Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery (2011) 64, 561e562

LETTER FROM AMERICA

YAPSdYale American Plastic Surgery Dictionary

Word Definition

Botoxician Individual who injects Botox�, neednot be a physician

Botoxaholic Patient who is a Botox� frequent fillerCase See “series”Cowlagen Dermal filler from cowsDIEP Acronym for a type of patient to be

avoided e ‘demanding individualexpecting perfection’

Double-blind Method of surgical education whereby

Most of you are familiar with the Oxford English Dictionarywhose aim was:

“. To present in alphabetical series the words that haveformed the English vocabulary from the time of theearliest records [ca. AD740] down to the present day,with all the relevant facts concerning their form, sense-history, pronunciation, and etymology.”1

Less familiar to you is DARE, the Dictionary of AmericanRegional English whose entries:

“. Include regional pronunciations, variant forms, someetymologies, and regional and social distributions ofwords and phrases that vary from one part of the countryto another, or that we learn from our families andfriends rather than from our teachers and books.”2

trainees teach each other i.e. blind leadingblind, see WODOTO below

ENTologist Specialist in ENTExperience Surgeon pontificating about what he has

seen or treated e.g. ‘in my experience’,in reality nZ 1, see series

FFF Mnemonic to aid circulating nurses toproperly position pedals for c-arm, bipolarcautery and microscope in front of thesurgeon - Feet face forward

Fillerologist Specialist in injecting fillersFlap Row or dispute over surgical turfFree flap Tissue transfer in a patient with neither

insurance nor governmental reimbursementGraft A type of illegal profit e.g. bribeHMO Health maintenance organization,

see oxymoronLipologist Multi-talented specialist who ‘swings

both ways’, i.e. both aspiratesand injects fat

Yale dares to accept the challenge

DARE is published by Harvard University Press. Aware of theeternal rivalry with Harvard, Yale will not just ‘catch-up’but outdistance Harvard by performing a vital service tohumanity and fulfilling a heretofore-undescribed need. Aspart of the yearlong celebration of the two hundredthanniversary of the founding of Yale School of Medicine, theYale American Plastic Surgery or YAPS Dictionary will soonbe published.a With a format similar to DARE, it will be thedefinitive work; indeed one might say that it will dare to bethe last word on plastic surgery words and acronyms thatoriginated in America. Many of its entries were coined atYale or by her graduates beginning with John Staige Daviswho received an honorary degree for writing his plasticsurgery textbook.3 JPRAS readers are fortunate to be givena preview of some of the entries and you will appreciate thesubtlety and utility of this scholarly work.

a Cognoscenti will appreciate the irony in the acronym insofar asYale’s official mascot is an English bulldog named Handsome DanXVII.

1748-6815/$-seefrontmatterª2010BritishAssociationofPlastic,Reconstrucdoi:10.1016/j.bjps.2010.10.001

A YAPS dictionary sampler

Medicareallowance

See oxymoron

Minilift Type of facelift that lasts long enough forthe cheque to clear

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tiveandAestheticSurgeons.PublishedbyElsevierLtd.All rightsreserved.

(continued )

Word Definition

Mohsologist Specialist in Mohs surgeryNew Author’s claim for something he has done

without adequately researching theliterature

Novel Multi-syllabic version of ‘new’ meant toimpress foundations and other grantors

O-filler Plastic surgeons who just fill holes incontrast to those who treat defects withan artistic sense.4

Oops Extreme obscenity, never to be uttered inthe presence of a conscious patient,other curse words are preferable underthose circumstances (Personalcommunication Krizek TJ June 1969)

Oxymoron Contradictory term to assuage theunsuspecting, frequently coined bygovernment bureaucrats or healthinsurance companies

PAWG Rhymes with dog, but not a pug - postauricular Wolfe graft

Proceduraldermatology

Au courant term for what was formerlycalled ‘cutaneous surgery’.Subliminal implication is that becausethis is not ‘surgery’ there is minimaldowntime

Series Surgeon pontificating about what he hasseen or treated i.e. ‘in my series’,in reality nZ 2; If nZ 3 the surgeon says‘In case after case after case.’

SEW Harvard Medical School mnemonic fromits abbreviated gross anatomy course forremembering the large joints of upperlimb e shoulder, elbow, wrist

Slave Poorly compensated resident or fellow;term of endearment for Louisville handfellowship alumni

SMAS Acronyms for surgical techniques‘Some measures are safe’ or‘Some measures are stupid’.

Sport surgery Any procedure done for fun as in a hobbyas the reimbursement is minimal

The same Post-operative condition of epidemicproportion in America. No matterwhat the pre-op diagnosis, over 99.99%patients have this condition as thepost-op diagnosis

TRAM Acronym for either: The results aremarvelous or The results are mediocre

Waiter Noun for cosmetic surgeon in the midstof a recession i.e. he waits and waitsand waits for patients, or he has beenforced to moonlight as a restaurant server

WODOTO Acronym for the traditional method ofsurgical education - watch one,do one, teach one

Yale series Small number of clinical casesemanating from Yale, see ‘series’

562 Letter from America

As English is a living dynamic organism, the YAPSdictionary will be updated regularly. The importance of thethis work was best expressed over a century ago by OscarWilde when he wrote:

‘We have everything in common with America nowadays,except, of course, language.”5

Financial disclosure

None.

Competing interests

The author is a graduate of Yale School of Medicine anda proud former Louisville slave.

References

1. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary [access verified September 25, 2010].

2. Available at: http://dare.wisc.edu/?qZnode/1[access verifiedSeptember 25, 2010].

3. Freshwater MF. A critical comparison of Davis’ Principles ofPlastic Surgery with Gillies’ Plastic Surgery of the Face. J PlastReconstr Aesthet Surg 2011;64:17e26.

4. Millard Jr DR. Principlization of plastic surgery. Boston, MA:Little, Brown & Co.; 1986:449.

5. Wilde O. The Canterville Ghost in Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime &Other Stories. London: J.R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co.,1891:94.http://tinyurl.com/Canterville-Ghost [access verified October25, 2010].

M. Felix Freshwater*, Voluntary Professor of Surgery,University of Miami School of Medicine,

9100 S Dadeland Blvd Ste 502,Miami, FL 33156-7815, USA.

*Tel.: þ1 305 670 9988; fax: þ1 305 670 0770.E-mail address: m.felixfreshwater@gmail.com