Plastic surgery is that specialty of medicine that makes use of a number of surgical and nonsurgical procedures to modify the appearance and function of a person's body. Plastic surgery procedures include both cosmetic enhancements as well as functionally reconstructive operations.

In the cosmetic enhancement procedures, aesthetics are considered more important than functionality,here plastic surgery is also referred to as cosmetic surgery. Most procedures involve both aesthetic and functional elements.

The basic goals of plastic surgery are:
• Correction of perceived disfigurement
• Restoration of impaired functionality
• Improvement of appearance

Plastic surgeons may mold and reshape the bone, cartilage, muscle, fat and skin.
It involves procedures like:
• Tissues may be moved to fill in depressions, to cover wounds, or to improve appearance.
• Tissues may be completely removed to alter the contours of a feature.

Reconstructive plastic surgery is usually performed to improve function, but it may be done to approximate a normal appearance. It is performed to correct functional impairments caused by:
• burns
• traumatic injuries, such as facial bone fractures
• congenital abnormalities such as cleft lip, cleft palate
• developmental abnormalities
• infections or diseases
• removal of cancers or tumors, such as a mastectomy

Most of the aesthetic/cosmetic procedures are more commonly known by their "common names."

• Abdominoplasty (or "tummy tuck"): reshaping and firming of the abdomen

• Blepharoplasty (or "eyelid surgery"): Reshaping of the eyelids,etc.

• Mammoplasty:
o Breast augmentation (or "breast enlargement"): Augmentation of the breasts. This can involve either saline or silicone gel prosthetics.
o Breast reduction: Removal of skin and glandular tissue.

• Buttock Augmentation (or "butt augmentation" or "butt implants"): Enhancement of the buttocks using silicone implants or fat grafting and transfer from other areas of the body.

• Mastopexy (or "breast lift"): Raising or reshaping of breasts. Involves removal of breast skin as opposed to glandular tissue.

• Rhytidectomy (or "face lift"): Removal of wrinkles and signs of aging from the face

• Labiaplasty: Surgical reduction and reshaping of the labia

• Suction-Assisted Lipectomy (or liposuction): Removal of fat from the body

• Rhinoplasty (or "nose job"): Reshaping of the nose

• Otoplasty (or ear surgery): Reshaping of the ear

• Chin augmentation: Augmentation of the chin with implants (e.g. silicone) or by sliding genioplasty of the jawbone.

• Cheek augmentation

• Laser skin resurfacing

• Injection of dermal fillers (collagen, hyaluronic acid, fat, and others)

• Chemical peel: These are performed to minimize the appearance of acne, pock, and other scars as well as wrinkles, 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

 

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