Plastic or Cosmetic (Surgery)?

First things first. Before deciding on any procedure, it is useful to search for all the information that might clarify possible doubts, and help you to make correct decisions. For this purpose it is useful to actually now what you are looking for. Plastic surgery is the specific field in medicine dedicated to the restoration, reconstruction  or improvement of the form, function and appearance of the human body in general. The word “plastic” has its origin in the Greek term plastikos, meaning “able to be molded”. This wide discipline comprises two sub-categories that are simply the two different approaches offered by this field of Medicine: Cosmetic surgery and Reconstructive surgery. Cosmetic surgery (also known as Aesthetic Surgery) refers to surgery that aims the body improvement solely from the aesthetic point of view. It intends to enhance the body features and reach the one’s ideal of beauty. Breast Augmentation, Rhinoplastys and Tummy Tuck (Abdominoplasty) are examples of Cosmetic Surgeries. This is why normally cosmetic surgery is seen as elective and non-essential, although nowadays this can be a very subjective and open to discussion theme. Reconstructive Surgery is performed to correct body deformities that were result of birth defect, trauma/ injury or caused by other illnesses and health issues. Restoring the features of victims of severe burning, cases of cleft lip or palate and breast cancer are good examples of the applications of Reconstructive Surgery. We hoped this helped to clarify. Now that you know what we are talking about, your search will be much easier. Have a question? Ask here