| Dr. Jonathan Kaplan is a plastic surgeon certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Here the Doctor has answered some of the common questions bizymoms visitors have about Reconstructive Surgery.
Q. What is Reconstructive Surgery?
A. Surgery that is performed on abnormal structures of the body caused by congenital defects, developmental abnormalities, trauma, infection, tumors or disease and general covered by insurance.
Q. What is the difference between Cosmetic and Reconstructive surgery?
A. Cosmetic surgery is performed to return normal anatomic structures to a position reminiscent of youth or enhance features of a patient's body that improves their body image. The major distinction between cosmetic and reconstructive surgery is that cosmetic surgery is not correcting pathological conditions whereas reconstructive surgery is correcting pathological conditions brought on by disease, tumors, trauma, etc.
Q. What benefits does Reconstructive surgery provide?
A. Reconstructive surgery recreates bodily structures that have been affected by trauma, infection, tumors, disease and the major benefit is make the body "whole" again.
Q. Who is a good candidate for Reconstructive surgery?
A. Any patient that is compliant with postoperative care and has reasonable expectations of what reconstructive procedure can accomplish is an excellent candidate, if they are in need of reconstructive surgery.
Q. Does Reconstructive surgery have possible risks and complications?
A. All surgery has risks and complications.
Q. How long does it take to recover from Reconstructive surgery?
A. Recovery is based on the procedure involved. Recovery from the actual operation (healing of the incision) takes 6 weeks but typically patients can return to work and a regular routine within 2 weeks. In general, patients can do anything after surgery that doesn't cause pain. If it hurts, then that activity should be avoided for a little longer until it can be done comfortably.
Q. Is Reconstructive surgery covered by insurance?
A. In general reconstructive surgery is covered by insurance. In the past, some procedures related to breast reconstruction after mastectomy were not covered by insurance. This was corrected in 1998 by the Women's Health & Cancer Rights Act of 1998.
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