Are Cosmetic Surgery Procedures safe in this COVID 19 Era? - Dr. Srikanth V| Doctors' Circle

Dr. Srikanth V | Appointment booking no: 080 2552 0035, 94835 06268
Consultant Plastic & Cosmetic Surgeon | Clinique Belle Koramangala, Bangalore
The actual answer is we do not know enough about COVID -19 to give you a definitive answer. But from what we know about COVID is we can take precautions as a surgeon, as a surgical team, and as patients to see how we can keep each other safe. the first thing is if it can wait for some time, it is good to wait till the government authorities say it is safe to wait. As of today, the current recommendation is to withhold all elective procedures, so that there are enough and more medical facilities available for patients if they develop COVID. However COVID–19 is the new normal and we all have to take precautions. What are the precautions that you can take? First of all when you go to meet a surgeon, please wear a mask and use hand sanitizer before you come in and before you go out and as far as possible, maintain a distance of atleast 1 meter between you and your surgeon. So this can make your consultation comfortable. If possible and your consultant is comfortable, please do a video call or consultation with your plastic surgeon so that most of your doubt is clear. Next is to add up on the net. There is a lot of information available on the net that will tell you most questions about your procedure and then when you come to your plastic surgeon, in a single visit itself you will be able to clear all your doubts so you don’t have to keep coming again and again and as far as the surgical procedure goes, it depends on the surgeon and the facility that you go to, depending on the skin of surgery you have to undergo. The first thing when you want to do when you come for a surgery is a risk stratification, that is it is a questionnaire that tells you how risk pore you are to get COVID, if you come from a COVID positive area, whether you have contacts in your family, or had a travel history and depending your health conditions, and depending on if you have a cough, cold, there is a questionnaire that is being given to, before the surgery. If there is a doubt we will ask the infectious disease team, to make sure that it is a safe surgery for you. In the operation theater, enough precaution is taken to use the PPE or the personal protection equipment, so that you don’t get infected, we don’t get infected. The same thing is as the masks go. Previously we used to use surgical masks and these days all of us use something known as respirators and eye shields to make sure that COVID doesn’t spread through droplet infection or the fumes that is caused during surgery. With adequate precautions you can be assured that the risk of transmission of COVID from you to the surgeon and the surgeon to you is minimized.