Glossary
Glossary Related Terms:
Body Procedures, Breast Procedures, Cosmetic Surgery, Face Procedures, Plastic Surgery, Skin Procedures, Surgeon, Surgery Animations
A Glossary of Plastic Surgery
This article is a glossary of plastic surgery information which lists some common medical terms used for various procedures in cosmetic surgery and their meanings.
Abdominoplasty: A surgical procedure, to reduce the excess of skin and fat around one’s abdomen. This is commonly referred to as the tummy tuck.
Augmentation Mammoplasty: This body procedure involves enlarging breasts by surgery.
Brow Lift: A surgical procedure to correct the position of eye brows.
Capsular Contraction: A complication in breast augmentation where the scar tissue around the implants tightens and becomes firm.
Collagen: This is the skin procedure where a natural protein is injected in the skin for soft tissue augmentation.
Excision: Removal of skin.
Flap techniques: Techniques used in surgery to reposition and manipulate excess skin muscle and mainly fat.
General Anaesthesia: Drugs, mainly gaseous, used to alter consciousness during operations.
Grafting: A surgical procedure where nipple and the areola are manipulated.
Hematoma: Blood collecting underneath the skin.
Injectable Fillers: Substances used to restore youth and beauty to skin by injecting these into the skin.
Latissimus dorsi flap technique: This is a surgical procedure where one positions a womans muscle, fat near the reconstructed site. However these layers of muscle and fat are still connected to their original sites and hence blood supply is not affected.
Liposuction: A surgical procedure where the fat underneath the skin is siphoned off and firmness is increased.
Local Anaesthesia: A drug, injected directly to the required area to make it numb and not feel pain during a procedure.
Mammogram: An x-ray image of the breast.
Mastectomy: This term used in medical language involves the removal of breast tissue, mostly due to cancer.
MRI: stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Using this we can view tissue just like the bones in an x-ray.
Medial Thigh Lift: Surgical procedure correcting sagging of inner thigh.
PMMA: This is a very widely used implant. It is formed in to tiny bubbles and immersed in collagen gel. This is used to prevent wrinkles.
Reduction mammoplasty: Reduction of breasts using surgical procedures.
Rhinoplasty: This is a face procedure that involves modifying the nose to improve its appearance or correct faults.
Rhytidectomy: Commonly known as the facelift, It is a surgical procedure to reduce sagging of the neck, jowls etc.
Saline Implants: These are implants for the breasts but filled with a salt water solution.
Silicone Implants: Breasts implants with an elastic gel like solution. These are the most common type of implants.
Sutures: Stitches used to hold tissue and skin together by surgeons.
Transaxillary incision: This is an incision made in the underarm area or in the armpits.
Ultrasound: A non-invasive procedure where high pitched sound waves enter the body and the echoes are mapped into pictures.