with cleft lip; reverse the age of an ageing face by almost two decades; put back a hand cut off from the rest of the upper limb as seen in accidents; fix the fractured face; reconstruct a jaw that had to be removed due to cancer so that patient can have normal appearance and chew his food like before and many more procedures.
With World Plastic Surgery Day having been observed on July 15, it’s a good time to delve into the misconceptions surrounding it.
Myth 1 : Plastic surgery involves use of ‘plastic’
The name, plastic surgery is derived from the Greek word ‘plastikos’ which means ‘to mould’. As plastic surgeons can mould tissues to give desired shape for coverage of a defect or modify a body part, the speciality is called as plastic surgery. The use of foreign material in plastic surgery is occasional and all of them are biocompatible materials designed keeping patient safety as foremost goal in mind.
Myth 2 : Plastic surgery will be scarless
Any incision that breaches the thickness of dermis(deeper layer of skin) leaves a scar. It is important to understand that plastic surgery will also leave scars though they are cleverly planned by your surgeon to make them very fine and imperceptible by placing them in hidden areas. We also use special post-scar management protocols that involve use of creams, silicone gel sheets, lasers, etc to achieve fine scars.
Myth 3 : Plastic surgery can transform one into someone else
As plastic surgeons, our aim is to maintain your uniqueness while making subtle changes to your appearance by addressing those features that you may not find aesthetically pleasing. The goal is always to help you become the better version of yourself and it is never about transforming people into someone else as popularised in cinema.
Myth 4 : Plastic surgery, cosmetic surgery and cosmetology are the same
Plastic surgery is a medical super-speciality requiring at least 12-13 years of training first in MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery), then MS (General Surgery) and finally MCh/DNB(Plastic Surgery). It encompasses treatment of burns, trauma/cancer reconstruction, cleft/craniofacial/maxillofacial surgeries, management of birth defects of hand and other body parts and cosmetic surgery/aesthetic surgery. Thus, cosmetic surgery is just one of the subspecialties of plastic surgery that deals with surgeries that aim to improve the appearance of an individual. Cosmetic surgeons are plastic surgeons who have a special interest in aesthetic surgery and may have undertaken advanced trainings to hone their skills.
Cosmetology is a vague term that is being indiscriminately used by multitude of professionals, most of whom are non-medical professionals working at salons and trained in makeup/basic skin care. One must beware visiting an unqualified professional for surgical/medical facial rejuvenation procedures as they do not have proper understanding of human anatomy and physiology and thus are at higher risk of having complications.
Consult a qualified plastic surgeon in case you need any reconstructive or aesthetic surgery services as these surgeries are very delicate requiring fine skills, experience and detailed knowledge of anatomy to achieve good results.
(The writer is a consultant plastic surgeon at Fortis Hospital, Richmond Road)