Few careers offer the same personal and professional satisfaction as those of surgeons. Not to mention that the career outlook is very bright in terms of stability. However, there are many types of surgeons.
What is a surgeon and how are they classified?
A surgeon is any doctor who is capable of preventing, diagnosing and curing diseases by using surgery. During an intervention in the operating room, the surgeon performs mechanical manipulation of the patient’s anatomical structures for a medical purpose, be it diagnostic (such as a biopsy), therapeutic or prognostic.
It should be noted that most surgeons are included in the discipline of “major surgery”, which requires the incision, manipulation and suture of a specific tissue, always during a stay in the operating room. For this, the patient must be under deep sedation (regional/general anesthesia), in order to avoid pain and traumatic experiences.
Therefore, below we show you the most well-known types of surgeons in medicine.
types of surgeons
1. Surgeon General
General surgery includes most procedures performed “open body”, especially those circumscribed to the abdominal context. Those involving the esophagus, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, appendix and bile ducts, among others. In addition, a general surgeon also deals with pathologies in the breast area, skin problems and bodily injuries that must be stitched.
2. Cardiothoracic surgeon
Just as the abdominal surgeon specializes in the intestines and adjoining organs, the cardiothoracic surgeon limits his range of action to the heart. As well as the lungs and other pleural structures.
3. Craniofacial surgeon
Craniofacial surgeons are responsible for correcting, to the extent possible, congenital and acquired deformities of the head, neck, face, skull, jaws, and associated structures. Although these professionals often treat the bones, they are not surgical procedures linked to a single tissue, since cartilage, skin, nerves, oral mucosa and many other histological variants are also modified.
4. Neurological surgeon (neurosurgeon)
Neurosurgeons’ main task is to address problems of the central nervous system (CNS), the peripheral and the autonomic, including associated structures that provide support or irrigation.
5. Oral and maxillofacial surgeon
Oral and maxillofacial surgery, unlike craniofacial surgery, is responsible for the reconstruction of the face after a serious injury or a particularly aggressive surgery (such as removing a tumor with the entire metastatic area).
6. Pediatric surgeon
The pediatric surgeon is in charge of performing operations under anesthesia on fetuses, newborns, children, prepubescents and young adults. Within this large category, there are two specialties: fetal and neonatal surgery. As you might imagine, treating a fetal abnormality in the maternal environment has nothing to do with removing bone chips in a young child after a fall.
7. Ophthalmic surgeon
Ophthalmic surgeons are responsible for surgically correcting problems in the eye environment. Some procedures (such as LASIK) are minimally invasive and are focused on correcting refractory errors, while others include enucleation and evisceration of the entire eyeball, that is, the complete removal of the eye. The surgical approach to corneal problems and ocular oncology requires a specialization of 1 or 2 years by the professional.
8. Transplant surgeon
Transplants are one of the greatest milestones in modern medicine, but they do not come without associated risks. Many of them have an expiration date, which means that they do not last until the patient’s life comes to an end. For example, the average life of each kidney transplant is 19.3 years, while the figure for the heart transplant is about 12 years.
9. Orthopedic surgeon
Orthopedic surgeons are those who deal with problems at the musculoskeletal level, that is, the locomotor system. They are usually part of the last stage of treatment, when rest, anti-inflammatories, joint injections and immobilizers do not work in the face of a bone, joint or muscle disorder.
10. Gynecologic surgeon
This group includes obstetric surgeons and oncologists, who treat difficult deliveries and malignant neoplasms in the female reproductive organs, respectively. From performing a cesarean section in a complex delivery to treating cervical cancer (CC), these specialists take care of everything related to the female reproductive system. To move in these disciplines, a surgeon must complete 4 years as a doctor, 4 years of specialization in gynecology and, depending on the discipline, 2 to 4 more years.
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