Features
A study of chronic refractory tibia osteomyelitis treated with surgery and adjuvant hyperbaric oxygen
Introduction Chronic tibial osteomyelitis is a difficult problem to eradicate and often fails to respond to surgical treatment. Orthopaedic surgeons find it difficult to treat these infections which reside as a nidus in dead bone. There is always a risk...
Plastic surgery founding father Ivo Pitanguy on life, learning and legends – remembering a giant
World renowned Plastic Surgeon Ivo Pitanguy passed away on 6 August 2016 at the age of 93 just a day after carrying the Olympic torch for the Rio Games. Read on to learn about the life of this giant of...
We need to talk about amputation – a difficult conversation in the developing world
What do you do when a patient refuses amputation? The author shares various cases and outlines her team’s approach to this scenario in Gaza. What to do when a patient refuses amputation for a severely damaged lower limb that will...
Virtual learning post lockdown
The rapid onset and intensity of the COVID-19 pandemic has required some radical changes in most areas of our professional lives, including a chance to update traditional approaches to learning. Virtual learning is the use of remote video conferencing software,...
An epidemic of lower limb gunshot injuries
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact upon us all, the author, a reconstructive plastic surgeon, provides a thought-provoking account of a different type of epidemic that is having devastating consequences. The Oxford English Dictionary defines an epidemic as “a...
COVID-19: plastic surgeons on the front line
riting, I am now halfway through my second set of 12-hour shifts on our COVID admitting ward. As this crisis loomed, our hospital shut down elective services and drafted in all staff to support the expected surge of ill patients....
5 Reasons why before & after photos are everything in any aesthetics business
Images have a heavy weight across online platforms and it’s no different for aesthetics businesses. You can have years of experience, certificates of the most prestigious courses, the latest equipment and high-quality products but none of them will be as...
In and out of love with surgery
Growing up with books shaped me into a hopeless romantic believing in heroes, magic and achieving the impossible. Throughout the years as I sat patiently waiting on my letter from Hogwarts I instead received my acceptance letter to medical school....
Contrasting contemporary plastic surgery training with that in the late 20th century: ‘thirteen years a slave’
The Past Was I a slave? Absolutely not. I loved every minute of my training. I had the choice of career pathway as a young surgeon, but I was hypnotised by enthusiasm and a desire to help people with major...
Topical phenytoin effect on pressure ulcers healing: A literature review of the evidence
A pressure ulcer (PU) is a localised injury to the skin and / or underlying tissue usually over a bony prominence, because of pressure, or pressure in combination with shear (EPUAP/ NPUAP 2009/PPPPIA 2014). Bennett et al. [1] claimed total...
A suggested management pathway for rhinophyma and benign superficial skin lesions that includes the use of plasma
Rhinophyma is an aesthetic embarrassment to many people. It is the result of sebaceous gland hyperplasia within the skin over the alar cartilages of the nose. It has a familial tendency and in addition to being unsightly it can commonly...
CQC regulators and private hospitals need more common sense
There is a fundamental flaw in the way regulatory bodies are allowed to pressure and scare perfectly functioning private hospitals. Invariably the regulators themselves are of ordinary stock and have to justify their salaries by increasing administrative workloads on others....
