RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY

Reconstructive Surgery

What Is
Reconstructive Surgery?

Reconstructive surgery is another form of plastic surgery, it is function over form.

The objective of this surgery is to either improve function and or to provide the normal appearance to a part of the person’s body that has been injured. It is not so much what it looks like but rather what it does, and is necessitated by health requirements.

Scars & Keloids

Non-surgical

The best time to treat a scar is as soon as possible, so don’t delay.

Wound support with tape or silicone dressing (CICA-CARE) is effective.

Creams and scar oils used once the wound has healed must have Vitamin A and C in them to be effective, and protection from the sun must be enforced for over a year.

In some instances, steroid injections will help with overactive scar production.

Surgical

Once a scar has matured and can’t be improved with non-surgical methods, the aim is to reduce the scar by re excising it and replacing the wider scar with a thinner scar.

Good surgical techniques are essential, and subcutaneous sutures are predominantly used.

Good wound-care is almost as important as surgical technique and must be adhered to.

Keloids

Keloids are an overgrowth of natural scar tissue. When a wound heals it needs scar tissue at first, but whereas in normal wounds this process is halted, with keloids, it continues, and the scar will grow to be much larger than the original injury. It is not always best to cut out keloids, particularly in areas such as the upper chest and back because they most certainly will return.

Adjunct therapies such as steroid injections and occasionally.

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Trauma & Burn Reconstruction

Dr Erasmus has many years experience with a wide variety of defects ranging from hand injuries, soft tissue injuries to full-thickness burns.

Experience gained over the years working in state hospitals and burn units such as the Red Cross Children’s Hospital is never forgotten.

Skin Cancer

Because of sun damage during particularly childhood and poor sun protection, South Africans are prone to developing skin lesions and cancers that are removed by Dr Erasmus.

South Africans have an outdoor culture that predisposes us to develop skin cancers both melanoma and non-melanoma, and particularly on our faces. Primarily the aim is to remove the lesion or lesions, but using trusted techniques to cover the defects minimises the scars and deformations.

My recommendation is for every patient with lesions that cause concern is to have them checked out by a dermatologist, in some cases to have a biopsy and where necessary I will remove the lesion whatever it may be. Most skin cancers are caused by long term sun exposure.

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Hand Surgery

Dr Erasmus has many years experience in treating Congenital Hand defects, and fixing hand trauma injuries.

Congenital & Birth Defect Treatment

A child born with a defect is fortunately not aware of it as its parents are.

Dr Erasmus has worked with very many children and their families who have had to be operated on for HAND defects, FACIAL defects, SOFT TISSUE defects and is currently involved with OPERATION SMILE who take him around the world to operate on children with cleft lips and palates.

Non-Surgical

Cosmetic Surgery

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What Is Reconstructive Surgery?