Cosmetic Surgery in Patients Taking Steroids

Please tweet and retweet Tweet

Steroids refers to a broad group of chemicals produced by the body and drugs or medications with a spectrum of properties. All steroids have a common 4 ring chemical structure with side attachments that change its name and properties giving rise to everything from testosterone to bile, estrogen, estradiol, progesterone, prednisone, decadron etc. Most of these are found in nature produced by animals or plants but some can only be made synthetically in a lab. There are 2 main categories sex hormones and corticosteroids with subcategories that apply to each.

Categories (subcategories)	Functional Regulation	Examples
Sex hormones-androgens (anabolic steroids) and estrogens	sex differences, puberty, reproduction, muscle and bone metabolism, fat metabolism and distribution	Testosterone, Androstenedione, Estrogen, Progesterone, Estradiol, Medrogestone, Methylprednisolone
Corticosteroids
Glucocorticoids	sugar metabolism, immune function (reduce inflammation), healing, fetal development in the womb	Cortisol, Prednisone, Dexamethasone
Mineralocorticoids	blood volume and pressure, kidney function, water balance	Aldosterone, Fludrocortisone