Features
Is patient masking leading to an increase in post-op infection after eyelid surgery?
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of facemasks or face coverings in the clinical setting has become necessary. It is important to recognise that facemasks can be a source of infection after eye surgery and consider ways to minimise...
A Eulogy for James Partridge
James Partridge died on 16 August 2020. He was a truly remarkable person and I would like to share my sadness at his passing and why I held him in such high personal esteem. We started life just a few...
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...
