Study Finds No Extra Complications with Combined Procedures

There is no denying the continued popularity of cosmetic surgery and procedures: Americans are very interested in looking the best they can. As technology and surgical procedures improve, elective surgery has become a viable option for more and more people. Often, when people begin to consider cosmetic surgery they become interested in several procedures that would mean multiple operations. Now, as highlighted in many television shows, news segments and magazine articles, more people opt to combine procedures into one operation, saving costs and healing time periods as well as seeing the final results more quickly.
While multiple procedures in one operation saved time and money, it was important to determine if there were drawbacks. Traditional surgical thinking believed prolonged anesthesia could increase risks or complications, but definitive data did not exist. Dr. Grant Stevens, director of Marina Plastic Surgery, began to study complication rates in hundreds of patients who underwent cosmetic surgeries in the last ten years to determine if "extreme" cosmetic surgery posed extra complication. The findings were impressive: there was no statistically significant increase in minor or major complications.
The study involved 248 patients over a ten-year period. Each of the patients received abdominoplasty surgery from Dr. Stevens. The groups were divided into those who had abdominoplasty only, abdominoplasty with breast surgery, abdominoplasty with face-lift surgery, and abdominoplasty with both breast and face-lift surgery. While risks and complications are rare in surgery, they can happen and physicians always discuss adverse possibilities with their patients prior to surgery. Minor complications studied included seroma, hematoma, infection, and small wound infection. Major complications studied included bit was not limited to large flap necrosis, the necessity for blood transfusions, deep-vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolus, and myocardial infarction.
"No significant difference in morbidity or complication rates was found in the four different groups studied," said Dr. Stevens. "Plus, the study shows that combined procedures may yield higher patient satisfaction." Combined procedures allow patients to see their results more quickly and require less time off from work.

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