Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has modified the way, plastic surgeons treat their patients. This article depicts how we as a plastic surgery department in a tertiary care setup handled the pandemic with an emphasis on infection control policy.
Methods: Data was collected from hospital records and quality assurance cell from March 21, 2020 to June 19, 2020 in terms of patient triaging, consultations, perioperative protocols, duty rosters, and academic activities. The changes on these with the impact of COVID-19 were studied with the same period of previous year.
Results: Outpatient clinics were closed and emergency consultations were reduced. Number of consultations reduced from 2591 to 75 and surgeries from 320 to 46 during the same period in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Though tele-consultations were helpful, the overall benefits were subpar. Emergency services continued with the guidelines of institute's infection control committee, such as area specific personal protective equipment, allotment of operating rooms, minimizing the crowd in operating room. There was some compromise in using accessories for microsurgical procedures. Duty rosters were designed to maintain uninterrupted services. Academic activities were continued with virtual platforms.
Conclusion: Adequate preparation of health care setup and nation-wide lockdown has helped to handle emergency cases and in reduction of trauma-surgeries respectively. Though there were obstacles for some patients in accessing health care, our institutional response made us to render maximum possible care. Advancements in virtual platform helped in consultations and academics. Delayed conservative approach was used in most cases at the expense of cosmetic compromise.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/njcp.njcp_80_21 | DOI Listing |
Swiss Med Wkly
January 2025
Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Ospedale Regionale di Lugano, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC), Lugano, Switzerland.
Background: Patients with symptomatic breast hypertrophy typically suffer from chronic back pain, recurrent skin irritation at the inframammary fold and/or low self-esteem resulting in impaired quality of life. Reduction mammaplasty has been shown to effectively treat symptomatic breast hypertrophy with high patient satisfaction. Despite the obvious benefits, reimbursement requests for reduction mammaplasty are initially often refused by the patient's health insurance company, thereby frequently resulting in additional examinations and eventually extra expenses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Endocrinol (Lausanne)
January 2025
Department of Plastic Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, China.
Objective: Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is one of the common complications in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). In order to find a method to monitor and treat the refractory DFU, the ferroptosis level in DFU and traumatic wounds (TW) was monitored and the difference between them was analyzed. At the same time, this study further analyzed the correlation of ferroptosis levels with DM severity and DFU's healing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiabetol Int
January 2025
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Maxillofacial Surgery, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Japan.
Aim: Patients with diabetes are frequently complicated with diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) which are vulnerable to recurrence after healing. We retrospectively surveyed the recurrence of foot ulcer and related factors in Japanese patients with DFUs.
Subjects And Methods: Forty-two feet of 39 patients were initially recruited in this study.
Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open
January 2025
Department of Theoretical Physics, Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Botulinum toxin-A (BTX-A) is widely used for aesthetic purposes and is recognized for its vasomotor actions. However, new medical applications have emerged. This study aims to describe the effect of BTX-A on human skin perfusion, particularly vessel diameter, blood flow, and blood vessel density in regions with known low vessel density.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlast Reconstr Surg Glob Open
January 2025
From the Department of Plastic Surgery, Hull University Teaching Hospitals, East Riding of Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
Biodegradable temporizing matrix (BTM) is a synthetic biodegradable dermal matrix that helps develop a non-skin graft amenable wound bed (eg, over tendon or bone) into a graftable wound bed, by acting as an inert scaffold for angiogenesis and formation of granulation tissue. There is currently a paucity of evidence to encourage its use in scalp defects following skin malignancy excision. This retrospective analysis aimed to evaluate the utility of BTM in this patient subset.
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