key: cord-1044942-r4a4cvug
authors: Rossella, Elia; Giuseppe, Giudice; Michele, Maruccia
title: Plastic Surgery in the time of Coronavirus in Italy. Can we really say “Thanks God we are plastic surgeons?”
date: 2020-09-04
journal: J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg
DOI: 10.1016/j.bjps.2020.08.081
sha: c8c8460f8f478a8589817968801d6e8a3cceed25
doc_id: 1044942
cord_uid: r4a4cvug

nan

We reviewed the data of all the patients admitted to our Plastic Surgery Unit, which is located in a COVID hospital, from our institution digital databases from the 1 st to the 31 st of March 2020 and we compared those data with the ones of the previous 5 years. In accordance with the Circulars of the Ministry of Health, the ordinary hospitalization and outpatient activities have all been remodulated in order to meet the potential increase in hospitalization needs and to limit patient The anxiety and the fear of contagion have led many to do-it-yourself for the sanitization of environments and the hygiene of hands and clothes. Quite for this reason, ten patients were admitted to our Burn Center this month alone. The 67% of the patients were treated for burns caused by denatured alcohol, while in the 33% of the cases, the injury was caused by the improper use of corrosive substances, awkwardly used for the artisanal realization of disinfectants. The total number is 22% higher than the five years before.

Not even the prison system has remained foreign to the previous observations, with reference to patients who had needed recovery and treatment in a plastic surgery department. Riots in Italian prisons hit the headlines after the Italian Government decision to discontinue visiting from relatives. Maxillofacial trauma admitted to the selected Departments raised from the last 5 years of 35%.

The Plastic Surgery Community continues to work and to fight the same universal battle with the same sense of responsibility. Responsibility to be part of the cure and not part of the disease 2 . For instance, dedicated plastic surgery teams comprising attending physicians and residents have been established in our Center. They do not come into contact with each other and alternate on a weekly basis. We should be role models for good hand hygiene and enforce strict compliance to minimize disease spread and not add to the general hysteria 3 .

COVID-19 and Italy: what next? The Lancet

Am I Part of the Cure or Am I Part of the Disease? Keeping Coronavirus Out When a Doctor Comes Home

Novel Coronavirus and Orthopaedic Surgery: Early Experiences from Singapore