Office plastic surgery as safe as hospital

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., July 18 (UPI) -- U.S. plastic surgeons who did a review of office-based plastic surgery say accredited facilities are as safe as hospitals.

The study, published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, reviewed more than 1.1 million procedures and found the mortality rate to be significantly less than 1 percent or 0.002 percent.

"The study shows that plastic surgery in accredited facilities is safe and deaths are rare," study co-author Dr. Geoffrey Keyes says in a statement. "However, people should consider plastic surgery with the same seriousness as medically necessary surgery. Most importantly, patients should have their procedure performed by an American Society of Plastic Surgeons member surgeon in an accredited facility."

The study reviewed data collected from January 2001 through June 2006 by The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, which mandates biannual reporting of all complications and fatalities. The data was obtained from facilities accredited by the association, which requires that surgeons be board-certified and have credentials at a hospital to perform any procedure being contemplated.

Deaths were infrequent, occurring 2.02 in 100,000 procedures or 0.002 percent, which is comparable to the overall risk of such procedures performed in hospital surgery facilities. The vast majority of deaths were due to pulmonary embolism -- a blood clot that travels to the lungs, the study said.