How Does Plastic Surgery Work?

Clinic Hunter

How Does Plastic Surgery Work?

Plastic surgery works in a number of different ways depending on the procedure and the part of the body. As with many other surgical procedures the technique in plastic surgery is constantly being refined and perfected, with new procedures continually being added. Firstly the patient will be given a general anaesthesia, although, in some cases, a local anaesthesia may be possible. After sedation the surgeon will make an incision using the guiding surgical incision lines marked on the body previously. How long these incision lines will be depends on the type of surgery. With minimal invasive surgery they may be tiny, but this may not always be possible.

A skin graft is one of the original types of plastic surgery. The skin graft surgery procedure is where a piece of skin is taken from one area of the body and used to cover skin which has been lost or damaged in another area of the body.

Another newer technique in plastic surgery is tissue expansion. In this procedure a device, rather like a balloon, is inserted under the skin and, over time, is gradually inflated with salt water. It may take 3-4 months for the additional skin to grow to the required size. This is often used with operations like breast reconstruction and the repair of large wounds.

Flap surgery is also sometimes used instead of tissue expansion plastic surgery. In this procedure, a piece of tissue, together with all the blood vessels that are keeping it alive are transferred from one part of the body to another part. Often this piece of tissue is simply ‘shifted’ from one area to another area close by, however, sometimes a ‘free’ flap is used where the blood vessels are completely disconnected and reattached using microsurgery at the new site.

Other techniques commonly used, particularly in cosmetic plastic surgery is liposuction, where fat is suctioned out, and fat transfer where the fat is removed from one area and placed in another area. There is also excess skin removal, where excess skin is cut away, as well as implants – silicone or other substances – used for breast reconstruction and butt enhancement.

Sometimes a plastic surgery procedure will involve more than one technique.