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World J Clin Cases. Jun 26, 2023; 11(18): 4258-4266
Published online Jun 26, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i18.4258
Application experience and research progress of different emerging technologies in plastic surgery
Bin Yang, Ling Yang, Wen-Li Huang, Qing-Zhu Zhou, Jia He, Xian Zhao
Bin Yang, Wen-Li Huang, Qing-Zhu Zhou, Jia He, Xian Zhao, Plastic and Cosmetic Department, The Affiliated Calmette Hospital of Kunming Medical University, The First People’s Hospital of Kunming, Calmette Hospital Kunming, Kunming 650224, Yunnan Province, China
Ling Yang, Radiology Department, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University (Yunnan Cancer Hospital, Yunnan Cancer Center), Kunming 650118, Yunnan Province, China
Author contributions: Yang B, Ling Y, Huang WL, Zhou QZ, He J and Zhao X designed the research study; Yang B, Ling Y, Huang WL, Zhou QZ and He J performed the research; Zhao X and Yang B Contributed data and analysis tools; Yang B, Huang WL and Zhao X analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author does not have any conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xian Zhao, MD, Attending Doctor, Plastic and Cosmetic Department, The Affiliated Calmette Hospital of Kunming Medical University, The First People’s Hospital of Kunming, Calmette Hospital Kunming, No. 1228 Beijing Road, Panlong District, Kunming 650224, Yunnan Province, China. 15872102949@189.cn
Received: April 19, 2023
Peer-review started: April 19, 2023
First decision: April 28, 2023
Revised: April 28, 2023
Accepted: May 23, 2023
Article in press: May 23, 2023
Published online: June 26, 2023
Processing time: 68 Days and 12.3 Hours
Abstract

In the diagnosis and treatment of plastic surgery, there are structural processing problems, such as positioning, moving, and reconstructing complex three-dimensional structures. Doctors operate according to their own experience, and the inability to accurately locate these structures is an important problem in plastic surgery. Emerging digital technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and three-dimensional printing are widely used in the medical field, particularly in plastic surgery. This article reviews the development of these three technical concepts, introduces the technical elements and specific applications required in plastic surgery, summarizes the application status of the three technologies in plastic surgery, and summarizes prospects for future development.

Keywords: Virtual reality; Augmented reality; Three-dimensional printing; Plastic surgery; Progress

Core Tip: As an emerging discipline, the needs of patients undergoing plastic surgery differ greatly from those of patients in other disciplines. People seeking cosmetic surgery choose plastic surgery because they seek a higher standard of beauty, and their expectations of the procedure are high. Therefore, plastic surgery, unlike other disciplines, requires a high degree of accuracy. Patients usually lack a concrete sense of the outcomes of a procedure before surgery. Physicians’ clinical practice, including training and teaching, also relies heavily on crude personal experience and lacks accurate numerical standards, and young physicians rarely have opportunities to operate. Digital technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and three-dimensional printing have been widely used for the preoperative design, intraoperative navigation, and postoperative evaluation of plastic surgery.