ABSTRACT
Caring for the Older Person Undergoing Plastic Surgery (by Subhas Gupta, MD and Erin O’Rorke, MD) Subhas Gupta, MD, Chairman and Professor, The Department of Plastic Surgery, Loma Linda University Medical Center, along with Erin O’Rorke, MD, focus on patient selection and state of the art methods of optimally readying patients for surgery. The 15% of the U.S. population that is 65 years of age or older accounts for over 40% of surgical cases. Case selection is very important in this older population. Prehabilitation techniques, improving the functional capability of the patient to better withstand the stress of the procedure, are explained. Common plastic surgery procedures amongst older patients involving the hand, breast, trunk and face, and malignancy reconstructions are all discussed.
