Background and objective.

Social distancing measures and lockdown accomplished during first months of COVID-19 pandemic have had an impact on the healthcare burden of emergency departments. The aim of this study is to examine the effect this situation had in volume and management of plastic surgery patients in the emergency departments during the lockdown and a year after.

Methods.

A retrospective chart review of patients who needed Plastic Surgery consultation in the ED at the A Coruña Universitary Hospital, Spain, between March and June of 2019, 2020 and 2021 was performed.

Results.

1511 patients were urgently evaluated between March and June of 2019, 2020 and 2021: 552 in 2019, 446 in 2020 and 513 in 2021.The mean age during lockdown was superior (p=0.018). No difference was found in relation to sex. Facial (p=0.047) and upper limb (p=0.175) trauma consults decreased during lockdown, and burn patients decreased in the same period in 2021 (p<0.001). Admissions (p=0.008) and urgent surgeries (p=0.029) decreased significantly in 2021 in relation to before pandemic.

Conclusions.

During lockdown, we observed a decrease in the number of patients in our hospital center, maintaining a similar proportion of admissions and surgeries. During the same period in 2021, there was a significant reduction in admissions, their duration and surgeries. The reasons for consultation that decreased significantly were head and neck injuries in 2020 and burns in 2021, and urgent consultations on weekends during confinement were reduced in a non-significant way.

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