Fascinating cases of plastic surgery
- Maddy
- Mar 8, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 12, 2020
The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.
Introduction
What is Plastic surgery? Is it only for increasing the confidence in people and doing nose jobs?
I always knew plastic surgery is more than that, and plastic surgeons are more than just doctors who are working in private section of healthcare system. However, I have to admit this was still the first picture in my mind when I was thinking about it.
The importance of plastic surgery became clearer after attending a conference running by BAPRAS, where I had a chance to meet so many surgeons who were best in their field, and also medical students who were passionate about presenting their posters and talking about their experiences in different hospitals around the world.
In this blog I want to talk about some of the interesting cases that I encountered in this conference and in general talk about my experience.
So if you are ready let’s dive in.
Case 1
We had an interesting talk by Dr Hiroshi Nishikawa, who gave us an insight into some advanced syndromes (a disease that is presented with multiple signs and symptoms) and also concluded his talks with effective treatments that required involvement of plastic surgeons.
He talked about Crouzon syndrome which is an autosomal dominant disease ( if one of the parents has the disease their babies have at least 50% chance of developing the condition ).
This syndrome is characterised by premature fusion of certain skull bones ( craniosynotosis ).
This fusion prevents the normal skull growth, which result this patients to suffer from bulging eyes and cause extension of their brain tissue into their spinal canal from foramen magnum ( a hole that connects your brain with your spinal cord). This condition is called chiari malformation and put high levels of pressure on cerebellum ( tree like brain tissue at back of your brain ), so these conditions interfere with the function of your brain and sight.
Unfortunately, these symptoms are not the only ones that are exhibited in patients suffering from Crouzon syndrome. Blockage of airway, underdeveloped upper jaw and hearing loss are the others that can be mentioned.
Blocked airway is life threatening, so it has to be treated first. Using CPAP (Continuous positive airway pressure) , which pushes air in the airway to keep them open and adenotonsillectomy for removing obstructions in the airway are a few methods which can assist patients to breath.
One of the crucial treatments that is done by plastic surgeons is Le Fort III Osteotomy. This procedure tries to reconstruct the skeletal deformity. Let’s look at it step by step: first of all you need to separate a piece of the skull, then you stabilise the bones where you want and the bone is formed between them. To overcome the pressure at back of the brain you undertake this procedure at back and for reduction of bulging eyes at the front.
Illustration for the back of the skull
Illustration for change in bulging eyes and reconstruction at the front of cranium and facial skeleton.
Case 2
I also had a chance to listen to Dr James Baden, who was a military based plastic surgeon. Plus it was so interesting to know that he was Malala Yousafzai’s surgeon.
He presented a case of a soldier who had lost the front section of his leg and as the tissues around the injury site were also damaged he couldn’t perform the local flap (using surrounding tissue to cover the section), and the patient had to go through leg amputation. As Dr Baden was keen to save the sensation of the bottom of amputation part, he took the tissue from the sole of foot (where we have high level of sensation) and covered the end section of amputation, which incredibly improved the patient’s quality of life as he could feel that section of his leg quite well.
Case 3
I had an incredible opportunity to improve my suturing skills with the help of best foundation year doctors who were in their path of becoming plastic surgeons.
I learned about horizontal mattress suture, vertical mattress suture and Simple interrupted sutures. I could imagine myself doing that for hours without getting tired. I’m planning to buy a suturing kit and I advise you guys to do so if you are interested in surgery as well. It will not only help you in your future career, but also it’s so fun.
Conclusion
All right let's recap, I talked about the job of the plastic surgeons in treating Crouzon syndrome and also gave you a brief sight of how plastic surgeons improve patients quality of life by helping them to retain their sensations in some situations, I also talk about my first experience in suturing.
I have to say, I really enjoyed listening to all of those plastic surgeons and from now on I will try to find more of these conferences to go to and improve my skills.
Plus, check out BAPRAS website they have so many opportunities for medical students who are interested in plastic surgery by providing a range of training and courses:
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