Infections in outpatient surgery.

In the plastic surgery patient population, outpatient surgery is cost effective and will continue to grow as the preferred arena for performing surgery in healthy patients. Although there is a widespread myth that outpatient surgery centers may suffer from increased infection rates due to lax infection control, the data presented from American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities-accredited facilities prove the contrary. There is a lack of data investigating infection prevention in the perioperative period in plastic surgery patients. As data collection becomes more refined, tracking the postoperative care environment should offer additional opportunities to lower the incidence of postoperative infections.