Educational Science

No, You Shouldn't Get Plastic Surgery Advice from YouTube

An old adage with a modern spin says that you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet. Now, new research adds that you shouldn’t believe everything you watch online, either. And that especially goes for plastic surgery videos on YouTube. That's because these videos can be misleading forms of...

Conjoined Twins Fused at the Head Now Separated After More Than 50 Hours of Surgery

Twin girls who were born joined at the head have been successfully separated after a months-long medical endeavor that required more than 50 hours of major surgery and a team of 100 medical professionals, doctors announced this week. The 2-year-old twins, Safa and Marwa Ullah, were born with an extremely...

It's difficult to describe the opioid epidemic as having anything resembling a silver lining, but as deaths from opioid use have skyrocketed, one arguably positive outcome has been more organ donations from overdose victims, a new study suggests. Since 2000, the number of overdose deaths in the U.S. has climbed...

'Tree Man' Gets Pioneering Surgery for Rare Skin Condition

A man in Gaza with an extremely rare skin condition dubbed tree man syndrome says his life has been changed by a pioneering surgical treatment, according to news reports. The man, 44-year-old Mahmoud Taluli, has undergone four surgeries in the last two years to remove extensive, wood-like lesions on his...

Surgeon Signs Initials into Patients' Livers: What Is an 'Argon Beam'?

A British surgeon has pleaded guilty to charges that he marked his initials into patients' organs using a medical instrument called an argon beam coagulator, according to news reports. But what exactly is this instrument, and are its effects permanent? The surgeon, Simon Bramhall, admitted to the charge of assault...

The US Is Throwing Out Donor Kidneys That Could Be Given to Patients, Study Says

There's a serious kidney shortage in the United States. According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, a federal database on organ transplantation, there are nearly 100,000 Americans currently on the waitlist for a kidney. So far this year, only around 16,000 people on that list received a kidney. But...

Surgeons Reattached This Girl's Leg Backward. No, It Wasn't a Mistake.

When Amelia Eldred, an active 7-year-old in England, needed her leg amputated to treat bone cancer, doctors performed an unusual surgery: They removed the middle part of her leg and then reattached the lower part of her leg — but backward. While the surgery sounds odd — it results in...

Here's What Happens When You Leave Surgical Sponges in a Person's Body for Years

Sometimes, a bloated stomach is just gas or the result of something you ate. But for one woman in Japan, her abdominal bloating turned out to be caused by two surgical sponges that were left in her body years earlier, according to a new report of the case. The 42-year-old...

John Mayer's Emergency Surgery: How Common Is Appendicitis?

Singer-songwriter John Mayer went to the hospital this morning (Dec. 5) for an emergency appendectomy, or surgery to remove his appendix. Dead & Company, the band Mayer is currently touring with, announced the musician's surgery on Twitter. Early this morning, Tuesday, December 5th, John Mayer was admitted into the hospital...

Surgeon Left Scalpel in Veteran's Abdomen, Lawsuit Claims

A veteran in Connecticut is suing a Veterans Affairs hospital, claiming that someone left a scalpel handle inside his abdomen after surgery, according to news reports. Army veteran Glenford Turner had surgery in 2013 to remove all or part of his prostate gland, according to NPR. The lawsuit alleges that...