According to the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, the total size of the cosmetic surgery market in 2020, the year the COVID-19 virus emerged, was about 5.5 trillion won, up about 5.3% from the previous year. In 2023 as well, with mask requirements and social distancing lifted and the desire to make up for long-suppressed self-expression, the cosmetic surgery market is expected to be even more active.
In particular, the share of body contouring fields such as liposuction and abdominoplasty is growing. The development of advanced surgical methods using stem cells and other technologies, together with a shift in how cosmetic surgery is perceived, has had a large influence. In the past, people tried to hide the fact that they had made their bodies slimmer through surgery, but recently more meaning is placed on building a beautiful body and recovering confidence in a safe way that does not harm health.
Still, it is also true that many people, alongside their expectations for surgery, worry about side effects that might occur.
Dr. Jaeho Cho of TheLINE Plastic Surgery says, "Cosmetic surgery is still surgery, so large and small risk situations can arise before and after the operation."
Problems caused by bleeding during liposuction or lift surgery can be divided into three main categories. The first is when the surgical area is wide or the operation takes a long time. There are no major organs or major blood vessels in the areas where liposuction is performed, so the risk of massive bleeding is extremely low, but it can become a problem if the surgical area is extensive and the operation runs long, leading to a large volume of blood loss.
The second is when the patient has an unusual constitution. When bleeding occurs, platelets in the blood combine with fibrin, a blood-clotting protein, to coagulate the blood and stop the bleeding. This can become a problem if the patient has a coagulation disorder such as a clotting factor deficiency, or has anemia.
The last is when a major blood vessel is damaged during surgery. Liposuction removes only the subcutaneous fat that has excessively accumulated beneath the skin, but in rare cases a subcutaneous vein may be damaged during surgery, creating the possibility of bleeding.
Dr. Jaeho Cho explained, "Before surgery, the patient's health status and any special considerations must be identified accurately, and thorough preparation must be made in advance so that transfusion can be given immediately in the event of excessive bleeding." He added, "Above all, securing blood for transfusion is important. Some patients choose autologous transfusion in case they refuse blood from others due to concerns about infection or rejection, a rare blood type, or religious beliefs, or in case blood is difficult to secure because of COVID-19."
Autologous transfusion means receiving a transfusion of one's own blood. The preparation process is the same as ordinary blood donation. The patient's health status is checked in advance before surgery, blood is collected and stored in a specially built blood refrigerator, and then transfused back to the patient when needed. While ordinary blood donation has an age limit, autologous transfusion has no separate age limit beyond the patient's health status, so it can be applied to most age groups seeking body contouring.
Dr. Jaeho Cho said, "The issue is that not every clinic has an autologous transfusion system. Autologous transfusion requires specialized equipment to store blood safely, along with the reagents, testing equipment and trained personnel needed to verify the safety of the blood. Because demand is not high, it is hard to find a small clinic-level facility equipped with an autologous transfusion system."
He added, "Body contouring surgery is one of the relatively safe procedures, but because bleeding can occur after surgery, it is important to assess the bleeding risk beforehand and take sufficient preventive measures. If bleeding does occur, it must be addressed quickly to stop it and prevent complications. For this, it is necessary to consider comprehensively whether the clinic has extensive surgical experience and whether it can carry out emergency autologous transfusion if a transfusion becomes necessary."
Source : Bokuen News (http://www.bokuennews.com/news/article.html?no=229701)
