What Is Plastic Surgery ?
MOST of us think of plastic surgery as the kind of operation people have they want to straighten a nose, or change the appearance of their faces in some way.
This is really cosmetic surgery and is only a branch of plastic surgery. Plastic surgery includes correcting a deformity that someone has been born with, or repairing the skin after a person has suffered severe burns. Plastic surgery was practiced thousands of years ago in India. One of the official punishments for criminals was having their noses cut off. Surgeons in India used to take skin from the cheeks and use it to rebuild a nose.
In plastic surgery, excess tissue may be removed, or skin tissue from one part from body may be added to another part where itis needed. When the skin is removed one part of the body and grafted on to another part, usually only the top two layers are used. This is because the skin then has a better chance to"live" in its new location. New blood vessels form and circulation keeps the skin alive. When thicker layers of skin are grafted, as when someone has had a bad accident or severe burns, the chances of the new skin living are not as good. When it does, however, it is likely to look more natural.
Plastic surgery can help people who have been badly injured regain something like their usual appearance, so that they can continue to live and work happily. Very often, however, people will have cosmetic surgery just to improve their appearance. They may want to change the shape of their noses, or they may want to remove wrinkles from the face, or have their faces"lifted." In such cases, the change is only temporary and in time, signs of age appear again.