The terms plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery are often used interchangeably, but cosmetic surgery is actually a subcategory of plastic surgery.
Plastic surgery is the category of reshaping specific regions of the body to improve form and function. This can include reconstructive surgery that repairs medical defects or restores tissue after an accident as well as procedures that improve appearance for purely cosmetic reasons.
The adjective “plastic” in this case has nothing to do with plastic material. Instead, it comes from the Greek word “plastike” which means the “art of modeling,” referring to the way that plastic surgeons model or mold the skin and forms of the body.
Plastic surgery has several subcategories including:
- Burn surgery to treat the skin and underlying tissue after severe burn wounds.
- Cosmetic surgery to improve a person’s appearance. Though cosmetic surgery is a substantial industry of its own, cosmetic surgery techniques are also used in all reconstructive procedures.
- Craniofacial surgery to treat anomalies such as cleft lip as well as fractures and other damage.
- Hand surgery to treat injuries, nerve problems, and diseases of the hand and wrist.
- Microsurgery to reconstruct missing tissues by transferring tissue from other areas of the body.
- Pediatric surgery to treat birth defects and syndromes present from birth.
As mentioned above, cosmetic surgery is a subcategory of plastic surgery that includes the enhancement of appearance through both surgical and medical techniques. It involves procedures that are not medically necessary and are designed to improve a person’s appearance, often to elevate it beyond the person’s natural beauty.
In 2010, more than 9 million cosmetic procedures were performed in the United States. About 1.5 million were surgical and the rest were nonsurgical procedures including Botox injections and laser hair removal. The most common cosmetic surgeries are breast augmentation, liposuction, rhinoplasty (nose job), eyelid surgery, and abdominoplasty (tummy tuck).
