Preface

Plastic surgery is one of the surgical disciplines with most presence in the media and, paradoxically, one of the most misunderstood too. Although the majority of lay public (and of course medical staff) have a very good idea of what an orthopaedic or cardiothoracic surgeon does, their knowledge about the daily practice of a plastic surgeon is generally limited to the aesthetic branch of our specialty, which, despite its great value, does not represent the whole scope of plastic surgery. In addition, the prototype of the plastic surgeon presented in advertising, television series, and movies in most cases makes the gap between illusion and reality even bigger. Furthermore, it is both surprising and demoralizing to realize every now and then how our own colleagues from other medical or surgical fields still do not understand the breadth of plastic surgery outside its cosmetic realms, a phenomenon that is highly contradictory as the roots of plastic surgery actually derive from its reconstructive legacy.

So what is plastic surgery? The name comes from the Greek word plastikos

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