Plastic surgery has a reputation for being unnecessary or materialistic. What many people don’t realize is that the specialty of plastic surgery emerged in the wake of the First World War. The first plastic surgeries weren’t designed just to enhance looks; they were designed to reconstruct body parts that had been changed irreparably during the war. Today, reconstructive plastic surgery for cancer patients is still a huge part of the plastic surgery specialty.
Cancer is a harrowing disease. Even the treatments designed to cure cancers can cause serious damage to the body. When surgeries and other therapies are successful, they can mean serious alterations to someone’s appearance. They affect the shape and functionality of a body part. Some very common cancers, including breast cancer and skin cancer, have treatments that can really change someone’s appearance and reconstructive surgeries are often sought out after treatment for these cancers. They can help to restore the patient’s appearance to an approximation of what it was like before the taxing disease.
Reconstructive surgeons are also vital during surgeries to remove cancers. Sometimes, they are called on to close deep wounds when a large amount of skin has been excised. Reconstructive surgeons also work with other types of tissue. They can be tasked to replace bone from one part of the body with bone from another. For example, some cancer surgeries will remove bone from the jaw, which can then be replaced with bone harvested from a limb like an arm or leg. This type of surgery is important as it restores shape and function to the body part that was initially compromised.
A newer field in this medical industry is reconstructive microsurgery. The most traditional reconstructive surgeries post-cancer include breast reconstructions. However, microsurgeries are beginning to work on a much smaller scale, too, as they address smaller parts of the body. A microsurgeon specializes in the restoration of body parts like nerves and blood vessels. Some types of cancer therapies, like radiation or chemotherapy, destroy sensation in the extremities for patients, like in their hands and feet. By restoring proper blood supply and sensation to a body part, microsurgery enhances a cancer patient’s life in significant ways. With restored sensation, people can return to their daily routines with near-full mobilization of their limbs.
Reconstructive surgeries help people to thrive, not just survive, in the wake of a battle with cancer.