The attraction of plastic surgery is its tremendous scope, and the multitude of approaches for every clinical situation. Yet it is precisely these aspects of plastic surgery that make its study and teaching especially challenging. Although there exist several excellent atlases and texts on this topic, there are few references that are compact, affordable, and timely, while still managing to focus on the practical, day-to-day practice of plastic surgery. The purpose of Practical Plastic Surgery is to provide a guide to plastic surgery as it is practiced in academic medical centers. As such, it.