Gilbert, Stephen Thomas James

Definitions

Breast surgery may involve any of a variety of surgical procedures carried out on the breasts of women (generally) and men. These procedures may include removing a sample of tissue from a breasttumour (abnormal growth), as well as removing malignant (cancerous) tumours. Surgery may also include breast reconstruction following a mastectomy (breast removal) for breast cancer. The surgeons who perform this type of breast reconstruction may be breast oncology (cancer) surgeons or plastic surgeons. (Surgeons trained in both specialities are known as oncoplastic surgeons.) Some breast surgeons also do cosmetic breast surgery, including enlargement and reduction.moreFacial plastic surgery includes cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. Cosmetic procedures include rhytidectomy or ‘facelift’, involving removing wrinkles and sagging from the face; browplasty, a‘brow lift’ or ‘forehead lift’, which lifts eyebrows and smoothens forehead skin; and midface lift or ‘cheek lift’, which involves tightening of the cheeks. Other procedures often accompanying facial plastic surgery are lip enhancement, improving the lips’ fullness; and rhinoplasty or ‘nose job’, reshaping of the nose. Reconstructive plastic surgery is usually performed to improve function, but it may be also done to make people appear more normal. It corrects impairments caused by burns; traumatic injuries, such as facial bone fractures and breaks; abnormalities present at birth, such as cleft palates or cleft lips; developmental abnormalities; infection and disease; and cancer or tumours.more