Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty that involves appearance enhancements and reconstruction of defective body parts. Plastic and reconstructive surgery at Hilton Head Plastic Surgery & MedSpa is performed by a team of experienced surgeons.

The field of plastic surgery is divided into two main categories - cosmetic surgery and reconstructive surgery. While cosmetic surgery is performed to improve your aesthetic appearance, reconstructive surgery helps to reconstruct your defective body parts due to a disease or any physical harm.

What do you mean by reconstructive plastic surgery?

This surgery is performed to fix deformities, restore functions, and recreate a normal appearance. These deformations can be by birth, traumatic experience, medical conditions, or aging. For example, cleft lip and palate repair, and breast reconstruction.

Now, one can understand the relation between plastic surgery and reconstructive surgery. Plastic surgery is just a surgical field, to which reconstructive surgery is a part.

While reconstructive plastic surgery is medically required, cosmetic plastic surgery is a choice of the patient to enhance appearance. But what's similar is, they both help in boosting an individual's confidence.

Who are the eligible candidates for reconstructive surgery?

This surgery is medically necessary as it may save you from being treated as a disabled person, and sympathized unnecessarily. Candidates with birth defects like cleft lip, or hand deformities, or distortion due to an accident, disease, or aging, are eligible.

But before you decide to undergo the surgery, check if it can be treated with non-surgical procedures. Hilton Head Island Plastic Surgery & MedSpa department can help you in the process. We are good listeners. Patients love speaking out about their problems with us, and we help them with the proper treatment plan.

How is reconstructive surgery performed?

Generally, during reconstructive surgery, doctors use extra tissue from one part of your body, to repair the distorted part. In medical terms, this is referred to as autologous reconstruction.

For example, you had a head surgery that resulted in a distorted jawline. Doctors may take some bones from your legs to repair them. Both the parts can now function normally.

Skin cancer may have everlasting effects on your body. At Hilton Head Plastic Surgery, these can be treated using frozen sections. The cancerous lesions are removed, examined by a pathologist under a microscope, and are frozen. Also, they help in removing tumors or other skin lessons to improve your appearance. During the treatment process, our experts stay in touch with your skin cancer specialist.

A few other plastic and reconstructive surgery can be:

  • Bone, tendon, and skin grafting: A part of the healthy tissue is moved from one part and transplanted to another.

  • Local flap surgery: A nearby healthy tissue is utilized to treat the defective part, while the tissue remains connected with the blood supply of the body. This ensures fast recovery and reduced scarring.

  • Artificial implantation: An artificial body part is implanted in your body to treat the distorted part.

  • Scar revision: Scars from previous surgeries can be repaired.

What are the complications associated with reconstructive plastic surgery?

Every surgery is associated with a certain risk factor. This may differ from person to person according to their anatomy and ability to recover. Some of the complications associated with reconstructive plastic surgery are infection, bruising, excessive bleeding, problems related to anesthesia, surgery-related problems, and difficulty in wound recovery.

These risks may increase if you are smoking, having connective tissue damage, or skin damage due to radiation therapy. Some other factors may be decreased blood circulation to the surgery area, HIV, weak immune system, and poor lifestyle or nutritional habits.

Therefore, you must discuss your previous problems with doctors and know your chances of any risk related to the surgery. A detailed analysis will help you stay confident during the entire surgical process.

Conclusion

Most of us want to look good when we stand in front of a mirror. The urge for surgeries like Plastic and Reconstructive surgery, makes us forget about non-surgical ways to treat minor issues. Especially, in the field of cosmetic surgery, Medical Spa Treatment can be helpful. It comprises several treatment plans and programs to solve your minor issues. Let's think twice if these surgeries are important for us, and take a step ahead.