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CC BY-NC 4.0 · Arch Plast Surg 2021; 48(05): 572-574
DOI: 10.5999/aps.2021.00493
Communication

The grey zone in plastic surgery: priorities amidst the COVID 19 pandemic

Madhubari Vathulya 
Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, India
,
Sujata Sarabahi 
Department of Plastic Surgery, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India
,
Deepak Nanda 
Department of Plastic Surgery, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India
,
Praveen Ambadivalappil Jayaprakash 
Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, India
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Introduction

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019. It soon spread beyond China, ravaging other nations, and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020 [1]. The sheer number of COVID-19 cases forced hospitals across the world to make major adjustments in their day-to-day activities. Like all other surgical branches, the COVID-19 pandemic has also affected the specialty of plastic surgery. Following the guidelines given by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, plastic surgeons in the United States stopped performing elective and non-emergent procedures [2]. Only in a few countries (e.g., England, Ireland, and Sweden) were there no legal restrictions on performing elective plastic surgery procedures [3]. Plastic surgery encompasses a vast array of surgical procedures that cannot be just classified under just two headings, as emergent or non-emergent. There is a third variety of cases that can be classified as “essential”—that is, procedures that cannot be classified as emergency procedures but still cannot be delayed. We present a guideline in this article to identify patients who require such “essential” surgical procedures.

The emergency procedures mentioned in the literature as deserving immediate action include replantation of amputated limbs/digits, reconstruction of defects involving the skull base, third-degree burns and major burns, high-risk malignancies, and fasciotomy for compartment syndrome [4].



Publication History

Received: 24 February 2021

Accepted: 27 May 2021

Article published online:
19 March 2022

© . The Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, permitting unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)

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