The plastic surgery specialty has evolved greatly since its beginnings in India and Egypt due to the dedication and talent of doctors, researches, and surgeons. The sufferings of many people due to outward deformities have been alleviated by these techniques.
Today, you can go to a plastic surgeon and have virtually any part of your body worked on or reconstructed with amazing results. This hasn't always been the case; the industry has been evolving thousands of years and many doctors and surgeons have dedicated their lives to improving and creating new procedures.
The earliest record of any reconstructive operation is found in India from around 2000 B.C. Sushruta, an Indian surgeon and researcher, made many contributions to the field and much of his work was compiled the Sushruta Samhita which was later translated into Arabic and eventually made its way to Europe.
There are also Egyptian papyrus describing ancient reconstructive surgeries on the lips, ears, and nose using skin grafts from the folds of the forehead and cheeks. The history of plastic surgery in Eastern medicine did however move very slowly for thousands of years.
The techniques used in the ancient Eastern world were rudimentary and often severely painful as anesthesia methods were not well developed. The patients were also prone to infection until the concepts of sterilization and disinfectants were introduced.
The development of antibiotics, namely sulfa drugs and penicillin also helped fight infection and make the reconstruction surgeries successful. In the United States, plastic surgery began with surgeon Peter Mettauer in 1827. He performed the first cleft palate surgery in North America using instruments he designed himself.
The industry exploded with the advent of modern war. The modern weapons used in World War I brought about so many new and severe deformities in the face and body. After seeing the intense impact the outer appearance had on these maimed soldiers and their success in life, many talented surgeons dedicated themselves fully to improve surgical treatments that would help the thousands of men that were burned and wounded by war.
By World War II, doctors and surgeons were much better prepared when they needed to relieve the suffering of soldiers through the reconstruction of their broken bodies and scarred flesh.
Dr. William Stewart Halstead founded the first general surgery training program in the United States and it wasn't long before the American surgeons surpassed the rest of the world when it came to specialization within surgery. Plastic Surgery didn't become a specialty until the early 20th century and it wasn't until 1946 that the first issue of The Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery came about.
With its own medical journal and the birth of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons and the accompanying board certification, this discipline became recognized as a respected medical specialty. Modern plastic surgery as we know it today really began in the 1960's and 70's.
And now the specialty welcomes cases both reconstructive as well as those that are truly elective and aesthetic. This medical field now encompasses many procedures, including everything from rhinoplasty (nose job), breast augmentation, and eyelid surgery to abdominoplasty (tummy tuck), liposuction, and total face transplants.
Source: Ezine Articles
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