What is plastic surgery?

Descriptions of plastic surgery that depict reconstructive plastic surgery and cosmetic plastic surgery as two entirely different fields within the specialty can be misleading. Whether or not a procedure is "only" cosmetic has a lot to do with the reason behind its performance. For example, a facelift that undermines the soft tissues of the face and red rapes them to tighten the flesh is not always cosmetic rather than reconstructive. A facelift performed to tighten the normal skin of a seventy-year old is called a cosmetic surgery procedure because it is only aimed to provide a more youthful appearance. Yet a facelift in that same person would be considered reconstructive if it was part of a procedure to remove a skin cancer, and was used to close the defect left where the cancer was excised (cut out). The reconstructive facelift would avoid leaving the two sides of the face strikingly uneven (asymmetric) at the end of the operation, and even though the patient would likely end up looking younger, this would not be considered a cosmetic procedure because its main purpose is to give the patient a more normal appearance after cancer surgery.

• Reconstructive surgery corrects or masks birth defects and the destructive effects of trauma, surgery or disease.
• Cosmetic (or aesthetic) surgery changes features the patient finds unflattering.