Cosmetic Surgery Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Cosmetic Surgery, including details on microsurgery, reconstruction, techniques, risks.

Smokers: risks and complications in abdominal dermolipectomy.

Rogliani M, Labardi L, Silvi E, Maggiulli F, Grimaldi M, Cervelli V

Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, "Policlinico Casilino," University "Tor Vergata,", V. Casilina n. 1049, Rome, 00169, Italy, erminiasilvi@libero.it.

Cigarette smoke has many detrimental effects on health, with consequences such as cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and tumors. In plastic surgery, these effects appear during the wound healing process. This retrospective study showed wound healing in 57 patients who had undergone abdominal dermolipectomy surgery. The patients were divided into two groups: smokers and nonsmokers. According to the results, smokers face a great complication risk for surgical wounds, which cause aesthetically more undesirable scars than observed in nonsmokers. The authors hypothesize that abstinence from smoking for 4 to 12 weeks before surgery would improve the quality of the scars.

Published 9 August 2006 in Aesthetic Plast Surg, 30(4): 422-4.
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