A specialist plastic surgeon can perform reconstructive surgery to restore form or function to abnormal parts of your body.
Reconstructive surgery definition—Surgery to reconstruct or rebuild a part of your body, to repair a birth defect or tissue damage caused by a birth defect, disease, injury, tumours or severe burns.
You may be living with an injury or abnormality that affects your everyday life in some way and want surgery to reconstruct the area.
There are many types of reconstructive surgery.
Reconstructive surgery types
There are procedures available to reconstruct most parts of your body.
Breast Reconstruction Surgery
A diagnosis of breast cancer can result in a mastectomy. This is surgery to remove breast cancer and entire breast. You may opt for breast reconstruction surgery to rebuild your breast.
There are several options if you choose breast reconstruction. Your specialist plastic surgeon will discuss all the options with you in the initial consultation. These include:
- Silicone breast implants
- Tissue flap reconstruction using tissue from another part of your body.
You can have an immediate reconstruction or a partial reconstruction at the time of the mastectomy. Or you can choose to wait until after the incisions from the mastectomy heal and you complete cancer therapy. You can wait as long as you like.
You may also want your areola and nipple reconstructed if they were removed with your breast.
It is also possible to have reconstructive surgery on your other breast so they are both the same size and shape.
Birthmark and Mole Removal
Birthmarks and moles can be on any part of your body. Usually they are harmless but if you have one that embarrasses you or causes discomfort it is possible to remove it surgically.
At your initial consultation, your specialist plastic surgeon will assess the problem area to decide the best option that will cause the least amount of scarring.
The procedure to remove a birthmark or mole is relatively simple. We usually do it in a practice room at Pure Aesthetics under local anesthetic. Depending on the size it may need stitches. But you can usually return to work or normal daily activities the same day.
We send all moles to an independent pathologist for testing.
Surgical Skin Cancer Removal
Removing skin cancer surgically can be necessary to prevent it from affecting your health.
Depending on where it is, it may be done as day surgery in the clinic under local anesthetic. It may leave only a small scar that will eventually fade. We send all skin cancers to a pathologist to test.
Talk to specialist plastic surgeon, Dr Steve Merten about skin cancer removal and whether you can claim a rebate from Medicare and Health Insurance.
Scar Revision
Scarring occurs as a natural part of the healing process after the skin is cut when injured or during surgery. These are permanent and may fade over time.
Sometimes they become a problem when they are:
- Itchy and inflamed
- Painful
- Affect your appearance
- Hinder your mobility or movement.
There are different types of scars that cause problems, including:
- Facial scars caused by either acne or trauma. These can affect your appearance and how you feel about yourself.
- Contractures caused by burns or where you lose large areas of skin. This can hamper your movement and mobility.
- Hypertrophic scars that are red and raised that can be painful and itchy.
- Keloid scars are similar to hypertrophic scars. They are thick, raised scars and occur in the tight skin after a burn or skin trauma.
There are a range of methods used for scar revision, including:
- Topical treatments or corticosteroid injections to reduce scarring.
- Skin grafts or flap surgery using healthy skin from another part of your body.
- Re-aligning the scar so it not so noticeable.
- Removing the scar and the repairing the wound site.
Hand surgery
The goal of hand surgery is to restore finger and hand function. Hand reconstructive surgery may be necessary for a number of reasons such as:
- Infections that cause damage to the hand
- Congenital defects or problems
- Rheumatic diseases
- Degenerative changes to the hand structure.
Different types of hand surgery includes:
- Carpal tunnel which causes pins and needles and numbness in your fingers. Surgery releases pressure on the carpal tunnel nerve.
- Removal of a painful ganglion cyst that may be affecting movement in your wrist or hand.
- Repairing the damage from a ruptured tendon after an injury or from rheumatoid arthritis.
- Trigger finger to free up a thickened nerve that is stuck in the tunnel.
- Dupuytrens contracture to remove built up tissue that causes your fingers to curl into your hand.
- Repairing fractured bones in your wrist or hand.
Make an appointment with one of the Dr Merten for an evaluation of your hand.
Surgery to Repair an Earlobe
Wearing heavy earrings or ear gauging can misshapen your earlobes. Or you may have a tear where an earring got caught. Sometimes acute trauma can cause your earlobe to split or tear even if you do not wear earrings. Or you may be unhappy with a congenital defect. You can have surgery to repair the earlobe.
Earlobe reconstructive surgery aims to recreate the natural shape and size of your earlobe to suit the shape of your face.
Reconstructing an earlobe is a relatively simple procedure done under local anaesthetic and takes around 15 to 30 minutes in a Pure Aesthetics practice room. You can go home afterwards.
It takes four or five days to recover, which is when we will remove your stitches.
For Sydney reconstructive surgery, contact our specialist plastic surgeons to find out how we can help you.
