Cosmetic surgery glossary

Cosmetic surgery terms explained

Abdominoplasty: A procedure to flatten your stomach by removing spare fat and skin, and to tighten muscles in your abdominal wall. Also known as a tummy tuck.

Acne: A skin condition caused by excess oil from sebaceous glands in which the hair follicles then become plugged and the skin inflamed.

Acne scar: Scars due to severe acne can vary from deep holes to scars that are pointed or wavelike.

Age spots: Small flat pigmented markings that are usually seen on body areas most often exposed to the sun, and appear usually after 40.

Anaesthesia: Anesthetic drugs eliminate feeling.

Asymmetry: Missing symmetry and are different in shape and/or size.

Blepharoplasty: A cosmetic surgical process that minimizes bagginess from lower eyelids and raises drooping top eyelids by removing excess skin, muscle, and underlying fatty tissue.

Breast augmentation: A procedure enlarge breast sizes.

Brow lift: The tightening of eyebrows and forehead skin and thus lift and correct frown lines in the forehead.

Buccal Fat: The fat pads above the jaw near the corner of the mouth.

Buttock Lift: By reducing extra fat and skin in the buttock area while also performing liposuction.

Cannula: Liposuction performed with a hollow, high-vacuum tube device to remove fat.

Calf Augmentation: Adding fullness of the calf through using hards silicone implants, inserted behind the knee and moved to behind the calf muscle.

Capsular contracture: A common snag of breast surgery when scar or capsule surrounding the implant begins to tighten.

Cheek / Chin Augmentation: An implant surgery to the cheeks or chin to for sagging soft tissues (and supporting them) plus improving bone structure.

Chemical peel: A chemical solution is spread over the skin to remove dead skin cells and stimulate new skin cell production.

Collagen: The main skin proteins for strength and elasticity.

Crows Feet: Lines around the eyes which are usually caused by sun exposure and smoking.

Dermabrasion: Scars from pox and acne for instance is removed by brushing a patient’s pre-frozen skin.

Deviated septum: Moving the dividing ‘middle’ of the nose’s wall to the centre through surgery.

Eye lift: When bagginess is removed from lower eyelids and droopy upper eyelids are raised through removal of skin, muscles and fatty tissue.

Face lift: A surgical procedure to improve the wrinkled, sagging and drooping skin on the neck and face.

Fat injections: To improve a wrinkled and scarred skin, this plastic surgery technique is used.

Gynecomastia: When a male's breasts enlarges.

Hematoma: A situation of blood that accumulate under the skin or in an organ.

Hypertrophic scar: A red, raised scar.

Keloid scar: When a scar carries on growing outside the injury-site – a genetic situation that occurs during healing.

Liposuction: Also known as lipoplasty, a canula instrument is inserted to break up and suck fat from the area.

Liposelection: As with liposuction, but here fat is broken down before removal by means of ultrasonic sound waves.

Mastectomy: Breast removal (or part of) through surgery.

Mastopexy: Breasts lift where skin is removed in cases of sagging breast.

Maxillofacial: Referring to the jaws and face.

Mini tummy tuck: A procedure to remove fat below the naval.

Nasal: Referring to the nose.

Otoplasty: A surgical procedure for misshaped or protruding ears – similar to Pinnaplasty.

Pinnaplasty: A surgical procedure done to correct misshaped or protruding ears – similar to Otoplasty.

Ptosis: When eyelids or breasts (or other body part) droop.

Reconstructive plastic surgery: A surgery aimed to improve function and normal appearance. Usually in cases where there was infection or trauma, congenital defects or disease, developmental abnormalities or tumours.

Rhinoplasty: Known as a nose job, this procedure is to improve the appearance of the nose.

Rhytidectomy: A surgery dealing with drooping, sagging and wrinkled skin of the face and neck.

Scar: When dealing with infections, injury, inflammation or surgery for instance, the body aims to heal and replace damaged skin through fibrous tissue.

Septoplasty: A surgical procedure to repair a misshaped cartilage and the bony portion of a nose and thus improve airflow and breathing.

Septorhinoplasty: When nasal obstacles are removed through nose surgery in the passage of the nose.

Suture: Stitches used to close a wound and hold tissue together.

Thigh Lift: To tighten sagging muscles and remove skin in the thigh area.

The Travel-Informed Team

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