Australia Plastic Surgery
Australia Plastic Surgery section, includes general infrmation about Plastic Surgery, Plastic Surgery Australia Local News, Plastic Surgery Australia Surgeon Locator and other Plastic Surgery related material.
Plastic surgery is a special type of surgery that involves the reconstruction of specific areas of the body that have an effect on both a person's appearance and ability to function. Plastic surgery can be cosmetic(or aesthetic), which involves changing the appearance of a person through operations such as face lifts, rhinoplasty, liposuction, and breast augmentations. Plastic surgery can also be reconstructive, which is usually performed to improve function, or to correct severe disfigurement that hinders the person's ability to lead a normal life. This may be due to birth defects, trauma cases, burns or even disease. The main difference between cosmetic plastic surgery and reconstructive plastic surgery, is that people choose cosmetic surgery to improve the way they look. It can enhance their original features and hence improve their self-confidence and self-esteem. Reconstructive plastic surgery is performed to improve function but it may be done to approximate a normal appearance.
Reconstructive Plastic Surgery corrects defects on the face or body. These include physical birth defects such as cleft lips, palates or ear deformities, traumatic injuries like those from dog bites, burns, or facial bone fractures, developmental abnormalities, impairments caused by infection or disease, or the aftermath of disease treatments like rebuilding a woman's breast after surgery for breast cancer.
Cosmetic surgery is not an exact science. It is intricate surgery that should be performed by a highly skilled and experienced cosmetic surgeon and only after careful analysis of the patient's physical needs and psychological profile.
A large number of people benefit from plastic surgery, whether it is cosmetic or reconstructive. They can be male, female and children. An important question is how realistic you are about what surgery can do for you. As fashions change, surgeons find that patients request different types of surgery. It is not unusual for a surgeon to find himself performing a nose job on a patient who wants to have a nose just like their favorite Hollywood star. Whether reconstructive surgery for an injury victim or cosmetic surgery for someone who is unhappy with their appearance, plastic surgery has helped many people to lead a happier and more fulfilling life.
Before you decide to proceed with cosmetic, or reconstructive surgery, a consultation with your surgeon will help to determine whether or not you are a suitable candidate. This decision is based on age, general state of health, skin texture, bone structure and healing ability, as well as the nature of your specific problem.
The aim of cosmetic or reconstructive surgery is improvement not perfection. The results are often subtle and are designed to achieve better harmony of facial or bodily features and a more natural appearance. Patients who look forward to a miraculous transformation are inevitably disappointed.
Plastic surgery operations have become more sophisticated than ever, and the diversity of operations means that most parts of the body can now be altered to produce the desired effect. You can have an eye or nose operation and be back home in only a few hours. You can change the shape of your body with liposuction, which is the removal of fat, or change the size of your breasts with augmentation and be back at work within a week.
The best way to prepare for the time after your surgery is to do your homework well ahead of time. If you do not know all of the possible outcomes and how to handle them, you may experience significant problems in terms of your health, schedule, or even personal life. For example, if you are going to undergo a rhinoplasty that has a slight risk of requiring follow-up surgery, it is important to plan as if the second surgery was a sure thing. If the follow-up surgery would happen six months after the initial rhinoplasty, you would want to be sure not to schedule a business trip or vacation during that time period.
Common techniques used in plastic surgery are: incision, excision, microsurgery, chemosurgery, electrosurgery , laser surgery, dermabrasion, liposuction.
In plastic surgery the transfer of skin tissue (skin grafting) is one of the most common procedures. (In traditional surgery a “graft” is a piece of living tissue, organ, etc., that is transplanted.)
Autografts: Skin grafts taken from the recipient. If absent or deficient of natural tissue, alternatives can be:
Cultured Sheets of epithelial cells in vitro.
Synthetic compounds (e.g., Integra--a 2 layered dermal substitute consisting superficially of silicone and deeply of bovine tendon collagen with glycosaminoglycans).
Allografts: Skin grafts taken from a donor of the same species.
Xenografts: Skin grafts taken from a donor of a different species.
Good results are expected from plastic surgery that emphasizes careful planning of incisions so that they fall in the line of natural skin folds or lines, appropriate choice of wound closure, the use of best available suture materials and the early removal of exposed sutures so that the wound is held closed by buried sutures.
Plastic surgeons developed the use of microsurgery to transfer tissue for coverage of a defect when no local tissue is available. Tissue flaps comprised of skin, muscle, bone, fat or a combination, may be removed from the body, moved to another site on the body and reconnected to a blood supply by suturing arteries and veins as small as 1-2 mm in diameter.
The most popular aesthetic/cosmetic procedures are listed below. Most of these types of surgery 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 or the application of permanent eyeliner, including Asian blepharoplasty
Mammoplasty
Breast augmentation (or "breast enlargement"): Augmentation of the breasts. This can involve either saline or silicone gel prosthetics.
Breast reduction: Removal of skin and glandular tissue. Indicated to reduce back and shoulder pain or for psychological benefit in women with macromastia.
Buttock Augmentation (or "butt augmentation" or "butt implants"): Enhancement of the buttocks. This procedure can be performed by using silicone implants or fat grafting and transfer from other areas of the body.
Chemical peel: Minimizing the appearance of acne, pock, 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.
Mastopexy (or "breast lift"): Raising or reshaping of breasts. Involves removal of breast skin as opposed to glandular tissue.
Labiaplasty: Surgical reduction and reshaping of the labia
Rhinoplasty (or "nose job"): Reshaping of the nose
Otoplasty (or ear surgery): Reshaping of the ear
Rhytidectomy (or "face lift"): Removal of wrinkles and signs of aging from the face
Suction-Assisted Lipectomy (or liposuction): Removal of fat from the body
Chin augmentation: Augmentation of the chin with an implant (e.g. silicone) or by sliding genioplasty of the jawbone.
Cheek augmentation: Collagen, fat, and other tissue filler injections (eg hyaluronic acid)
Laser skin resurfacing
Injection of dermal fillers: (collagen, hyaluronic acid, fat, and others)
A major concern for most people considering plastic surgery is the amount of pain involved. The plastic surgery operation itself will not involve any pain, as it is performed under either a local or general anesthetic, but post surgery pain will vary from person to person depending on the surgery involved. Some patients describe the post plastic surgery pain as a slight discomfort, while others have said the pain is considerably more intense. Doctors are able to administer medication to help ease this discomfort until the pain subsides.
Depending on your type of plastic surgery, recovery time can vary widely. Some surgeries take only a few days of recovery time. An eyelid lift, for example, is very noninvasive and most patients can be back to their normal lives and work schedules within just a few days. Invasive surgeries, however, can take months of recovery time. Make sure that you build recuperation time into your schedule. Also, make sure that you have friends or family member who can help you in the time period directly following your surgery.
It is important to note that undergoing plastic surgery can be very emotional. Minor changes like eyelid lifts generally do not require much emotional adjustment. Rather, patients are simply pleased to see a fresher, younger-looking face in the mirror. A very dramatic plastic surgery, however, can take quite a while to get used to. Some people actually experience a period of post-operative depression. Be sure to talk to your doctor about this aspect of plastic surgery before going through with your procedure. Furthermore, know that many people engage in emotional counseling after plastic surgery. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
Once you have a pretty good list of possible plastic surgeons, begin to narrow it down. The best way to find the right plastic surgeon for you is to cast a wide net and then check the doctors against your list of specific needs. Do you want a plastic surgeon with a great deal of experience with your particular surgery. If you are having a surgery that your health insurance will cover some or all of, do you want a surgeon in your network? How far away from home are you willing to travel for your surgery? Is it important to you to go to a plastic surgeon who is a member of important medical boards or associations?
Early health conditions like smoking, diabetes and allergies can also raise the dangers of plastic surgery. The most common errors committed by the plastic surgeons involve decreased post functioning care, offensively executed procedures and the surgical mistakes.
If any patient wishes to avert the dangers of plastic surgery, then one should have a thorough knowledge about the plastic surgeon and the surgeon should have essential documents before undergoing any type of plastic surgery.
A certain degree of risk is inherent in any surgical procedure and although complications seldom occur, this should be considered in your decision to undergo surgery. All operations, except for laser skin treatment, require incisions, which heal by forming a scar. In cosmetic surgery, the scars as inconspicuous as possible. How well your scars heal depends on surgical technique, patient's age, hereditary factors and characteristics of each individual's skin. Scars are an essential part of healing and it is impossible to make them disappear completely.
Infections are rare in cosmetic surgery, but they can occur. If they do, treatment with antibiotics and additional surgery may be required.
Bleeding can also occur as a side effect of cosmetic surgery. Presence of blood in the tissue can cause scarring and shrinking, or irregularity of tissues. This may be difficult to correct.
Temporary black and blue discolouration following surgery is common, and usually disappears completely with time.
It is important that any problem you may have with your general health or any allergies that you are aware of are mentioned to your surgeon.
Following your initial operation, secondary surgery may be necessary to make minor revisions, or in rare cases, to relieve complications that arise. The operating cosmetic surgeon must make any final decision regarding the need for secondary surgery.
Plastic Surgery prices are varied generally from one surgeon to another surgeon due to many reasons. A physician does the adjustment for the prices of any kind of plastic surgery that is depended on the difficulty, expertise, length of the procedure and experience.
The promoting rates of plastic surgery seems to be less because they just show the price of the procedure where the other prices for any kind of plastic surgery engage the pre and post functioning exams, the remedial surgery and the anesthesia.
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More Australia info...
Australia Time zones Mainland Australia has three time zones, on account of its large geographical range:
Eastern Standard Time (EST) - operates in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland, 10 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
Central Standard Time (CST) - operates in South Australia and the Northern Territory (half an hour behind EST, 9.5 hours ahead of GMT)
Western Standard Time (WST) - operates in Western Australia (two hours behind EST, 8 hours ahead of GMT). Several Australian states observe daylight saving time during the summer season. In NSW, ACT, VIC, SA and WA, daylight savings time applies from the end of October to the end of March and in Tasmania from the beginning of October to the end of March. (In 2006 only, daylight saving begins on December 3 in WA). Queensland and the Northern Territory do not use daylight savings time. Due to the half hour difference between CST and EST, this means that during summer there are five different time zones operating in Australia: GMT+9 (WA), GMT+9.5 (NT), GMT+10 (Qld), GMT+10.5 (SA) and GMT+11 (NSW, ACT, Vic, Tas).
Australia Regions Map of AustraliaThe Australian mainland comprises six states and two territories. Ranked in order of population:
(common abbreviations follow in parentheses)
Plastic Surgery News...
- Multiple sclerosis is not a single condition, but an ebbing and flowing of stages affecting the body's central nervous system. Recognizing that pattern, researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified therapy targets that could lead to personalized treatments for patients at each phase of the illness.
- Grammy Award winning singer Roberta Flack is one of the most recognized voices of mesotherapy. Her lifelong struggle with weight loss led her to the discovery of this advanced application that at the time meant a regimen of painful hypodermic treatments. By 2003, Flack had lost more than 35 pounds but endured over 500 injections. "I did a lot of singing when he was sticking me," Flack told CBS News. (Source: Cosmetic Medicine / Plastic Surgery News From Medical News Today)