Combined Plastic and General Surgery in Beverly Hills

Posted On: December 09, 2012 Author: The Office of Dr. Stuart Linder Posted In: Hernia Repair

Although the majority of Board Certified Plastic Surgeons have training in general surgery, there are surgical procedures that we perform that I believe would be better for the patient to have a combined plastic and general surgeon in the operating room.  Today, we are performing an abdominal wall reconstruction.  The patient has an epigastric hernia and a periumbilical hernia.  These patients with significantly large hernias, I believe personally, should have repaired concurrently with a Board Certified General Surgeon.  Mesh graft reconstruction is often required and this is a surgery that is performed by general surgeons on a weekly basis.  In order to reduce the risk of recurrence, abdominal hernia reconstruction should be performed often with Marlex mesh of Polypropylene mesh graft reconstruction.  I have worked with the same general surgeon now for over 15 years.  He is experienced with over 35 years of general surgery with understanding of the abdominal wall and reconstruction.  Large fascial defects again may require reinforcement of the abdominal wall.  Simply suturing the rectus diastasis together often leads to recurrence.  With large breast reduction surgeries, we also often have our general surgeon in the operating room to help with reducing OR time, anesthesia time and bleeding.  Finally, with breast reconstruction, if we are concerned about possible recurrence or metastasis, it is nice to have a second set of eyes, especially as a general surgeon, with the knowledge of the breast in order to survey for possible recurrence of breast tumors.  As Board Certified Plastic Surgeons, our number one goal is to yield the most predictable and safe results to our patients.  Having a Board Certified General Surgeon for the above situations I believe greatly enhances the overall experience to the patient.