Plastic Surgery is a surprisingly broad field and there are sub-specialties within Plastic Surgery. The general public thinks of plastic surgeons as only aesthetic or cosmetic surgeons. However, there is a huge amount of reconstructive surgery involved.
Hand and Microvascular Surgery is one of the few separate sub-specialty recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. This is an intensive year long training program, in addition to plastic surgery, that focuses only on the hand and upper extremity. Most orthopedic and general surgeons do this fellowship training.
Microvascular surgery is a field where a muscle, along with the artery, vein, and nerve that is associated with the muscle, is detached from the body, and then re-attached somewhere else in the body. This field has been literally a life saving procedure in patients with significant wounds, such as after trauma, burns, cancer, and other medical problems.
Craniofacial Plastic Surgery is a year long fellowship training program that focuses on congenital or birth defects. The most common problems include cleft lift and cleft palate. This field also encompasses defects with facial skeleton growth, developmental problems elsewhere in the body, and reconstructive surgery in children.
Aesthetic Plastic Surgery training generally lasts 6-12 months, and is concentrated on aesthetic, or cosmetic, procedures. Since a lot of Plastic Surgery training already discusses aesthetic surgery, many plastic surgeons choose not to do this fellowship. However, the number of training slots has slowly been increasing over time.
Burn Surgery is a yearlong and is focused on immediate burn care, and the reconstructive burn care to obtain function. Skin grafts, including skin grown in a laboratory, have been the major advances in this field.
Breast Surgery is usually 6-12 months in training length, and is focused on breast reconstruction after breast cancer surgery, and breast surgery in relation to aesthetics, including breast augmentation, breast lift, and breast reduction. Many programs are associated with large surgical oncology, or surgical cancer in a hospital.
