2011 – 7th CONGRESS ‘BAPRAS 2011’

Throughout the entire history of civilization, human beauty had a high value, but fascination with beauty has never been as great as it is today.

Aesthetic or cosmetic surgery is a delicate specialty of modern medicine, which provides women and men with the opportunity to transform the innate structures of their body in order to improve their external appearance, strengthening their self-confidence at the same time.

This was the topic of the 7th Congress of the Balkan Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery ‘BAPRAS 2011’, held in September 2011, in Sarajevo .

The Congress brought together world experts from 18 countries of Europe and the world, who presented two hundred scientific papers in the areas of their interest, during the course of four days.

“I believe that BAPRAS is a great opportunity to gather in one place the scientists and surgeons from around the world, because the solutions coming from different parts of the world, from Australia, Denmark, some from the United States of America, are the key for the advancement of medicine, of this area of research. Certain work we presented is already being applied in practice. Discussing and assessing the clinical experience here in the Balkans, I am convinced that this Congress will offer the best solutions and progress in this area,” stated Prof. Dr. Roger N. Wixtrom from the USA.

The president of the Organizing Committee of the Congress and the President of the Balkan Association of Plastic Surgeons, Doc. Dr. Reuf Karabeg, points out that this gathering in Sarajevo is actually a bridge between scientific research, new ideas, and their implementation in practice.

“I want to emphasize that the Balkans have become a unique space in the medical sense, in terms of plastic and reconstructive surgery. We can now say that we have opened a route for the exchange of ideas, innovations, and solutions at the level of the Balkans, thus opening the doors for education at the global level. As for the Congress, it is the most effective one yet in terms of its content, and has at least two important advantages over the previous six Balkan Congresses, one of which is certainly the ISAPS symposium, i.e. eight top-quality lectures chosen by the Scientific Committee. This is why we are proud that our most eminent experts have been able to present the latest ideas and opinions, with a focus on complications in the field of aesthetic surgery,” said Dr. Karabeg.

Docent Dr. Karabeg stresses that expert workshops were also held at this Congress, during which professors Mario Zambelli from Croatia and Franc Planinšek from Slovenia, in cooperation with local experts from the University Clinical Center in Sarajevo, performed two surgeries in the field of aesthetic surgery.

Surgeries were directly presented to the participants in the congress hall via a video link.

Considering that these were complex surgical procedures, both surgeries were carried out using new techniques, which are applied in our country as well.

“We were able to follow the procedure and talk to the surgeons who performed the surgery, so everything was extremely educational. I think surgeons from Bosnia and Herzegovina have good experience in plastic, reconstructive, and aesthetic surgery, they do their job very well, and in the past few years they perform aesthetic procedures with more frequency, making a great and fast progress,” said Prof. Dr. Ruth Graf from Brazil.

Doc. Dr. Reuf Karabeg, Head of the Clinic for Reconstructive and Plastic Surgery of the UCCS, adds: “As the head of the Department of Plastic Surgery, I can guarantee that all these conclusions will be implemented, the best methods will be further implemented at the Clinical Center of the Institute in Sarajevo and other places where those of us, who are allowed to work in private practices, perform their duties. This means that the patient, as an end user, will surely receive much more than he or she had before this Congress.