Because self-improvement has always been an impulse of humanity, plastic surgery, the repair and restoration of function and beauty, dates back to the most ancient times.
This type of procedure was carried out as early as 2000 BC. C., but it became a more common practice in the year 800 a. C. in India. Advances in plastic surgery evolved very slowly over centuries. Sushruta, the father of Indian surgery, made contributions to the field of plastic surgery in the 6th century BC. C.
The ancient Egyptians and Romans were the first artists, and it is known that the Romans performed simple procedures as early as the 1st century BC.
In the mid-15th century AD, Heinrich von Pfolspeundt advanced the field when he took skin from the back of the arm and used stitches to secure it in place on a patient’s nose.
When British physicians traveled to India in the late 1700s, they chronicled nose surgery in 1794. Plastic surgery in the Western world was led by Joseph Constantine Carpue. In 1814, he replaced the nose of a British military officer.
John Peter Mettauer is considered the first American plastic surgeon. Using instruments of his own design, Mettauer performed the first cleft palate operation in North America in 1827. Other advances in American plastic surgery include: Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach introduced reoperation to improve the appearance of the reconstructed nose; and in 1891, the American otorhinolaryngologist John Roe reduced the dorsal nasal hump in a young woman.
In 1896, James Israel, a German urological surgeon, used free bone grafts to repair saddle nose defects; and in 1889, surgeon Jacques Joseph advanced reduction rhinoplasty.
The devastating effects of the war played a role in the advances in the field. Dealing with soldiers seriously wounded and burned from weapons used in warfare led to the most devastating facial injuries. It was through these treatments that doctors got continuous work in plastic surgery and breakthroughs were made.
During World War I, Harold Gillies, working in London, developed many techniques that are common in modern plastic surgery. His cousin, Archibald McIndoe, expanded treatment procedures when caring for members of the Royal Air Force.
In 1931, the structure was introduced to the field in the United States through the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. The organization, the first of its kind in the United States, applied rules and regulations to plastic surgery. The organization created the first qualification exam for surgeons and was the leading source of information about the field in the United States. The organization is now called the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and it is the largest plastic surgery association in the world.
Gillies was also noted for performing the first female-to-male sex reassignment surgery in 1946.
Plastic surgery continued to evolve in the 20th century under Vilray Blair, a plastic surgeon at Washington University in St. Louis, and other American surgeons. Blair treated the soldiers of World War I and his article “Reconstructive Surgery of the Face” became the bible of facial reconstruction work for years.
The field exploded in the 1960s and 1970s with people choosing to undergo procedures to improve their appearance rather than opting for reconstruction work after injuries.
Elective cosmetic procedures became a way for women to improve their appearance in the 20th and early 21st centuries. However, in 2007, the Mandell-Brown Center for Cosmetic Surgery reported that there had also been a large increase in procedures for men for several years.
