Thinking about plastic surgery but not aware of the myths surrounding it? Let's clear things up together! In this blog, we'll discuss the common misconceptions about plastic surgery. From debunking beliefs about cost and accessibility to explaining the wide range of procedures beyond skin treatments, we'll cover it all. You'll learn about the incredible transformations that plastic surgery can achieve and why it's not just for the wealthy.

Also, we'll discover the origins of the term "plastic surgery" and address concerns about scarring and emergency procedures.

Accessibility and Cost

Myth: Plastic surgery is meant only for rich people.

Fact: If we look at the total number of people who seek plastic surgery treatment, low-income and middle-class people are much higher in number than rich and ultra-rich people. Plastic surgery can make a great difference in the lives of manual laborers, factory workers, and daily workers due to its superb reconstructive qualities.

Myth: Plastic surgery operations are very costly and they are possible only in big corporate hospitals.

Fact: Plastic surgery operations are much cheaper and more affordable compared to contemporary superspecialties like neurosurgery and cancer surgery. The majority of plastic surgery operations are possible in small nursing homes, and this is the best solution for the plastic surgery patient as it will provide personalized care, improve the results, and cut unnecessary expenses.

Insurance and Coverage

Myth: Plastic surgery is not reimbursed under mediclaim insurance.

Fact: The majority of plastic surgeries are reimbursed under mediclaim insurance. This includes surgeries for trauma (accidents), including hand injuries and facial injuries, burns, burn deformities, reconstructive surgery for cancer, diabetic foot infection, major infections of legs and feet, hand surgery, etc. Only surgeries for beautification (cosmetic surgery) and surgeries for birth defects (congenital problems) are not reimbursed under mediclaim insurance.

Scope of Plastic Surgery

Myth: Plastic surgery is only related to skin treatments and skin surgery.

Fact: Plastic surgery is a very vast field in which not only the skin but all the important structures beneath the skin, including muscles, tendons, blood vessels, nerves, and bones, are also treated. A plastic surgeon is trained to deal with transfers of different tissues of the body, coverage of various important structures, replenish extensive tissue losses, and restore functions of important body parts like eyelids, thumb, mouth, etc.

Myth: Most plastic surgeries are related only to skin replacement or skin transfer.

Fact: Yes, skin replacement or skin grafting (transfer) is one of the main basic operations of plastic surgery, but the complete spectrum of plastic surgery is much more than skin grafting and it includes many wonderful and life-changing operations. To understand the scope of plastic surgery, one needs to understand how the training of a plastic surgeon is different from other fields of medicine. After completion of post-graduation in M.S. - General surgery, one has to undergo rigorous three-year superspecialty residency training. These three years of residency training inculcate two of the most important qualities in a plastic surgeon; 1) patience, & 2) delicate tissue handling. Whether the student has imbibed these two essential qualities or not, is tested at the end of three-year training period by an examination. After clearing this final qualifying examination, one is conferred with the degree of M.Ch. - plastic surgeon in India. With the help of vast anatomical knowledge, patience during the operation, and delicate tissue handling, a plastic surgeon can handle complex situations of hand, face, leg, or other injuries.

Not only acute injuries, but a plastic surgeon has an excellent capacity to reconstruct lost/damaged tissues. Apart from injuries, infection of soft tissues (tissues other than bone) is another area of expertise of a plastic surgeon. Starting from a simple boil, or furuncle, to extensive infections of the leg, complex hand infections, diabetic foot infections, chronic nonresponsive infections like pilonidal sinus, congenital preauricular sinus, and many such complicated infections are surgically treated by the special approach of plastic surgery. After injury and infection come birth defects (congenital anomalies). Birth defects like cleft lip, cleft palate, various types of ear deformities (anotia, microtia, cryptotia prominent ear), nose deformities, jaw bone deformities, tongue tie, eyelid deformities like ptosis, developmental problems of the breast, various hand problems present since birth (syndactyly, polydactyly, thumb aplasia, radial club hand), birth problems of the lower limbs, vascular lesions like hemangiomas and malformations, birth problems of male and female external genitalia (hypospadias, epispadias, vaginal agenesis, imperforate hymen), and many such complex conditions are solved completely or up to the maximum possible extent by a plastic surgeon.

Reconstruction is a technique that is used by a plastic surgeon to solve multiple problems, as described above. Post-cancer removal defects, post-accident, post-burn, or post-massive infection defects are best covered by the reconstructive approach of plastic surgery. Microvascular surgery is one of the most important tools of a plastic surgeon, which he employs for reconstruction. Timely and precise application of microvascular surgery can save lives and limbs as well as enhance the beauty of reconstruction by many folds. Added to this, microvascular surgery saves patients from certain unavoidable difficulties associated with conventional reconstructive methods used by plastic surgeons.

Thus, a plastic surgeon can reconstruct a socket for eye, he can reconstruct the deformed or destroyed nose, can reconstruct the ear which is absent since birth or improvise the shape of deformed ear, can help the patient with droopy eyelid to elevate them, can reconstruct the jaw (from leg bone) removed during cancer surgery, can reconstruct the undeveloped breast or change the size and help patient in improving appearance of the breast, can reconstruct the amputated or absent thumb, can straighten the deformed hand and improve its function, can carefully remove the extremely dangerous vascular swellings and permanently cure the patient of them, can reconstruct the absent urethra with straightening of penis which is an essential requirement for a male child, help a girl with absent vaginal passage by reconstructing a vaginal passage from her own body tissues which is functional and save her marriage life, can help a diabetic patient to save his life by timely and radical debridement and save his limb with reconstruction, can solve a seemingly smaller yet very disturbing problem like ingrown toenail. The list can still go on. In short, plastic surgeries are much more than skin grafting or skin transfer.

Myth: Are plastic surgeons experts in using any special type of plastic? That is why they are called “plastic” surgeons.

Fact: No. To understand the meaning of plastic surgery, we need to know the origin of the word "plastic.” As many words in the English language are derived from ancient languages, the same is true with the word, plastic. In the Greek language, there was a word called “plastikos”, which meant capable of molding or changing shape. A surgical discipline that developed an inherent ability to change the shape of tissues and reconstruct something of vital importance to the body thus became known as plastic surgery.

Myth: It is possible to change one’s face completely by plastic surgery.

Fact: Plastic surgery can change disproportionate parts of the face like the nose, chin, cheekbones, etc. It can bring harmony in the proportions of different parts of the face and thus, plastic surgery can restore the aesthetic balance of the face. But, it is not possible to change any person’s face completely, as shown in movies.

Myth: Plastic surgery is a scarless surgery.

Fact: Any surgery on the human body always leaves scars. However, plastic surgery is falsely popular as scarless surgery because of its special ability to hide the scars. There are some obvious lines on our body called relaxed skin tension lines. These lines are present everywhere on the body, even at` sites where they are invisible. Surgical incisions made parallel to these lines have the least possibility of being conspicuous. Apart from the selection of incision lines, a plastic surgeon has excellent dissection and suturing skills in surgery. Because of all these abilities of a plastic surgeon, the incisions made by a plastic surgeon are least visible; to the extent they sometimes become invisible. That is the reason for the above-mentioned false belief.

Myth: In case of facial injury, anyone (including compounder or ward boy) can suture the wound. The resultant ugly scar after this emergency surgery can be erased by plastic surgery after a few weeks or months.

Fact: The first half of this sentence is true. Any person who has enough work experience can suture the wound in an emergency and help the patient. But, this hastily done emergency work can result in a bad and ugly scar that can never be erased by a plastic surgeon at a later date. Instead, the best thing to do is to get the wound sutured by a plastic surgeon in an emergency. Even if someone has sutured it inappropriately, reopening the stitches and revision suturing by a plastic surgeon, preferably within 48 hours of the injury, can produce miraculous results.

Do you still have any questions about plastic surgery? Call us at +91 97259 99526 to book a consultation with Dr. Chintan Patel (a plastic surgeon) to discuss how you might benefit from plastic and cosmetic surgery.