Face
Excluded
- Surgery for wrinkles (rhytides, crows feet and marionette lines)
- Face lift
- Neck lift
- Brow lift and brow ptosis
- Other purely aesthetic surgery
Allowable
- Corrective surgery for structural or soft tissue anatomical anomaly resulting from congenital or acquired pathological condition
- Correction of facial nerve palsy
Nose
Excluded
- Rhinoplasty for aesthetic purposes
- Minor nasal lumps, humps and deviation, particularly when blamed upon childhood knocks
Allowable
- Correction of congenital abnormalities including cleft lip and palate
- Septorhinoplasty after nasal trauma where there is gross distortion of anatomy and sustained, interference with airway
Eyes and eyelids
Excluded
- Upper and lower blepharoplasty (correction of excess skin ‘tired eyes’, ‘eyebags’ or malar bags)
Allowable
- Post traumatic or post tumour reconstruction
- As part of a procedure for ectropion or entropion
- Where redundancy of the upper lids overhangs the pupil and genuinely interferes with the field of vision (this must be distinguished from congenital or acquired ptosis of the levator mechanism)
- During the correction of facial nerve dysfunction
- Gross asymmetry
Ears
Excluded
- Prominent ears (pinnaplasty) under the age of five and over the age of 18
- Below the lower age limit surgery is being requested by the parents, the patients are not compliant with the post operative regime and the surgical results are unpredictable
- The upper age limit is debatable since some patients with genuine concerns only present when parental opinion and thus control is no longer a factor
Allowable
- Congenital abnormalities of the external ear (other than prominence)
- Prominent ears in patients over the age of five and under the age of 18 only
- The degree of prominence is largely unmeasurable, but it would be reasonable to refer all children who are being teased or perceive there to be a problem themselves (as opposed to their parents)
- Gross asymmetry
Cranium and scalp
Excluded
- Male pattern baldness
- Hair transplantation
Allowable
- Congenital anomalies (cranio-facial and cutaneous)
- Correction of post traumatic bony and soft tissue deformity
- Post burn alopecia
- Localised bony masses