Amazing Facts about Plastic Surgery and their Types

Plastic surgery has been around for many, many years. The mention of treatments for broken parts of a human body was first found in an Ancient Egyptian medical text around 2500 BC and the reconstructive surgeries in India have been carried out since 800 BC.

It is a medical practice used to improve damaged or irregular parts of the body. We have collected some facts on plastic surgery you should not overlook.

Some facts on plastic surgery:

• Reconstructive surgeries were being carried out in India by 800 BC. Sushruta was a physician that made important contributions to the field of plastic surgery in the 6th century

• Joseph Carpue, a surgeon in England, introduced the cosmetic surgery to western medicine as he reconstructed the nose of a young soldier. When he learnt about procedures developed in India to rebuild mutilated noses, he travelled to India and spent 20 years in India studying local plastic surgery methods

• Carpue was able to perform the first major surgery in the Western world by 1815

• Plastic surgeries involved a great pain until the techniques of anaesthesia were established

• The invention and use of antibiotics such as penicillin, was another step in making elective surgery possible

• The first American plastic surgeon was John Peter Mettauer, who, in 1827, performed the first cleft palate operation with instruments that he designed himself

• The father of modern plastic surgery is generally considered to have been Sir Harold Gillies who developed many of the techniques of modern facial surgery

Types of plastic surgery:

Reconstructive surgery

Reconstructive plastic surgery is performed to correct functional impairments caused by burns; traumatic injuries such as facial bone fractures and breaks; congenital abnormalities, such as cleft palates or cleft lips; developmental abnormalities; infection and disease; and cancer or tumors.

Cosmetic surgery

Cosmetic surgery is performed on normal parts of the body with the only purpose of improving a person's appearance or to remove the signs of aging. Cosmetic surgery include: Lip enhancement, reshaping of the nose called Rhinoplasty, reshaping of the ear called Otoplasty, removal of wrinkles and signs of aging from the face known as Rhytidectomy or Face lift, Cheek augmentation etc.

Sub-specialties

Aesthetic surgery includes Burn surgery, Craniofacial surgery which mostly revolves around the treatment of congenital anomalies of soft tissues, such as cleft lip and palate, Hand surgery which is concerned with acute injuries of the hand and wrist.

Dr Abhinav Likhyani is a Plastic Surgeon at Grecian Super Speciality Hospital. He has several years of experience in the field of plastic surgery. His areas of interest include Trauma Reconstruction, Burn Injury Management and Reconstruction, Craniofacial Reconstruction, Facio-maxillary Injuries, Hand Injuries and Reconstruction, Aesthetic and Cosmetic Surgery, Congenital Malformation and more.