Plastic Surgery & Cosmetic Surgery

There is a difference between plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery, even though a lot of people would refer to them as one and the same thing. In a way, they can be the same thing. Both refer to the correction of form and function of the body parts concerned. However, cosmetic surgery specifically concentrates on the enhancement of appearance, and is actually just one division of plastic surgery. The reason why it is so closely tied to the general category of plastic surgery is because people generally undergo surgery to improve upon their appearances.

There are many other fields under plastic surgery. Aside from cosmetic surgery, plastic surgery also includes craniofacial surgery, hand surgery, burn surgery, microsurgery, and pediatric surgery. All of which contributes mostly to the improvement of body functions and partly to change one's appearance.

Plastic surgery is performed mainly for the purpose of correcting impairments and abnormalities in the body. These would include fixing up burns, bone fractures, physical abnormalities, infections, and removing cancers or tumors. People can avail of surgical procedures for a cleft lip surgery, breast reconstruction, or for creating an ear when there is none.

Cosmetic surgery, as a subcategory of plastic surgery, focuses more on the changing or improving of one's appearance. It can be with the purpose of maintaining one's normal appearance, restoring it, or enhancing it to become more ideal in appearance. Plastic surgeons are also trained in cosmetic surgery, as it is part of their broad field of surgical procedures.

The following are the most popular cosmetic procedures that are being performed today. Most of these have already even earned prevalent nicknames.
•    Abdominoplasty: Also known simply as tummy tuck, this is the reshaping and firming of the abdomen.
•    Blepharoplasty: Many would prefer to call this as eyelid surgery, wherein the procedure aims to reshape the eyelids or apply permanent eyeliner.
•    Mammoplasty: Procedures of mammoplasty concern the breasts. Breast augmentation, or breast enlargement, involves the use of fat grafting, sline, or silicone gel prosthetics to make the breasts bigger. It is more commonly known as a boob job. Breast reduction, on the other hand, is the removal of skin and glandular tissue in order to make the breasts smaller (specially for those suffering from gigantomastia and gynecomastia). The breast lift, or mastopexy, involves lifting or reshaping the breasts to make them less saggy.
•    Buttock Augmentation: A simpler term for this would be butt implants. Butt implants refer to the enhancement of the buttocks, with either silicone or fat grafting.
•    Chemical Peel: This procedure minimizes facial scars like acne and pock, and can also decrease wrinkles, freckles, and other facial damages.
•    Labiality: This refers to the reduction and reshaping of the labia.
•    Rhinoplasty: This is better known as the nose job.
•    Otoplasty: This refers to ear surgery.
•    Rhytidectomy: This is the removal of wrinkles and aging signs from the face, popularly known as the face lift.


Other well-known cosmetic surgical procedures are liposuction; chin augmentation, cheek augmentation, and more. The number of people seeking cosmetic surgical treatment grows with each passing year. There are even those who would go to other countries where surgical procedures cost less.

Despite the popularity of cosmetic surgery, and that it goes under plastic surgery, one must bear in mind that plastic surgery does not directly refer to aesthetic or cosmetic surgery