In Dallas, Plastic surgery is very safe for well-selected patients. You may periodically hear reports about young, healthy individuals who died as a result of plastic surgery. The majority of these cases involve a surgeon who was either not board certified in plastic surgery, or not board certified at all. Exactly how safe? A 2008 study published by a surgical facility accreditation board looked at 1,141,418 outpatient procedures and reported only 23 deaths. This translates to a mortality rate of about 2 per 100,000.

You can see just how safe this is when you compare it to other elective procedures. For example:

  • Gallbladder surgery up to 2% (2,000 per 100,000)
  • Intracranial aneurysms as low as 1% (1,000 per 100,000)
  • Abdominal aortic aneurysm up to 4% (4,000 per 100,000)
  • Colon resection up to 3.5% (3500 per 100,000)

The majority of deaths (13 out of 23) in the plastic surgery  study were reported due to pulmonary embolism. Only one occurred during surgery itself.

In addition, it’s worth noting that since this study came out in 2008, we have worked to further reduce the primary cause of postsurgical mortality. We know the signs to look for and tell you about them as well to ensure that if you start getting warning signs you can contact us or emergency personnel depending on the symptoms.

During his 30 years of surgical practice, Dr. Vasdev Rai has made patient safety one of his main goals. To learn more about how he works to ensure your safety during plastic surgery, please call or email the Cosmetic Surgical Center in Dallas, Texas, today.