Xiaohua: Hello, and welcome to Round Table’s word of the week. This week we are talking about plastic surgery as it seems that over half of the plastic surgery patients visiting South Korean doctors are Chinese.
John: Yeah, and so plastic surgery just gives you a quick definition is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function of the human bodies. So this can be cosmetic or aesthetic surgery, but it could also include non-elective medical surgery that is required, for example, severe burns or broken bones or things like that.
Xiaohua: 嗯，整形手術plastic surgery 指的可不光是美容類的手術還可以指醫療上用的,比如說傷痕的祛除等等。
John: In the term plastic surgery, plastic actually refers to sculpting or reshaping, which is derived from the Greek plastikē, which means the art of modeling of malleable flesh. So the actual surgical definition of “plastic” first appeared in 1839, which actually predates the actual modern use of plastic which is, you know, substance made from petroleum. So in this sense plastic surgery isn’t talking about, you know, the material plastic. It’s talking about how the human body is malleable and you can change how it looks.
Xiaohua: Right. 我們一般都覺得plastic是塑料的意思，但是它的另外一個意思也就是塑型，或者是雕塑。其實比塑料開始應用還要更早70年。
John: And so treatments for the plastic repair of a broken nose are first mentioned in the Edwin Smith Papyrus, which is a transcription from an Ancient Egyptian medical text, dating to the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt 3000 to 2500 BC. Reconstructive surgery techniques were also being carried out in India by around 800BC. So we can see these types of techniques are actually very, very old.
Xiaohua: 哇，原來在4、5千年以前就有過重塑鼻子這樣的整形手術了。
John: Ok, now let’s take a look at some different types of plastic surgery. So one of more common ones is called skin grafting and basically it’s you take skin from the recipient or from a donor. And you basically just stitch it back on to the recipient.
Xiaohua :最常見的一種整形手術實際上是植皮，也叫做skin grafting.
John: Mm-hmm, and there is also reconstructive plastic surgery which is used to correct functional impairments caused by burns, or traumatic injuries, congenital abnormalities, or perhaps even cancer, or tumors.
Xiaohua: 重建類的整形手術呢，包括治療燒傷甚至還包括切除腫瘤。
John: And now we come to probably the most well-known aspect of plastic surgery and that is cosmetic surgery, sometimes called aesthetic surgery or perhaps even elective plastic surgery. So abdominoplasty or just “tummy tuck” which might be heard of is basically just reshaping and firming of the stomach area.
Xiaohua: 腹部塑型 actually this is different from liposuction, right?
John: Yeah, this is different from liposuction. So liposuction is literally just taking fat out of certain areas and sucking it out.
Xiaohua : 這跟我們通常所說的吸脂術還是不太一樣的。
John: yeah, and so I think also one of the types of surgery that are many of our female listeners will probably be familiar with is the blepharoplasty or “eyelid surgery”.
Xiaohua: blepharoplasty 就是開雙眼皮的手術。
John : And then there is the mammoplasty which can include breast implants, breast reductions and even a mastoplexy which is breast lift.
Xiaohua: en, mammoplasty 不光是指隆胸手術還有縮胸手術。
John: and then there is the ever popular rhinoplasty, or nose job, which is exactly when sounds like just make your nose look different.
Xiaohua: 嗯，right, rhinoplasty是針對鼻子的整形手術。
John: and then there is the rhytidectomy which is basically just face lift so removes wrinkles and signs of aging.
Xiaohua: 嗯，臉部的這個除皺術叫做rhytidectomy.
John: uh-huh. And that can include a neck lift, include a browplasty or brow lift, it can also include a midface lift or a cheek lift.
Xiaohua: okay, 頸部除皺，前額的除皺或者是面部的除皺都可以包括在它之內。
Actually talking about all these kinds of plastic surgery kind of turns me off towards any sort of these procedures. Are you gonna go through any of these?
Jonh: no, I don’t think I ever will. If my wife decides one day that she wants to, I think my main concern would be the cost and safety, otherwise I don’t think I’d have too much of a problem.
Xiaohua: ah, great! That’s all we have for Round Table’s word of this week.