Virtual anatomy - smartphone applications for the plastic surgery trainee

I've finally come up with enough excuses to justify an iPad 2. During this process, I came across a few websites that review medical Apps, such as iMedicalApps and iPhoneMedicalApps.

One App that caught my eye was from Visible Body. For $99 you get a virtual human body sitting right on your iPad. The trial head and neck region was incredible - things have come along way since I was demonstrating anatomy back in 2003/4.

I carried on searching and stumbled upon Google Body Browser from Google Labs. How did this pass me by? It looks as impressive and is completely free. It uses WebGL for the 3D graphics, which is built into the latest Chrome and Firefox browsers. This avoids the need for Flash player or other plugins. Enjoy!

Update: 
Kavit Amin has an article "Smartphone applications for the plastic surgery trainee" in this month's JPRAS. There aren't really any specific apps designed for a plastic surgery trainees BUT there are many good apps to improve productivity and manage articles. Also, what about Medscape?

Face transplant books

A couple of years ago I bought Joseph E. Murray's memoirs "Surgery of the Soul", which is well worth a read. Today, I received an email from Amazon promoting transplant related books. Many of them were on the topic of face transplants. Here is a run down:

The Match: Complete Strangers, a Miracle Face Transplant, Two Lives Transformed Susan Helfgot and William Novak Simon and Schuster 2010

Someone Else's Face in the Mirror: Identity and the New Science of Face Transplants, Carla Bluhm and Nathan Clendenin Praeger 2009

Face to Face: My Quest to Perform the First Full Face Transplant Maria Siemionow Kaplan Publishing 2009

Transplanting a Face: Notes on a Life in Medicine Maria Siemionow Cleveland Clinic Press 2007

RSM Plastic Surgery Section 2011/12

The programme for the Plastic Surgery Section of the Royal Society of Medicine has been released. Miss Barbara Jemec is the Section President this academic year. She was recently interviewed on Radio 4's Women's Hour about immediate breast reconstruction after mastectomy.

Friday 14 October
Aesthetic day: A comprehensive overview of surgical methods for rejuvenation in the face and neck

Tuesday 8 November
Taking hand surgery and hand therapy to Nepal and India

Tuesday 13 December
Hidradenitis: Treatment options and new insights