Plastic Surgery & Hyperbaric Therapy

Cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery can put a heavy burden on the body.Anesthesia, wounds, and medications can lead to a cascade of inflammatory and immune reactions.

Many patients experience infections, slow recovery and long-term scar tissue issues.Recent studies have shown promising results when patients utilize hyperbarics both before and after their surgeries.

Plastic Surgery

Whether it's a pre-planned procedure or an emergency operation, patients who plan to undergo or have already undergone surgery may find many benefits to utilizing hyperbaric oxygen therapy in their healing.

Before a planned surgery, a patient may opt to have a few hyperbaric treatments to help boost their immune system and to stimulate stem cell growth in preparation for infection prevention and tissue repair.

Treatments immediately following surgical procedures have been shown to boost collagen levels and positively influence anti -inflammatory and tissue repair genes.This may resuIt in faster healing time (up to 60% faster) with less inflammation,scar tissue and bruising.

Hyperbaric therapy has been studied extensively for its ability to treat open wounds quickly. When wounds heal quickly, there is often a limited risk for infections and scarring.Studies have also shown that hyperbaric

therapy can expedite the mending of fractured bones.

Use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for tis-sue ischemia after breast reconstruction Neha Rajpal, Elliot T Walters, Tammer Elmar-safi,Troy A Pittman, Kelly K Johnson-Arbor Published 2019

Introduction:

Mastectomy skin flap necrosis represents a significant complication of breast reconstructive procedures and is reported to oc-cur in 30%-52% of patients undergoing breast reconstruction. Early identification of ischemia and early initiation of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) therapy can mitigate the effects of is-chemia and rescue otherwise non-viable breast flap tissue.

Results: Seven patients were referred for HBO2within 24 hours of mastectomy. One patient failed to improve despite starting hyperbaric treatment within 24 hours. All other patients manifested successful healing of their mastecto-my skin flaps with acceptable cosmesis after 10HBO2 treatments. The mean relative perfusion of the at-risk area was 13.8% (±3.7%) pre-HBO2 and 101.6%(±37.3%) post-HBO2.The average area at-risk pre-HBO2 was 17.1 cm2and reduced to zero post-HBO2. Relative perfu-sion values after HBO2 were found to be 6.8(±3.4)times greater than those measured prior to HBO2.

Conclusions: A short course of HBO2 may be sufficient to successfully rescue at risk post-mastectomy breast flaps. ICGA is a useful ad-junct for evaluating post-mastectomy breast flap perfusion before and after HBO2 therapy.