Summary
Plastic surgeons must familiarize themselves with national, state, and societal guidelines pertaining to their field of practice to assess the elective nature of an intervention. Elective interventions must be postponed in an effort to preserve limited resources and minimize exposure risk until states allow the resumption of elective surgeries. The COVID-19 outbreak presents unique and novel challenges for our healthcare system—as plastic surgeons, we must weigh our individual responsibilities to our patients against our collective responsibility to preserve limited resources and increase healthcare capacity during the acute phase of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2020;8(7):e3039 © 2020 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins