Reconstructive surgery is a procedure performed to restore the function of a body’s part which has stopped working due to an injury, surgery, medical condition, birth defect or trauma.
From the head to the toe, it is used to treat a wide range of conditions. The surgery is all about restoring the function of the affected body parts. These surgeries help repair the damage primarily by transferring tissue from one part of the body to another.
Types of Reconstructive Surgery
Different types of reconstructive surgeries could help a person improve the problem that they might be suffering from:
Surgeries for Feet and Hands
Hands and feet are critical to daily activity and restoration of normal function are important for every patient. This surgery is performed in case of trauma, tumours, webbed toes or fingers or congenital abnormalities.
Wound Care
This surgery is available for people who have seriously been burned or cut. If the wound is severe, the patient has to undergo debriding (removal of dead tissue) before reconstructive surgery. After debriding, reconstructive procedures such as skin drafts, etc. are performed.
Flap Procedures (Microsurgery)
This surgery involves the transportation of healthy tissue from one location of the body to another area that has lost some skin or skeletal support. These procedures are done on parts that have been affected by injury or chronic disease.
Facial Surgeries
Facial reconstruction surgery is performed to help restore a person’s face after a drastic incident that has severely damaged that person’s face.
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Breast reconstruction
This procedure is available for women who have undergone bilateral mastectomy (removal of both breasts) due to some medical conditions. It can help restore breasts by substituting the skin, breast tissue and the removed nipple.
Is reconstructive surgery different from plastic surgery?
The two terms: reconstructive surgery and plastic surgery are often used interchangeably. However, there are a few differences between the two that set them apart.
Plastic surgery is performed to enhance the physical features of a person to improve their physical appearance. Whereas, reconstructive therapy is performed to rectify physical deformities that might have occurred due to an accident or present since birth.
Plastic surgeries are a patient’s choice, someone who willingly wants to attain the perfect look that they’d imagined. On the other hand, reconstructive surgeries are performed on the advice of the doctor.
There are some distinctive features of the two surgeries, but in the end, both surgeries require surgical proceedings and can have similar complications.
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Possible Complications of Reconstructive Surgery
All surgeries carry some kind of risk with them. Moreover, all patients are different from each other so their ability to heal is different. Some of the complications that may occur include:
- Excessive bleeding
- Infections
- Bruises due to the surgery
- Problems in the surgery
- Difficulty in wound healing
This risk may increase if the patient’s smokes, has a weak immune system, poor nutritional habits, skin damage and connective tissue damage.
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