Patient attitudes toward resident participation in cosmetic vs reconstructive outpatient consultations.

Objectives: The goal of residency programs is to provide trainees with exposure to all aspects of their chosen field so that they exit the program ready to be independent practitioners. However, it is common in some plastic surgery residency training programs to exclude residents from participation in consultations with patients who are seeking cosmetic surgery. The purpose of this study was to determine whether cosmetic surgery patients had a different view about resident involvement than reconstructive surgery patients and to evaluate what factors might be linked to patient attitudes on this topic.

Improvement in stress urinary incontinence after abdominoplasty.

Background: Abdominoplasty is indicated in cosmetic surgery to improve body contour. Results from several studies suggest that abdominoplasty also could be therapeutic for certain individuals with urinary incontinence.

Objectives: The authors sought to determine the potential therapeutic effect of abdominoplasty on urinary incontinence in a large population to confirm the findings of smaller studies and to identify common characteristics of patients who experience the greatest improvement in these symptoms postoperatively.

A reliable method for the preoperative estimation of tissue to be removed during reduction mammaplasty.

Background: Insurance requirements for prior authorization of reduction mammaplasty are becoming increasingly stringent, with the sole criterion determined by the surgeon being the estimation of the amount of tissue to be removed. Previous formulas for predicting resected tissue weights have been inconsistent and particularly unreliable in smaller reductions. This study describes a dependable, surgeon-specific method based on two simple preoperative measurements to estimate tissue resection weights in patients undergoing reduction mammaplasty.