Aesthetic medicine

Aesthetic medicine is an inclusive term for specialties that focus on improving cosmetic appearance through the treatment of conditions including (but not limited to) scars, skin laxity, wrinkles, moles, liver spots, excess fat, cellulite, unwanted hair, skin discoloration, and spider veins. Traditionally, aesthetic medicine includes dermatology, reconstructive surgery and plastic surgery, but it is not strictly limited to these fields. Aesthetic medicine includes both surgical procedures (liposuction, facelifts, breast implants, Radio frequency ablation) and non-surgical procedures (radio frequency skin tightening, non surgical liposuction, chemical peel), and practitioners may utilize a combination of both. Although aesthetic medicine procedures are typically elective, they can significantly improve quality of life, psychological wellbeing and social function.

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Plastic surgery

Plastic surgery is a medical procedure with the purpose of alteration or restoring the form of the body. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the most well known kind of plastic surgery, plastic surgery itself is not necessarily considered cosmetic; and includes many types of reconstructive surgery, craniofacial surgery, hand surgery, microsurgery, and the treatment of burns.

Etymology

In the term plastic surgery, the adjective plastic implies sculpting or reshaping, which is derived from the Greek πλαστική (τέχνη), plastikē (tekhnē), “the art of modelling” of malleable flesh. This meaning in English is attested as early as 1598. The surgical definition of "plastic" first appeared in 1839, preceding the modern "engineering material made from petroleum" sense of plastic (coined by Leo Baekeland in 1909) by seventy years.

History

Treatments for the plastic repair of a broken nose are first mentioned in the Edwin Smith Papyrus, a transcription of an Ancient Egyptian medical text, some of the oldest known surgical treatise, dated to the Old Kingdom from 3000 to 2500 BC. Reconstructive surgery techniques were being carried out in India by 800 BC.Sushruta was a physician that made important contributions to the field of plastic and cataract surgery in 6th century BC. The medical works of both Sushruta and Charak originally in Sanskrit were translated into the Arabic language during the Abbasid Caliphate in 750 AD. The Arabic translations made their way into Europe via intermediaries. In Italy the Branca family of Sicily and Gaspare Tagliacozzi (Bologna) became familiar with the techniques of Sushruta.