Minor surgery is any surgical procedure that does not involve anesthesia or respiratory assistance, while major surgery is any surgical procedure that involves anesthesia or respiratory assistance. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/minor+surgery Information from a .gov website: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pagerender.fcgi?artid=1426523&pageindex=1

Major Surgery Hysterectomy..Total/Complete Minor Surgery Remove ingrown toenails

Minor surgery is anything that can be done with a local anaesthetic eg a splinter, dressing a cit, stitching a wound, getting something out of an eye, nose etc Major surgery requires anesthetic and totaly steril conditions as they are opening up the outside of the body to fix something on the inside or fixing an open deep wound that needs many layers of stitching.

1) "In general terms, surgery is the term traditionally used for treatments that involve cutting or stitching tissue. However, advances in surgical techniques have made the definition more complicated: Sometimes lasers, ultracisions, rather than scalpels, are used to cut tissue. Surgery is a broad area of care and involves many different techniques. Here are a few definitions: Minor surgery - any surgical procedure that does not involve anesthesia or respiratory assistance during the surgical procedure, - a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments; performed to repair damage or arrest disease in a living body( Ex. Hemorhoids, Tissue neurosis in absces There are many conditions that can be treated quickly and easily by: - vaporisation with electrical diathermy (Example: Warts destrucition) - simple excision (Example: Mole biopsy) This just requires a little local anaesthetic and a few minutes of your time. Major surgery - any surgical procedure that involves anesthesia or respiratory assistance. Minor surgery can involve the use of local, regional anesthesia. (We do not perform this here )" Source and further information: http://www.doctorscareclinic.com/html/minor-surgery.html 2) "What is meant by Major Surgery? Any surgical intervention that penetrates and exposes a body cavity; any procedure that has the potential for inducing permanent anatomic (physical) or physiologic impairment and/or any procedure associated with orthopedics or extensive tissue dissection or transection. Major survival surgery for warm-blooded "higher" vertebrate animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils or monkeys must be performed in dedicated facilities specifically designed, operated, and maintained for that purpose. Cold-blooded vertebrate and rodent surgeries may be performed aseptically in a clean, non-dedicated room or laboratory. Surgical procedures on wild animals, both major and minor may be performed in the field but aseptic principles must be followed. The UAWC determines the appropriate site for specific operative procedures. What is meant by Minor Surgery? A minor surgical procedure is one that neither penetrates or exposes a body cavity, nor induces permanent impairment of physical or physiologic function. Examples are laparoscopy, superficial vascular cutdown, and percutaneous biopsy. A dedicated surgical facility is not required for such procedures, however, the surgical area should be clean and aseptic techniques must be observed. There is no prohibition against multiple minor survival procedures. Good professional judgment should be used to limit the number of minor surgical procedures performed on a single animal." Source and further information: http://www.nyu.edu/ovr/training/preop/major/