History of Plastic Surgery
The history of plastic surgery reaches back to the 700s BCE. Physicians in ancient India including Sushruta were utilizing skin grafts for reconstructive work as early as the 8th century BC. In his work Sushruta Samhita describes rhinoplasty and otoplasty. This knowledge of plastic surgery existed in India up to the late 18th century as can be seen from the reports published in Gentleman’s Magazine (October 1794).
The Romans were able to perform simple techniques such as repairing damaged ears from around the 1st century BC. In mid-15th century Europe, Heinrich von Pfolspeundt described a process “to make a new nose for one who lacks it entirely, and the dogs have devoured it” by removing skin from the back of the arm and suturing it in place. However, because of the dangers associated with surgery in any form, especially that involving the head or face, it was not until the 19th and 20th centuries that such surgery became commonplace.
Up until the techniques of anesthesia became established, all surgery on healthy tissues involved great pain. Infection from surgery was reduced once sterile technique and disinfectants were introduced. The invention and use of antibiotics beginning with sulfa drugs and penicillin was another step in making elective surgery possible.
Chopart in 1791 performed operative procedure of a lip using a flap from the neck. Joseph Carpue in 1814 successfully performed operative procedure in a British military officer who had lost his nose to the toxic effects of mercury treatments. Carl Von Graefe the German surgeon in 1818 published his major work entitled “Rhinoplastik.” Carl Von Graefe modified the Italian method using a free skin graft from the arm instead of the original delayed pedicle flap.In 1845 Dieffenbach wrote a comprehensive text on rhinoplasty , entitled “Operative Chirurgie.” He introduced the concept of reoperation to improve the cosmetic appearance of the reconstructed nose. In 1891 John Roe, an American otorhinolaryngologist presented an example of his work, a young woman on whom he reduced a dorsal nasal hump for cosmetic indications. In 1892 Robert Weir experimented unsuccessfully with xenografts (duck sternum) in the reconstruction of sunken noses. In 1896 James Israel, a urological surgeon from Germany, and In 1889 George Monks of the United States each described the successful use of heterogeneous free-bone grafting to reconstruct saddle nose defects. In 1898 Jacques Joseph, the German orthopaedic-trained surgeon, published his first account of reduction rhinoplasty . In 1928 Jacques Joseph published Nasenplastik und Sonstige Gesichtsplastik.
Nowadays, At the Center for Facial Cosmetic Surgery, Dr. Clevens specializes in facial plastic surgery rather than in general plastic surgery. Because of this specialization, Dr. Clevens is uniquely qualified to address your individual facial aesthetic concerns and to provide you with the most advanced techniques in facial plastic surgery. Trust your face to the specialist.