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Tummy Tuck (abdominoplasty)

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:58:56 +0000

“Tummy tuck” is a cosmetic surgery procedure used to make the abdomen more firm.

The American Heritage Stedman’s Medical Dictionary defines abdominoplasty as “Plastic surgery of the abdomen in which excess fatty tissue and skin are removed, usually for cosmetic purposes.”

The surgery involves the removal of excess skin and fat from the middle and lower abdomen in order to tighten the muscle and fascia of the abdominal wall. This type of surgery is usually sought by women with loose tissues after pregnancy or individuals with sagging after major weight loss.

Procedures

Tummy tuck operations vary in scope and are frequently subdivided into categories. Depending on the extent of the surgery, a complete Tummy tuck can take 1 to 5 hours. A partial abdominoplasty (Mini-Tuck Tummy tuck) can be completed between 1 to 2 hours.

Complete Tummy tuck

A complete (or full) Tummy tuck involves:

· An incision is made from hip to hip just above the pubic area.

· Another incision is made to free the navel from the surrounding skin.

· The skin is detached from the abdominal wall to reveal the muscles and fascia to be tightened. The muscle fascia wall is tightened with sutures.

· The remaining skin and fat are tightened by removing the excess and closing the defect.

· The old belly button stalk is brought out through a new hole and sutured into place.

· Liposuction is often used to refine the transition zones of the abdominal sculpture.

• A dressing and sometime a compression garment are applied and any excess fluid from the site is drained.

Partial Tummy tuck

A partial (or mini) Tummy tuck involves:

· A smaller incision is made.

· The skin and fat of the lower abdomen are detached in a more limited fashion from the muscle fascia. The skin is stretched down and excess skin removed.

· Sometimes the belly button stalk is divided from the muscle below and the belly button slid down lower on the abdominal wall.

· Sometimes a portion of the abdominal muscle fascia wall is tightened.

· Liposuction is often used to contour the transition zone.

• The flap is stitched back into place.

Extended Tummy tuck

An extended Tummy tuck is a complete Tummy tuck with extensions into the thighs (front) and/or flanks (sides).

Combination Procedures

A Tummy tuck is a component of a lower body lift and can be combined with liposuction contouring, breast reduction, breast lift, or occasionally hysterectomy, depending on the reason for the hysterectomy.

Recovery

Depends on the problem to be treated, surgical technique(s), and other factors.

Can take one to four weeks and patients are advised to take at least a portion of this recovery time off from work.

Heavy activity especially is best avoided during this time.

Initially there may be bruising and discomfort.

A supportive abdominal binder or compression garment can minimize swelling / bruising, and support the repaired tissues.

Patients are advised to avoid all forms of nicotine for a month or longer prior to surgery and also during the recovery period

Costs

The cost of a “tummy tuck” varies from country to country and even within locales of countries. As with most cosmetic surgery operations, the cost depends on a variety of factors like the age of the patient, their weight and the state of their health. Depending on the individuals, there may also be other costs involved after the operation. This does not include the follow-up visits as required by some doctors.

On average in the United States, this procedure can cost up to as much as USD$20,000, however in the Philippines the cost generally starts as low as $3700 for a full Tummy Tuck.

The pre-operative and post-operative care, facility fees, anesthesia, and medications must be taken into consideration when reviewing surgery costs. No surgeries are a guaranteed success and therefore a second procedure or a touch-up may be required to achieve the desired appearance. These costs are typically not included in the original cost.

www.affordablemedicalmakeovers.com

Medical Terminology 101 For Your Medical Career

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 07:39:59 +0000

Medical terminology is the basis of all medical careers. Whether you go into a hands-on career such as nursing or want to start your career as a medical transcriptionist, you need a thorough understanding of medical terminology to succeed. It’s the starting point for a career in the medical field.

Medical terminology can be defined as an industry-specific vocabulary for accurately describing the human body and associated conditions, procedures and diagnoses. It involves three basic parts: root words, prefixes, and suffixes. The root word is a term derived from a source language, such as Greek or Latin, and usually describes a body part. It is the main, or middle, part of the word. The prefix is an affix that is added to the front of the root word. It is used to modify the word’s meaning and give additional information about the medical term, such as location, number or time. The suffix is an affix that is added to the end of a word. It is also used to add meaning to the word, such as condition, process, or procedure. Put together, the root word, prefix and suffix create a specific medical term.

It is important to note that in medical terminology, the root word usually doesn’t make sense alone – it wouldn’t be used as a standalone word in a sentence. This is because medical root words are derived from foreign languages. The prefix and suffix is added to make the term make sense.

In a medical transcription or other medical-related career, the deciphering process is a vital part of understanding the medical term. It usually requires practice on your part to effectively and accurately form and decipher medical terms. To understand a medical term, you need to break down the word and look at its component parts: root word, prefix and suffix. By evaluating them one-by-one, you can learn each meaning and then put them together for full comprehension.

Understanding medical terminology is fundamental to accurately performing medical careers such as medical transcription. Without a complete understanding, you would not be able to accurately spell or use medical terminology in your transcriptions. All medical professionals consult their medical dictionaries on a regular basis – add a handy medical dictionary to your reference library. It’s the perfect way to learn and verify medical terminology.

Medical terminology is the basis of all medical-related careers. Think of it as a stepping stone to reach your ultimate career goal. You will get the foundation you need to do your job in an accurate manner. Your thorough knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes will lead to success in your career.

Medical Diagnosis and Emergency Medical Services

admin — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:16:18 +0000

Medical diagnosis has two different medical dictionary definitions. The first is “the detection of a disease or condition by its external symptoms or signs”. The second is “the analysis of the primary biochemical or physiological cause of a disease or condition”.

Medical diagnosis includes a wide range of tests. Combined study of such tests is the method for medical diagnostics. The conclusion obtained through medical diagnosis is diagnosis.

Emergency Medical Services:

Emergency medical services (EMS) are the services provided out-of-hospital for transportation purposes, to best care centers for patients in cases of emergency. One of the most common emergency medical services is the ambulance service.

In certain nations, people refer an EMS organization as a first aid squad, rescue squad, ambulance squad, life squad, ambulance corps, ambulance service or emergency squad. The aim of EMS is to offer treatment to those in medical urgencies or to take them to a definitive health care center.

Queen Isabella of Spain used the very first ambulance service, in the year 1487. A major reason for this ambulance service was to serve the Spanish army.

Air Ambulance Services:

Air ambulance services are the aircrafts used for emergency medical help in certain remote places, where it is difficult for an usual ambulance to reach. The crew members of air ambulance services are always ready with equipments that offer medical treatment to seriously inured or ill patients.

Certain common equipments for air ambulance services are medicines, CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation), stretchers, respirators, an ECG and a monitoring unit.

The medical squad of an air ambulance varies depending on nation, area, provider and type of air ambulance service. It contains more than one member such as a Paramedic or an Emergency Medical Technician, physician or sometimes a flight nurse.

Pilots of air ambulance service need to have a huge deal of experience in piloting, since the conditions for air ambulance aircrafts are very challenging.

Therefore, all the pilots, crew members and the aircraft of air ambulance service itself need to satisfy all the standards of safety. Sometimes, space is present for one or more passengers along with the patient in almost every air ambulance.

Make a Quick Reference to Medical Terms

admin — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:56:23 +0000

An online medical dictionary is an important reference for those that want to have a better understanding of health and a concise understanding of medical language. An online medical dictionary is one of the very important medical terminology tool and getting to know how to use an online medical dictionary is an important facet in using the medical terms. There are a lot of tips on how to use an online medical dictionary or an offline copy.

When you are trying to with an online medical dictionary you have to spend a bit of time in looking at the tips suggested there in to use the dictionary.

The time you spend in reviewing the how to use the online medical dictionary will save you a lot of time later when you will be able to automatically make a quick reference to medical terms because you know how to look up for words.

•    When you are looking for any word in an online medical dictionary start your search in the appropriate section of the dictionary.

•    Look at the top of the page to see if you are in the right page for reference.

•    Look the alphabetic link of the page you are currently in and switch over to the desirable alphabetical page and continue looking through the page and search the exact term by using the find search box.

•    When you have found the term in the online medical dictionary check of the spelling is correct so that you are not seeing terms with similar spellings.

•    After you are sure of having found the right term read through the definition and make a note of it of need be in a word document or in a piece of paper.

•    When you are not sure of how to spell it, look in to the phonetic guide or in some cases if there is an audio listen to it.

Many online medical dictionaries do have category and if you are sure of the specialty of the word you are looking for if you are going to look in to that particular category you will get a precise and quick meaning of the word.

•    Gastroenterology for digestive system related terms.

•    Nephrology or Urology for kidney and related terms

•    Ophthalmology for eyes and related terms.

•    ENT for terms related to Ear, nose and throat.

… and lot more.

Online Dictionaries – the Universe of Words

admin — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:40:08 +0000

Today’s technology is contributing a lot in child’s education and learning. Talking about the Internet in this concern, it provides an advanced way of learning and teaching to both teachers and students. Via online students can gather extensive information on any subject that can help them in completing their assignments. Here availing benefits of online dictionary is not left behind. As compared to printed dictionary, searching words on dictionary online is quick. Just type in the word in the search box and get the meanings of words within seconds. If you are not clear with spellings of complex words, online dictionary is of very much use in such cases.

Dictionary online provides complete search regarding definitions, pronunciation, spelling, thesaurus entries and etymology results for any word. The online dictionary can be browsed alphabetically or by the terms related to the word to find the exact meanings and synonyms of the word. There are online dictionaries in different languages like French, Italian, Spanish and German.

There are also online dictionaries covering varied subjects, such as computer, science, and medical, pharmaceutical and also industry specific terms. The information available on online dictionary is gathered from various sources like Wikipedia, encyclopedias, the acronym finder databases, and financial and legal dictionaries. The online thesaurus is also available that has a list of words with similar meanings.

One of the biggest advantages of dictionary online is that it is free to access so your money is saved that otherwise gets wasted in buying printed version of dictionary. Moreover, people can also compile their own personal dictionary by selecting some every day words from online dictionary. The option of audio helps you to listen and learn the pronunciation of any difficult word which you are not able to spell out properly.

Special-purpose dictionaries

There are online multi-field dictionaries that cover different semantic fields whereas a single-field online dictionary covers only one subject field. There are also online sub-field dictionaries that further cover a singular field of a subject.

There are also different types of online special-purpose dictionaries that include multilingual, bilingual, scientific, biographical, technical, historical and geographical dictionaries. Learner’s dictionaries assist the people in learning a language whereas bi-lingual online dictionaries help in translating languages.

If you are struggling with finding meanings of technical terminology then one can access technical dictionary that especially covers technical related subjects. The technical online dictionary proves beneficial for medical and computer dictionaries.

The visual online dictionary is an interactive dictionary with pictures offering an innovative approach for learning the meanings of words. It is an all-in-one reference book in which we can quickly locate the picture of a word. It provides an easy and accessible way of learning words. So, the visual dictionary is ideal for teachers, students, parents and translators. Now-a-days, dictionary software is also available in PDAs format that can be easily downloaded on computers. Not only on computers, the dictionary software can also be downloaded on mobiles too thus can be accessed anywhere at any point of an hour.