Plastic surgery has made huge improvement lately in burn care. Burns are accidents that may occur daily anywhere outside, indoors or at the workplace. They are categorized in flame burns, scalds (burns from hot liquids), chemical burns from chemical or other substances and electrical burns. Burns may affect small areas of the body or may be extensive and may jeopardize the patient’s life. Accidents associated with burns unfortunately happen quite often in real life and especially in children, thus immediate and specialized treatment of the patient is crucial because it affects the final outcome of the therapy.
Burn treatment depends on the patient’s age, the type of burn, the injury time, the depth of the tissues destroyed and the first aid given at the accident site. Plastic surgery is the only medical and surgical specialty entitled to treat a burn patient and advice on therapy or burn reconstruction. Immediate contact with the plastic surgeon is crucial and sometimes any delays may be fetal.
In case of old burns that have caused contracted or ugly scars due to an extended deep burn, poor healing process or due to an inappropriate burn treatment, plastic surgery may offer a variety of surgical flaps cleverly designed from nearby healthy body areas, which are used to reconstruct the affected burn sites.
For emergencies and for out of hours accidents please contact St. Lucas Hospital, in Thessaloniki, at 0030 2310 380000 and ask to be connected to Dr Giannopoulos. The doctor or a member of her team will contact you as soon as possible for medical advice and follow up treatment.
