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Intensive or critical care is a branch of medicine that provides life support for critically ill patients. Physicians are responsible for intensive monitoring of these patients, who many require ventilator support. Since intensive care patients typically suffer from very severe conditions, they may pass away while in the intensive care units. Intensive care surgeons may perform any number of emergency procedures; these are highly risky and expensive, so doctors must be highly skilled and trained.

Craniofacial anomaly surgery is a surgical specialty. It deals with areas of both plastic surgery and maxillofacial surgery. Typically, surgeons in this field correct congenital and acquired deformities of the skull, face, and jaws. To do so, they manipulate bone, skin, muscle, and teeth. Some common deformities that they fix include cleft lip and palate, Apert’s syndrome, and hemifacial microsomia.

Cosmetic or plastic surgery is a field of surgery in which physicians focus on the correction or restoration of aesthetics of the human body. Specifically, cosmetic surgery is typically an “optional” field of surgery because it does not involve increased function or health; instead, cosmetic surgeons improve their patients’ appearance. Incidentally, the field does not have any connection with the material known as plastic.

A congenital heart defect is a disease that affects newborns. It means that the structure of the baby’s heart and surrounding blood vessels can be defective; this obstruction of blood flow results in abnormal rhythms. A heart defect is one of the most common birth defects, and it can be dangerous and even fatal.

In medicine, competence is a term that refers to the patient’s ability to make his own decisions concerning his own treatment plans and options. An expert gives the patient a full examination to determine whether or not he is competent enough to make vital medical decisions. Competence is especially important when it comes to children (Gillick’s competence is a term that determines whether or not children need permission from their parents to change their medical plan).