Glossary of terms

Abdominoplasty:  Abdominoplasty is more commonly known as a "tummy tuck".  It is a major surgical procedure to remove excess skin and fat from the middle and lower abdomen and to tighten the muscles of the abdominal wall. The procedure can dramatically reduce the appearance of a protruding abdomen. Abdominoplasties do produce a permanent scar, which, depending on the extent of the original problem and the surgery required to correct it, can extend from hip to hip.

Baldness:  Baldness, also known as alopecia, is hair loss, or absence of hair. Baldness is usually most noticeable on the scalp, but can occur anywhere on the body where hair grows. The condition is more common in men than in women.  

Throughout history man has searched for the cause of hair loss. It is only in recent years, with greater knowledge of genetics and the chemistry of sexual hormones, that we have begun to understand the causes. One thing that we do know for certain: no matter what we eat, what our lifestyles may be, or what kind of vitamins we take, we never grow more hair follicles than we were born with.  

Birthmark Removal:  Birthmarks are skin markings that are present at birth or develop shortly afterward. Most birthmarks fall into one of two categories: port-wine stain birthmarks and coffee-and-cream birthmarks.  Until the 1990s, doctors didn’t have the technology necessary to effectively remove birthmarks. Due to the introduction of high-energy pulsing lasers, birthmarks can now be removed with precision and ease. An added benefit of these laser treatments is that they are nearly pain-free. So, if you have birthmarks that you find unattractive or irritating, you may now be able to have them removed. 

Botox:  Botox is used to treat wrinkles and lines in the forehead, between and around the eyes, and around the mouth. Treatment with botox is very effective; it usually takes less than ten minutes for the entire procedure, and botox injections can be administered in a clinic or doctor's office. The full results of a botox treatment are visible within days, and the effects usually last approximately three to four months. Most people opt for follow up botox treatments, with additional injections after four or five months.  

Breast Augmentation:  Breast augmentation consists of making an incision, lifting the breast tissue, creating a pocket in the chest/breast area, and placing an envelope containing a soft, natural feeling implant material underneath (breast implant).

An incision may be made in any one of the following places: the crease below the breast, around the areola, under the armpit, or, very rarely, through the navel.
The breast implants can be placed either under the chest muscle or directly under the breasts. Placement considerations include the anatomy of your breasts, soreness after surgery, exercise activities and interference with mammograms. 

Breast Enlargement Surgery:  Breast Enlargement, technically known as augmentation mammoplasty, is a surgical procedure to enhance the size and shape of a woman's breast for a number of reasons.  By inserting an implant behind each breast, surgeons are able to increase a woman's bustline by one or more bra cup sizes.

Breast Implants:  Breast implants can contain different filler materials inside a silicone elastomer shell. There are two main types of Breast Implants in use in the UK:  Silicon gel implants and saline implants.  The shell can be either smooth or textured. Some are covered with a polyurethane foam coating. 

Breast Lifts: A breast lift procedure, also known as mastopexy, may be done in conjunction with breast implants. Implants may also help lift the breast by increasing the volume of the contents of the breast.  Breast lift surgery is quite successful at making the breasts firmer and more shapely. Many women find that they no longer need to wear a bra to feel comfortable and look good in their clothes.  

Several different techniques are used in Breast Lift Surgery, depending on the degree of sagging. Surgery consists of removing excess skin from around the areola, and possibly also from the bottom of the breast, with shifting of the skin of the breast to tighten the skin envelope and insertion of additional volume such as an implant for added projection and smoothing of the skin. In doing so, the position of the nipple and areola can be elevated to a more youthful position.  

Breast Reduction Surgery:  Breast reduction can relieve the physical and psychological burdens of excessive breast tissue. Men and women choosing breast reduction often suffer from back and neck pain, reduced mobility, and social stigmatization. A surgical breast reduction allows them to participate in active sports, relieves back pain, and creates a flattering profile.  

Breast reduction formerly involved large incisions in the skin, surgical removal of the unwanted tissue (the actual breast reduction), repositioning of the nipple, and suturing of the wound, resulting in an anchor scar. Newer breast reduction techniques, including liposuction, result in quicker recovery times and little or no scarring. 

Breast Surgery Finance:  Breast Surgery Finance is becoming ever popular as a means of funding breast surgery.  Since cosmetic breast surgery is not covered by health insurance, and operations can be expensive  some people may be considering finance for cosmetic breast surgery. If you are looking for a loan for cosmetic breast surgery, there are a number of lenders that are happy to give you a loan. 

Brow Lifts:  A Brow Lift is a surgical procedure to correct sagging of the forehead skin, eyebrows, and upper eyelids. A Brow Lift removes or alters the muscles and skin that cause such visible signs of aging as drooping eyebrows, "hooding" eyelids, forehead furrows, and frown lines.  A Brow Lift may be done alone or in conjunction with other procedures such as facelift, eyelid surgery, or nose reshaping. The surgery can be done in a surgeon's office-based facility, an outpatient surgery center, or a hospital. It's usually done on an outpatient basis, without an overnight stay. 

Buttock Augmentation:  Buttock augmentation is an increasingly popular procedure. It allows flat or poorly developed buttocks to be enhanced. While many women will increase the size of their breasts, they find that there is an imbalance between their front and the back. Buttock augmentation addresses this disproportion. There are many women who have the curves of the breasts and the thighs, and need to round out the buttocks as well. 

Cheek Implants:  Cheek implants are made in various shapes and sizes. Cheek Implants are made out of both solid and semi-solid materials that have been used successfully for years.  Whether you want heightened and well-formed cheekbones like the ones you had when you were young, or you’ve never had well-defined cheekbones, cheek implants may produce a dramatic change. For many people, cheek implants can provide new facial contours and dimensions to bring facial features into better balance. 

Chemical Peels:  Chemical peels remove the top layers of the skin, creating a healthier, youthful appearance. A chemical peel reduces evidence of imperfections due to sun damage, uneven pigmentation, and fine wrinkles.  Chemical peels to treat patients with deep wrinkles use a chemical called phenol; phenol chemical peels use a stronger concentration than AHA/TCA and generally cause a noticeable burning sensation. These deep "chemical peels" also carry a higher risk for complications such as scarring, infection, and abnormal pigmentation. All chemical peels, but the phenol peels especially, require that patients wear sun block following the chemical peel procedure to protect the newly revealed skin. 

Collagen:  Collagen injections are used in treating fine lines and wrinkles, as well as shallow scars. Most often, collagen injections treat areas around the mouth, like laugh lines and deep nasolabial creases. Doctors can use collagen injections to supplement the body's natural collagen supply, which decreases over time. Using a series of "collagen injections", doctors can raise the treated area, smoothing wrinkles and creases. Although many patients request collagen injections to treat areas of the face, there are a variety of other popular uses for collagen injections, including softening scar tissue and creating fuller lips. 

Contact Lenses:  Depending on your eye sensitivity and whether you have soft or rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses, your eyes could adjust to wearing contact lenses from a day to two weeks. Some people find that their eyes never adjust, but that's quite rare. 

Cosmetic Surgery:  Cosmetic Surgery, or aesthetic cosmetic surgery, is a surgical specialty designed to improve an individual's appearance by reshaping undesirable facial or bodily features. 

Cosmetic Surgery Finance:  Cosmetic Surgery Finance is becoming ever popular as a means of funding cosmetic surgery.  Since cosmetic surgery is not covered by health insurance, and operations can be expensive  some people may be considering finance for cosmetic surgery. If you are looking for a loan for cosmetic surgery, there are a number of lenders that are happy to give you a loan. 

Corrective Eye Surgery:  There are several modern approaches to corrective eye surgery from laser reshaping of the eye's surface in procedures such as LASIK and PRK to surgical insertion of artificial lenses to correct eyesight. 

In LASIK, PRK, and similar procedures, laser energy reshapes the curvature of the eye's clear front surface to alter the way light rays enter the eye. Artificial lenses surgically inserted into the eye also can refocus light rays to sharpen vision. 

Dermabrasion:  Dermabrasion and dermaplaning help to "refinish" the skin's top layers through a method of controlled surgical scraping. The treatments soften the sharp edges of surface irregularities, giving the skin a smoother appearance.

Dermabrasion is most often used to improve the look of facial skin left scarred by accidents or previous surgery, or to smooth out fine facial wrinkles, such as those around the mouth. It's also sometimes used to remove the pre-cancerous growths called keratoses. Dermaplaning is commonly used to treat deep acne scars. 

Ear Pinning:  Ear Pinning or Otoplasty is a form of ear surgery performed to set disproportionately large or prominent ears closer to the head. Too much cartilage in the concha, a bowl-shaped portion of the ear and lack of development of the natural folds of the ear (antihelix) is the usual cause of large, protruding ears.  Protruding ears cause more image problems than any real medical problems. Ear Pinning is commonly sought for children who often suffer from the unwanted attention protruding ears can cause. Children are excellent candidates because their ear tissue is very flexible. Although the procedure is more common among children, almost anyone can achieve successful results with ear pinning.  

Eyelid Surgery:  Eyelid surgery (technically called blepharoplasty) is a procedure to remove fat, usually along with excess skin and muscle from the upper and lower eyelids. Eyelid surgery can correct drooping upper lids and puffy bags below the eyes - features that make you look older and more tired than you feel, and may even interfere with your vision. However, it won't remove crow's feet or other wrinkles, eliminate dark circles under your eyes, or lift sagging eyebrows. While it can add an upper eyelid crease to Asian eyes, it will not erase evidence of your ethnic or racial heritage. Blepharoplasty can be done alone, or in conjunction with other facial surgery procedures such as a facelift or browlift. 

Eye Surgery Finance:  Eye Surgery Finance is becoming ever popular as a means of funding eye surgery.  Since eye surgery is not covered by health insurance, and operations can be expensive  some people may be considering finance for eye surgery. If you are looking for a loan for eye surgery, there are a number of lenders that are happy to give you a loan. 

Face Lifts:  A facelift (also called a rhytidectomy) is an operation to lift up the facial skin and tissues and/or the underlying muscle, to make the face tighter and smoother.  Facelifts are sometimes performed on the whole face (a full facelift) and other times just on the brow area, lower face, or neck only. 

The effects of a facelift last for about 7 to 10 years. The best results are achieved in people who maintain a stable body weight, have skin with good levels of elasticity and a strong bone structure. In older people, or people who spend a lot of time in the sun, the effects tend to last less well. 

Hair Implants:  Hair Implants are a surgical technique in which a physician redistributes hairs from an area of thick growth to bald areas.  Most hair implants are performed in an office setting under local anesthesia. Only minimal pain should be experienced. After thoroughly cleaning the scalp, small needles are used to numb an area of normal hair growth on the back of the scalp. A portion of the hairy scalp is then removed with a scalpel and set aside while the surgeon sews the cut scalp closed. 

After the scalp is sewn closed, small groups of hairs, or individual hairs, are separated out from the removed scalp using a magnifying lens and sharp blade. The area that will receive these healthy hairs, usually the front of the scalp, is then cleaned and numbed with additional small needles. Finally, tiny holes are made in the front of the scalp and healthy hairs are delicately placed in the holes. During a single treatment session, many hundreds or even thousands of hairs may be transplanted. 

Hair Loss:  Hair loss usually develops gradually and may be patchy or diffuse (all over). Roughly 100 hairs are lost from your head every day. The average scalp contains about 100,000 hairs.

Each individual hair survives for an average of 4-1/2 years, during which time it grows about half an inch a month. Usually in its 5th year, the hair falls out and is replaced within 6 months by a new one. Genetic baldness is caused by the body's failure to produce new hairs and not by excessive hair loss. 

Both men and women tend to lose hair thickness and amount as they age. Inherited or "pattern baldness" affects many more men than women. About 25% of men begin to bald by the time they are 30 years old, and about two-thirds are either bald or have a balding pattern by age 60. 

Hair Transplants:  A hair transplant surgery can produce life long results that are so natural that even hair stylists cannot detect them. But choosing the hair restoration procedure and clinic is critical. 

Laser Eye Surgery:  Laser eye surgery is generally considered safe but this should not be equated with "risk-free" as all surgical procedures involve risk. Although countless patients have retired their glasses or contact lenses with 20/40 vision or better, there are many considerations before opting for laser eye surgery and not everyone is a candidate. Aside from complications there can be side effects. A small percentage of people actually see worse after laser eye surgery. 

There are two main steps to correcting the vision through laser eye surgery. The first step involves moving the epithelium, or topmost layer of the cornea. This can be done by "surface ablation" techniques or by "cutting a flap". The second step utilizes an excimer laser to vaporize small amounts of tissue in order to reshape the cornea to attain proper vision. The excimer laser is guided by one of several technologies that vary in their ability to precisely map and reshape the eye, bearing different results. Both steps carry their own associated risks specific to the particular procedure used.  

Laser Hair Removal:  Laser Hair Removal takes from several minutes to several hours, depending on the area of the body involved. Laser hair removal uses a low-energy laser. The laser energy passes through the patient’s skin, being absorbed by the pigment in the hair follicle. A percentage of the follicles are instantaneously and permanently disabled with each treatment. In most cases, no anesthesia is necessary. 

Lasik Eye Surgery: LASIK (Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) uses a microkeratome metal blade to cut the cornea flap and an excimer laser to reshape the eye. After the LASIK procedure, the flap is returned to its position. This is painless for most patients, and unlike PRK techniques, vision is immediately corrected, though some blurriness may be present for the first 24 hours and vision will improve for a period of weeks. 

Lip Augmentation:  Lip augmentation uses a variety of materials to create fuller-looking lips, and lip augmentation materials also reduce wrinkles in the mouth area. Temporary solutions for lip augmentation are achieved through collagen and fat injections, both requiring repeat treatments to maintain "lip augmentation", as the materials are readily absorbed into the body.

 Collagen used in lip augmentation generally lasts 3-4 months, and while fat injections last slightly longer, a lip augmentation using fat injections can be more unpredictable, resulting in lumping and scarring. Other lip augmentation solutions involve the use of implants, either entirely synthetic materials, or lip augmentation inserts using some amount of donated skin. Unlike the non-surgical, injection based systems of lip augmentation, the inserts require about one week for recovery, and allergies to the lip augmentation inserts have been known to occur. A permanent, low-risk solution for lip augmentation involves the use of Gore-Tex material, which the human body seems to tolerate well, but lip augmentation by these means may not be the best idea for someone who is only experimenting with lip augmentation. Someone in that position may prefer to start out with collagen to see how lip augmentation could affect them.

 Liposuction:  Liposuction may be carried out on men and women and is a method to remove fatty deposits that persist despite exercise, massage or dieting. However it is not a method of weight reduction. Your cosmetic surgeon may require that you be within a few pounds of your ideal body weight before undertaking the procedure. When Liposuction is carried out on severely overweight individuals the results are often disappointing. 

 Liposuction may be performed under general or local anaesthesia, depending on the site to be treated and the amount of fat to be removed.  The time the operation takes varies from 30-90 minutes, depending upon the extent of the procedure. Less extensive liposculpture can be performed as a day case but normally an overnight stay in hospital is recommended. 

Medical Malpractice:  Medical malpractice refers to the situation when a professional is proved to have failed to use proper levels of care, skill or diligence in the performance of its professional activities causing harm to its patient or customers. Generally, a professional can be accused of medical malpractice if he fails to perform his or her professional duties in an assignment, such as an operation or simple check-up, he or she has accepted at the standard level of care, skill and learning normally that one can expect from the average careful renown member of the profession in the community. Behind this legal jargon, one has to understand that the performance of the professional will be compared to the performance standards of other professionals in the same field in the same geographic area. In brief, if the professional is performing poorer than his colleagues, he will be considered to have failed delivering a proper service and thus can be accused of medical malpractice. However, a patient or customer, who wants to take action against a professional, has to prove that he suffered an injury, a loss or a damage following the failure of the professional to perform properly his of duties. People entitled to benefit from or rely upon the professionals services can also take action against a professional.

Medical Negligence:  If you, or a loved one, are the victim of medical negligence, incompetence or carelessness then you may be entitled to claim compensation for injuries suffered - in the legal profession they refer to this type of case as medical or, more commonly now, clinical negligence. Naturally it applies to doctors, surgeons and nurses, but it also applies equally to other forms of medical treatment including dentistry, opticians, psychiatrists, midwives and physiotherapists.

 Just like everyone else the medical profession have what is called a "duty of care" towards their patients - that is a duty to ensure that their patients receive proper treatment, in the proper manner. If they break this duty and the person they are treating suffers in any way as a result, then the victim has a potential claim.

 Nose Surgery:  Nose Surgery, otherwise known as Rhinoplasty, is surgery to reshape the nose and is one of the most common types of all plastic surgery procedures. Rhinoplasty can reduce or increase the size of your nose, change the shape of the tip or the bridge, narrow the span of the nostrils, or change the angle between your nose and your upper lip. It may also correct a birth defect or injury, or help relieve some breathing problems. 

No Win No Fee: You'll find many companies offering a no win, no fee service on the internet and in the high street. In fact, the majority of personal injury claims in the UK work on this basis. But no win, no fee arrangements only cover your legal fees. They don't mean you'll be fully protected from costs, whether you win or lose. 

Plastic Surgery:  Plastic surgery is a special type of surgery that can involve both a person's appearance and ability to function. Plastic surgeons strive to improve patients' appearance and self-image through both reconstructive and cosmetic procedures. 

Plastic Surgery Finance:  Plastic Surgery Finance is becoming ever popular as a means of funding cosmetic surgery.  Since plastic surgery is not covered by health insurance, and operations can be expensive  some people may be considering finance for plastic surgery. If you are looking for a loan for plastic surgery, there are a number of lenders that are happy to give you a loan. 

Rhinoplasty:  Rhinoplasty can reduce the size of the nose or alter the shape of the tip for a more pleasing result. It can even change the angle between the nose and upper lip. It can also restore proper functioning of the nose in the case of injury or abnormalities of the nasal cavities. Rhinopasty ensures that a patient will be able to breathe through both nostrils.  

Rhinoplasty is performed using one of two techniques: the open technique or the closed technique. Both techniques involve incisions made inside the nostrils, but the open technique makes a second incision in the fleshy skin between the nostrils. 

Tattoo Removal:  Today, lasers are the most common method of tattoo removal. They work by targeting the ink with pulses of highly concentrated light that break the ink into tiny fragments, which are then cleared away the your own immune system. However, this isn’t all done with just one treatment. The more treatments you have, the more the laser can penetrate to destroy the ink. But, the more treatments you have, the more damage you do to your skin, causing painful blisters and scabs that can eventually lead to scarring. Experts in removal therapy say that technology has advanced to the point where scarring is minimal, sometimes non-existant, but this can vary depending on the situation. 

Tummy Tucks:  Tummy Tucks are also known as Abdominoplasty.  Tummy Tucks are a major surgical procedure to remove excess skin and fat from the middle and lower abdomen and to tighten the muscles of the abdominal wall. The procedure can dramatically reduce the appearance of a protruding abdomen. Tummy Tucks do produce a permanent scar, which, depending on the extent of the original problem and the surgery required to correct it, can extend from hip to hip.