Surgery Procedure Doctor Elective Person Medical Person's Emergency

While surgery is never good news, understanding the different types of surgery may take the "mystery" (unknown) out what the doctor plans to do. You certainly don't have to be a doctor to understand the differences between elective, emergency, exploratory, reconstructive, and transplant surgeries.

An elective surgery is a surgery a person has made the decision to have. It is a "medical procedure" (another word for surgery) done to correct or fix a medical problem that is not "life-threatening" (very serious). Why would anyone choose to "undergo" (go through; have) surgery? There are many reasons, but perhaps the most common is to "enhance" (make better; improve) a person's "physical appearance" (the way a person looks). This type of elective surgery is called "cosmetic" (beauty; surface) surgery. Surgeries that are not elective are called emergency surgeries. The word "emergency" refers to something that needs to be fix immediately, so an emergency surgery is a surgery that must be performed right away or the person risks their health and even death. An example of an emergency surgery is a "heart bypass" (surgery to help blood get to the heart) after a "heart attack" (when blood can't get to the heart).

The words "emergency" and "elective" refer to the "circumstance" (situation, including time and place) under which a surgery will happen, but there are also words that refer to the actual medical procedure. "Reconstructive surgery" is similar to cosmetic surgery in that it changes a person's physical appearance; however reconstructive surgery is not done "solely" (only) for cosmetic reasons. If a child has been burned, his or her parents may decide that the child should undergo reconstructive surgery to "minimize" (make less noticeable) the appearance of burns. Another type of surgery is a transplant. A "transplant" is a surgery in which a doctor removes a body part or internal organ that no longer "functions" (works) and replaces it with a working part. Many organs, including kidneys, hearts, and even eyes, can be transplanted. A third type, "exploratory surgery," is a procedure in which doctors use tools, sometimes including cameras, to look inside a person's body and "make a diagnosis" (discover the cause of a medical problem).