Wednesday, January 22, 2014
History of Plastic Surgery
History of Plastic Surgery
Origins and Growth of Plastic Surgery
Historically, battlefi eld combat has been an impetus for thedevelopment of new medical and surgical techniques based onthe injuries sustained. As battlefi eld technology and the weaponsof war became more sophisticated throughout history, thedegree of injury and tissue devastation became more horrifi c.The trench warfare of World Wars I and II gave rise to a wholenew category of facial injuries. Helmets protected combatant’sskulls and the trenches offered some protection to the chest, butthe face was exposed, and as a result, devastating burns andfractures of the face occurred. Special hospitals were createdto address these problems, and even before the United Statesjoined the fi rst World War, the Harvard unit sent 35 physiciansand surgeons, 3 dentists, and 75 nurses from various medicalcenters to assist in caring for the wounded. These visionarieswere soon developing new techniques and procedures to correctthe disfi guring injuries. They were credited as being the fi rstgeneration of modern plastic surgeons, and helped give muchneeded respect to the specialty.While World War I helped reinvent plastic surgery, thespecialty has been identifi ed as long ago as 600 BC , when aHindu surgeon described using a cheek fl ap to reconstruct anose. Another fl ap technique, this time using the forehead toreconstruct a severed nose, was performed around 1000 AD inIndia.
The Italian surgeon Gaspare Tagliacozzi, also known asthe “father of plastic surgery,” developed still another fl ap surgeryusing the upper arm to reconstruct a nose. History tells usthat the condition of the nose, whether from war, punishment,or social disease (syphilis), presented a story that often wasundesirable. This resulted in impetus in the different societiesto camoufl age the injuries, thus propelling advances in plasticsurgery.Following the end of the fi rst World War, plastic surgeryturned its attention to the rest of society, and concentrated ondeformities caused by birth or trauma. Soon, some surgeonsbegan using their talents to improve less than desirable facialfeatures. For example, Fanny Brice underwent a rhinoplasty inher apartment in 1923 to change the appearance of her nosefrom “prominent to decorative.” In 1924 a New York newspaperhad a contest to transform the city’s homeliest woman into abeauty. Dr. John Howard Crum performed the fi rst facelift onrecord in the Grand Ballroom of the Pennsylvania Hotel in NewYork City in 1931, during which “a pianist accompanied himwith appropriate popular tunes, fl ashbulbs popped, and menan d women fainted.”
Origins and Growth of Plastic Surgery
Historically, battlefi eld combat has been an impetus for thedevelopment of new medical and surgical techniques based onthe injuries sustained. As battlefi eld technology and the weaponsof war became more sophisticated throughout history, thedegree of injury and tissue devastation became more horrifi c.The trench warfare of World Wars I and II gave rise to a wholenew category of facial injuries. Helmets protected combatant’sskulls and the trenches offered some protection to the chest, butthe face was exposed, and as a result, devastating burns andfractures of the face occurred. Special hospitals were createdto address these problems, and even before the United Statesjoined the fi rst World War, the Harvard unit sent 35 physiciansand surgeons, 3 dentists, and 75 nurses from various medicalcenters to assist in caring for the wounded. These visionarieswere soon developing new techniques and procedures to correctthe disfi guring injuries. They were credited as being the fi rstgeneration of modern plastic surgeons, and helped give muchneeded respect to the specialty.While World War I helped reinvent plastic surgery, thespecialty has been identifi ed as long ago as 600 BC , when aHindu surgeon described using a cheek fl ap to reconstruct anose. Another fl ap technique, this time using the forehead toreconstruct a severed nose, was performed around 1000 AD inIndia.
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