Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery
Surgeons can reshape the appearance of body parts through plastic surgery, also called cosmetic surgery. Some of the most common body parts people want to improve through surgery include:
- Breasts: Increase or reduce the size of breasts or reshape sagging breasts
- Ears: Reduce the size of large ears or set protruding ears back closer to the head
- Eyes: Correct drooping upper eyelids or remove puffy bags below the eyes
- Face: Remove facial wrinkles, creases or acne scars
- Hair: Fill in balding areas with one's own hair
- Nose: Change the shape of the nose
- Tummy: Flatten the abdomen
The Most Prevalent Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Procedures
Aesthetic plastic surgery involves techniques intended for the "enhancement" of appearance through surgical and medical techniques, and is specifically concerned with maintaining normal appearance, restoring it, or enhancing it beyond the average level toward some aesthetic ideal.
There are dozens of different types of plastic surgery procedures available to serve the needs of individuals. The most prevalent aesthetic plastic procedures include:
- Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck): reshaping and firming of the abdomen
- Blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery): reshaping of the eyelids or the application
of permanent eyeliner, including Asian blepharoplasty
- Mammoplasty:
- Breast augmentations (breast implant or boob job): augmentation
of the breasts by means of fat grafting, saline, or silicone gel
prosthetics, which was initially performed to women with micromastia
- Reduction mammoplasty (breast reduction): removal of skin and glandular
tissue, which is done to reduce back and shoulder pain in women with
gigantomastia and/or for psychological benefit men with gynecomastia
- Mastopexy (breast lift): Lifting or reshaping of breasts to make them
less saggy, often after weight loss (after a pregnancy, for example).
It involves removal of breast skin as opposed to glandular tissue
- Buttock augmentation (butt implant): enhancement of the buttocks using silicone implants or fat grafting (Brazilian butt lift) and transfer from other areas of the body
- Buttock lift: lifting, and tightening of the buttocks by excision of redundant skin
- Chemical peel: minimizing the appearance of acne, chicken pox, and other scars as well as wrinkles (depending on concentration and type of agent used, except for deep furrows), solar lentigines (age spots, freckles), and photodamage in general. Chemical peels commonly involve carbolic acid (Phenol), trichloroacetic acid (TCA), glycolic acid (AHA), or salicylic acid (BHA) as the active agent.
- Labiaplasty: surgical reduction and reshaping of the labia
- Lip enhancement: surgical improvement of lips' fullness through enlargement
- Rhinoplasty (nose job): reshaping of the nose
- Otoplasty (ear surgery/ear pinning): reshaping of the ear, most often done by pinning the protruding ear closer to the head. Performed on both children and adults to decrease social anxiety and is done for purely plastic purposes contrary to popular belief that it improves hearing.
- Rhytidectomy (face lift): removal of wrinkles and signs of aging from the face
- Browplasty (brow lift or forehead lift): elevates eyebrows, smooths forehead skin
- Midface lift (cheek lift): tightening of the cheeks
- Suction-assisted lipectomy (liposuction): removal of fat from the body
- Chin augmentation (chin implant): augmentation of the chin with an implant, usually silicone, by sliding genioplasty of the jawbone or by suture of the soft tissue
- Cheek augmentation (cheek implant): implants to the cheek
- Fillers injections: collagen, fat, and other tissue filler injections, such as hyaluronic acid
- Laser skin resurfacing
- Phalloplasty: The construction (or reconstruction) of a penis or, sometimes, artificial modification of the penis by surgery, often for cosmetic purposes. It is also occasionally used to refer to penis enlargement.
Selecting The Right Plastic Surgeon Is of Great Importance
There are many decisions to make when considering plastic surgery. The first and most important decision is selecting a plastic surgeon you can trust. When selecting a plastic surgeon, look for one that ...
- Has had at least five years of surgical training
with a minimum of two years in plastic surgery.
- Is fully trained and experienced in all plastic surgery
procedures, including body, face, breast and reconstruction.
- Performs all plastic surgery procedures only in an accredited medical facility.
- Adheres to a strict code of ethics.
- Fulfills continuing medical education requirements,
including standards and innovations in patient safety.
- Is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, or other recognized plastic surgery organizations depending on the country you are having the procedure completed.
We invite you to explore the resources displayed throughout our site in locating the right plastic surgeon to meet your needs. Be sure to consult with 3 or more surgeons prior to making a selection. In the following pages we cover some of the most popular cosmetic procedures in greater detail. |
