Wait! Isn’t that one and the same thing? Well, not really.

A lot of people often mix up plastic surgery with cosmetic surgery. Cosmetic surgeons encounter this questions more times that they can count. But the confusion with common people is well-founded.

Even though plastic surgery is a very close relative to cosmetic surgery, they are quite different and unique in regards in technical medical perspective.

Common people, not versed in the art of cosmetic / plastic surgery, because they only see the end result. Something that is more beautiful than before the procedure. However, when we look under the surface, into the basic principles, surgical qualifications and procedures, they can be clearly distinguished from one another.

In order to better present this, let’s see what are the key aspects which set apart plastic from cosmetic surgery.

Exactly what is cosmetic surgery?

At the center of every cosmetic surgery is beauty. Enhancing one’s appearance in a certain treatment area is the main goal of this surgery. Patient’s often want to achieve certain aesthetic goals. From the abundance of cosmetic surgeries, these are the most common:

  • Procedures that enhance your breast (breast lift or breast augmentation)
  • Procedures that enhance your facial features (brow lift, facelift, eyelid lift and even rhinoplasty)
  • Procedures that improve your body contouring (liposuction, arm lift or tummy tuck)

And if you don’t want to get surgical, there are some other types of procedures, such as:

  • Injecting neurotoxins to ‘iron’ out those pesky lines on wrinkles (a.k.a. Botox)
  • Soft tissue or dermal fillers and
  • Laser surfacing treatments

Opposed to plastic surgery, cosmetic surgeries are purely elective and are not covered by medical insurance, in most cases.

Okay, so now that we have that out of the way, let’s move on.

Exactly what is plastic surgery?

Unlike cosmetic surgery which work its magic by improving and fine-tuning your features, plastic surgery is mainly used as a corrective or reconstructive surgery. Of course, plastic surgery can be used for aesthetic improvements, when surgeons with advanced surgical skills and techniques, perform procedures in order to reconstruct a specific treatment area, so that it can regain its previous function and appearance. Loss of function and appearance of the treatment area can be caused by:

  • Birth defects
  • Substantial trauma due to an accident or
  • Disfiguring effects that some diseases (like cancer) can have on your body

What are the main types of plastic surgery?

Just like cosmetic surgery, there are different types of plastic surgery as well. Some examples include

  • Hand surgery
  • Burn repair surgery
  • Breast reduction (mostly performed on patients that suffer from extreme back pain due to large breasts)
  • Breast reconstruction (mostly performed on cancer patients that lost their breast through mastectomy)
  • Reconstruction of lower extremities
  • Scar revision surgery (performed to reduce the scaring of a previous surgical area)
  • Reconstruction of birth defects (generally performed on cleft lip, clef palate, skull of facial bone defects)

In most cases, plastic surgeries are medically required and frequently covered by medical insurance.

There you go. Now you know what are the main differences between cosmetic and plastic surgery. So next time, you will be able to tell the difference.