• Mitchell Brown, Stephanie Eardley, Jamil Ahmad, Frank Lista, Scott Barr, Stephen Mulholland, Julie Khanna, Charles Knapp, Maryam Saheb-Al-Zamani, Ryan Austin, and Ronald Levine.
• Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
• Aesthet Surg J. 2021 Oct 15; 41 (11): NP1427-NP1433.

BackgroundOn March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) a worldwide pandemic, resulting in an unprecedented shift in the Canadian healthcare system, where protection of an already overloaded system became a priority; all elective surgeries and non-essential activities were ceased. With the impact being less than predicted, on May 26, 2020, elective surgeries and non-essential activities were permitted to resume.ObjectivesThe authors sought to examine outcomes following elective aesthetic surgery and the impact on the Canadian healthcare system with the resumption of these services during the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic.MethodsData were collected in a prospective manner on consecutive patients who underwent elective plastic surgery procedures in 6 accredited ambulatory surgery facilities. Data included patient demographics, procedural characteristics, COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test status, airway management, and postoperative outcomes.ResultsA total of 368 patients underwent elective surgical procedures requiring a general anesthetic. All 368 patients who underwent surgery were negative on pre-visit screening. A COVID-19 PCR test was completed by 352 patients (95.7%) and all were negative. In the postoperative period, 7 patients (1.9%) had complications, 3 patients (0.8%) required a hospital visit, and 1 patient (0.3%) required hospital admission. No patients or healthcare providers developed COVID-19 symptoms or had a positive test for COVID-19 within 30 days of surgery.ConclusionsWith appropriate screening and safety precautions, elective aesthetic plastic surgery can be performed in a manner that is safe for patients and healthcare providers and with a very low risk for accelerating virus transmission within the community.Level Of Evidence: 4© 2020 The Aesthetic Society. Reprints and permission: journals.permissions@oup.com.

12 keywords...

hide…