Doctor taking blood pressure of patient.

Plastic Surgery

Also known as: Reconstructive Surgery

Sometimes disease, surgery, trauma, inherited disorders or just a life fully lived can leave scars, injuries or defects that leave you feeling a little less than whole. At Providence, highly skilled cosmetic and reconstructive surgeons restore, reconstruct or change parts of your body for medical, corrective or cosmetic purposes.

Reconstructive Surgery Cosmetic Surgery What Can I Expect? Complications and Side Effects

Reconstructive Surgery

Reconstructive surgery focuses on fixing and reconstructing bones and tissues, such as a facial feature or a deformed or injured part of your body. It is typically performed to improve function, make a deformity appear more typical and alleviate health complications such as breathing trouble or sight or speech restrictions. Providence reconstructive procedures treat everything from birth defects to traumatic injuries.

Cancer care

In cancer patients, reconstructive surgeons help restore the function as well as the appearance of the face and other parts of the body affected by cancer or cancer surgery. Common cancer reconstructive surgeries include:

Breast reconstruction
Laceration repair
Scar revision
Tumor removal and injury repair

Cosmetic Surgery

Providence offers surgical and nonsurgical procedures to enhance or reshape specific features or parts of your body. Common cosmetic procedures we perform include:

Body contouring, liposuction, thigh and arm lift, and abdominoplasty
Breast augmentation, reduction or reshaping
Ear surgery to reduce size or move protruding ears closer to the head
Eye surgery to correct drooping eyelids or remove puffy skin under eyes
Facial procedures to treat wrinkles, creasing or acne and other scars
Injectables, neuromodulators and fillers
Rhinoplasty to change the shape of the nose
Scar revisions
Stomach surgery to flatten the abdomen

What Can I Expect?

Providence plastic surgeons take steps to minimize scarring and make scarred or injured areas appear as consistent as possible with surrounding skin and tissues. To improve your results and promote healing, your doctor may recommend home care therapies before and after surgery.

Providence surgeons use advanced technology including minimally invasive procedures when appropriate. If you have this type of procedure, it involves fewer and smaller cuts, so you’ll feel less discomfort after surgery and recover more quickly.

If you’re having a minimally invasive procedure or an outpatient procedure, you’ll likely have local anesthesia and a faster recovery. You’ll rest and recover for a brief period after your surgery. Doctors and nurses will check your surgical wounds and condition. In most instances, you can have someone take you home the day of surgery.

If you’re scheduled for an inpatient hospital procedure such as open surgery, you’ll require general anesthesia. This requires a longer recovery time from anesthesia and your surgery and an overnight stay. Your doctor will talk about how long you’ll be hospitalized, when it’s safe to go home and special care instructions to follow once you’re home.

Once your surgery is scheduled, a nurse will call you to talk about what to do before your procedure. They will discuss things like what to eat and drink the day of your surgery as well as what medicines you can take. They will also ask questions about your allergies and current conditions and let you know if you will need someone to drive you home after your procedure.

After surgery, your care team will provide detailed notes about home care, any follow up appointments and potential complications.

Complications and Side Effects

Any surgical procedure carries some risk, including the risks associated with general anesthesia. Your doctor and care team will tell you what to expect after surgery and while you are healing. If you have severe pain, fever or notice any unusual symptoms or wounds that seem slow to heal, call our office right away.

Complications can include: