Unlike other aerobic exercises such as jogging, swimming puts little stress on your joints, making it an ideal exercise for people with arthritis. However, if you have had a perianal abscess lanced, you should wait at least five days before...
A wound drain is usually a tube applied by your doctor after surgery or a medical procedure. These tubes are used to drain fluid, such as pus or blood, from the wound. This prevents possible infections and helps the wound stay dry and heal faster....
If you or your child experience recurrent ear infections, your doctor or pediatrician may recommend ear tube surgery to help alleviate symptoms. During this procedure, which is also called a myringotomy or tympanotomy, the surgeon inserts a small...
Urinary catheters are used to drain urine from the body when the bladder cannot due to surgery or illness. Urinary catheters drain the bladder, and the urine is collected in a urinary drainage bag. This bag should be emptied when it is about a...
Ear infections are common in children. According to the National Institutes of Health, three out of four children have at least one ear infection before their third birthday. Most children outgrow infections, but chronic cases can cause long-term...
Anal fissures are small, painful tears in the lining of the anus that can occur during bowel movements, according to MedlinePlus. They can be caused by constipation, passing large and hard stools, or diarrhea. A common surgical procedure used to...
The knees are highly prone to injury because they are the primary weight bearing joints in the body. Kneeling down exacerbates the pain of most knee injuries, including inflammation of the quadriceps tendon just below the kneecap. A person...
You've had gall bladder attacks before, but this one is different. The pain is severe, radiates to your back or shoulder, has lasted more than two hours and might be accompanied by fever. Exhausted, you arrive at the hospital expecting to have...
Hard calcifications and bumps in your body can cause pain or make you worry about cancer or heart disease, but sometimes these lumps are not medically serious. Excess calcium and ganglion cysts have a variety of causes, and complications may be...
A sinus infection can cause mild but unpleasant symptoms. In other cases it can become severe and cause symptoms that interfere with everyday life. Sinus infections can cause a significant amount of pain and/or an infection in the bones of the...
Cryotherapy, also known as cryosurgery, is a treatment used to kill prostate cancer cells. It is best suited to those cancers that are confined to the prostate and is typically performed after several months of hormone therapy that serves to...
Glaucoma is a disease of the eye that often goes unnoticed until damage to the optic nerve has occurred. It's important to diagnose and treat this condition early, because once your vision is lost, it's impossible to restore. Loss of peripheral...
Urine retention may be caused by an obstruction in your urinary tract, by nerve problems interfering with the signals sent between your brain and bladder, or by a weak bladder muscle. Whatever the underlying cause, when urine retention becomes...
Glaucoma is an umbrella term for a number of disorders that cause damage to the optic nerve. Because the optic nerve is responsible for the transmission of information from the eyes to the brain, damage to this nerve can result in diminished sight...
Chronic osteomyelitis is a term used to describe a long-term infection within the bone tissue. Adults with this type of infection typically develop symptoms within the pelvis or spinal column, while children develop symptoms in the long bones of...
Necrotizing fasciitis, commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria, is caused by an infection from the group A streptococcus (GAS) bacterium family, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The infection is a fast-growing...
An abdominal hernia is a defect in the muscle of the abdominal wall that allows intestine to come through the abdominal wall. Surgeons repair abdominal wall hernias by surgically repairing the opening in the muscle wall. According to the Mont Reid...
The bladder is a muscular organ that is responsible for storing and excreting urine. Sometimes, the bladder can form different anatomical structures. In some instances, the bladder muscles can become weakened and people can no longer hold in their...
Commonly called halitosis, bad breath is related to various conditions, including issues with the sinuses. It often arises after eating certain kinds of food, which can also make the situation worse, no matter what the underlying cause is,...
Sinuses are hollow spaces in the bones of the face. Sinusitis or an infection of the sinuses is a common problem. Complications because of sinusitis are rare, because of the use of antibiotics, but they can occur in patients who take inadequate or...
An infected tooth, also known as a tooth abscess, refers to an accumulation of pus that infiltrates the center of the tooth, says MedlinePlus. It says that symptoms of an infected tooth include a toothache that is gnawing or throbbing in nature, a...
Minor surgeries typically have short recovery times and are performed on an outpatient basis. Minor surgeries do not have major body cavities opened. The anesthesia for minor surgery can be general, local or regional. Examples of minor surgery...
Septoplasty is a surgery to straighten the nasal septum, the center of the nose that divides the right and left nasal cavities. It may be done when the nasal passages are crooked or constricting breathing. Infection is a rare risk in septoplasty...
A meniscus injury is usually a tear that affects one or both of the pieces of cartilage in your knee joint. The cartilage, which both cushions and stabilizes the joint, may be torn straight across in a radial or transverse tear, or it may be torn...
A true sinus headache isn't a headache at all. It is pain caused by pressure created by inflammation of the sinuses. It can be difficult to tell the difference between the sensations of sinus headaches, tension headaches and migraines, so it's...
While most people experience acne in some form or another throughout their lives, severe acne can lead to permanent disfiguration, social and emotional problems and employment limitations. Severe acne appears on the face and other body parts and...
A tummy tuck, or abdominoplasty, is a cosmetic surgery procedure that removes excess fat and skin from the abdominal area to create a trimmer and firmer profile, report doctors at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. A tummy tuck is not a...
Breast augmentation is one of the most popular procedures performed in the United States. In many cases, patients are allowed to go home the same day, implants in place. However, as simple as this may seem, risks accompany this form of plastic...
The eyes are connected to the brain through the optic nerve, which sends signals from the eye to the brain. When proper vision is disrupted, it can result in eye pain as well as headaches. Increased pressure in the face and head or abnormal body...
A breast lift, known as mastopexy, raises and firms the breast by removing excess skin. Learn about the process of getting a breast lift in this video from a professional plastic surgeon.
