Reconstructive Plastic Surgery
Contrary to the layman’s perception of plastic surgery procedures as being limited to cosmetic purposes alone or as a bundle of luxury treatments designed to entertain the aesthetic tastes or obsessions of the elite class, the practice since its very inception has actually been helping the humanity in ways that are no less in the true meaning and spirit of service than those of any other medical specialty.
The main source that motivated the emergence of modern plastic surgery as a specialty was the need for repairing war injuries in World War II. The cosmetic aspect of the practice emerged quite later as a by-product of the mainstream plastic surgery. Even to this day, its application for aesthetic enhancement remains purely elective to the extent that its costs are not covered by most life insurance services.
Over the past few years, the interest of the general public in rehabilitative side of the practice increased quite dramatically. Cases requiring rehabilitative or reconstructive surgical treatment account for tens of millions of plastic surgery procedures all over the world every year and the number continues to grow.
Keeping true to the literal meaning of the term ‘plastic surgery’ which is derived from the Greek word plastikos (meaning to mold, mend, or restore), reconstructive surgery with its aim to repair the function and appearance of a defective body-part or feature, is rendering a great service to day.
Reconstructive plastic surgery helps us in three major situations:
Firstly, it is appropriate, rather indispensable, in the treatment or prevention of medical conditions and cases such as the following:
- elopment of tumors that need removing
- a skin cancer that necessitates rebuilding of new skin in affected area
- breast cancer survivors who need, and often want, to have their breasts reconstructed
- women with heavy breasts who often suffer constant back pain may need to have their breast surgically reduced
- patients in need of hand reconstruction to get rid of pain or severe stiffness in their fingers and wrists
- patients who have experienced excessive weight loss either naturally or as a result of the gastric bypass procedure often need to remove excess skin, loosened muscles, or residual fat from localized areas of body
- deformities to the vaginal area such as loosening of the labia after child birth may also need to be corre
Secondly, reconstructive surgery has designed special procedures to help patients with birth defects or deformities as exemplified below:
- hundreds of thousands of cleft lip or cleft palate patients who feel greatly handicapped in carrying out essential daily activities such as eating or speaking in addition to facing social problems caused by distorted appearance of their face have been effectively helped to live a normal life.
- Similarly, otoplasty, another plastic surgery procedure has rescued a large number of patients, mostly children, who had born with malformed ears.
- TMJ treatment has likewise salvaged innumerable patients suffering from the troubles of the locked jaw, as has rhinoplasty liberated those with deformities of the nose causing excessive snoring and sleep apnea which one of the potential contributories to heart disease and strokes
Thirdly, reconstructive surgery is also necessitated by traumas or accidents such as dog bites or road accidents when these incidents result in serious damages to the victim’s body on the exterior like the following:
- Deep cuts or tearing of the skin and soft tissue
- facial fractures including those affecting the jaw or cheek
- bony injuries
- tendon and nerve injury
- injuries to the hand
- trauma to the upper or lower extremity
- Burns
- Scar removal after initial
Depending upon the nature and extent of the traumatic damage treatment plans following the initial repair may take months of reconstructive plastic surgeon’s skill to reduce the appearance of scars and improve the appearance.
Often medical conditions as well as traumatic cases require an integrated treatment plan involving plastic surgeons and other specialists such as dental surgeons specialized in maxillofacial or prosthodontic surgery and neurosurgeons.
Browse through the pages in this section to learn more about the various cases requiring plastic surgery treatment and how Dubai Cosmetic Surgery can help.
Birth Defects
Birth defects in which reconstructive plastic surgery can help include such deformities as cleft lips, cleft palates, malformed ears, and cases where the formation of jaw and chin affects normal facial movement or eating.
Such defects not only inhibit normal everyday life activities, but also have potentially severe social and psychological consequences especially for children and teens. Therefore, it is best (often necessary), to address these problems in the early years.
Breast Reconstruction
Women who have had their breasts removed as a result of breast cancer treatment or as a preventive measure against the disease often want to have their breasts rebuilt. Breast reconstruction, a surgical procedure performed by a plastic surgeon is especially designed to restore breast appearance for these women achieving about the same size and shape as before. A plastic surgeon can even reconstruct the nipple and the darker region around it, the areola.
Burn Reconstructive Surgery
Often burn victims need reconstructive surgery to get rid of the scars after the burn has healed, which in very severe cases can take up to two years to fully recover. The painfully slow restoration process can turn the patient’s world upside down especially if the burn involves face, hands or other visible areas of the body.
Burn reconstructive surgery can save such patients from the devastating effects of the trauma by taking charge of burn cases from the very beginning.
Cleft Lip and Palate
A cleft lip is a birth defect marked by an opening in the upper lip between the mouth and nose. In some cases this opening extends to the bones of the upper jaw or gum-line. If the opening occurs in the roof of the mouth (hard palate) it is known as cleft palate.
While incidence of cleft lips or cleft palates (one in 500 to 700 as per WHO’s report) is the same on average throughout the world, it is very rare to see a man or woman with a cleft in advanced countries.
Facial Reconstructive Surgery
Reconstructive Surgery” width=”200″ height=”200″ class=”alignright” />Tens of thousands of infant are born each year with special facial challenges. Facial conditions such as cleft lip, cleft palate, skull malformation, etc. Tumor or trauma can also cause facial deformities after birth. All these conditions can be effectively corrected through facial reconstructive surgery.
Cleft Lip and Palate
Hand Surgery
Whether you are suffering from a functional disorder of the hand (with or without pain) or have a cosmetic problem with it, or even both combined, our board certified plastic surgeons can help you with an appropriate reconstructive hand surgery procedure. No matter you have had this issue from birth, got it as a result of an accident, or a disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, thanks to the specialized discipline of plastic surgery, a variety of hand reconstructive surgery procedures is available today…
Jaw Surgery
>Many people have a natural tendency to develop Imbalanced jaws or misaligned teeth. For them problematic jaws or teeth can create a number of challenges.
First, they may experience one or another kind of functional problems such as difficulty chewing, biting, swallowing, sleep apnea including snoring and other breathing problems like chronic mouth breathing or dry mouth.
Skin Cancer
Skin cancers are the most common reason for reconstructive surgery as they account for three out of four reconstructive procedures performed today. The Skin Cancer Foundation of the US has confirmed this high incidence by concluding from its studies that one in five Americans can develop cancer in their life time.
But fortunately, the mostly occurring skin cancer types namely, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, are easily treatable with minimal scarring.
Tissue Expansion
One of the great contributions of the science and art of plastic surgery to medicine is the tissue expansion technique developed for induced growth of extra skin tissue. The technique is employed where there has been loss of skin tissue that needs to be regrown or reconstructed.
Tissue loss that needs to be replenished may have occurred due to any reason. It may have resulted from a traumatic injury or a disease. However, tissue…
