NHS plastic surgery--is it what you think it is?

Many people who do not come into contact with plastic surgery in their hospitals may be under the popular misconception that plastic surgeons spend their time fixing noses and altering the size of breasts. Well, yes they do, but only occasionally in the NHS: they are more likely to do this type of surgery in their private practice. I would like to try to alter perceptions of plastic surgery, partly because I am Sister in Charge of a busy Regional Plastic, Burns and Reconstructive Theatre Unit and, partly, because I firmly believe that the psychology of the small number of patients who do have rhinoplasties and breast or cosmetic surgery in the NHS needs to be accepted and understood by busy health care workers. I hope to show that cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is a very small part of what happens in plastic surgery today. To do this I have used Plastic Surgery in the British Isles, a plan for the rest of the 1990s and my own hospital consultant episodes for the year 1992/93 as my background information.