A LITTLE HISTORY AND SOME FUN …

Even though you may not be interested in getting plastic surgery done, it is still a pretty complex topic that is fairly captivating.  Let’s explore it and look at some facts worth learning … or remembering!

1. Plastic surgery does not mean artificial or fake.  On the contrary, “plastic” is derived from the Greek plastikos, meaning “to mold” or “give form”, and the term “surgery” is derived from the Greek kheirourgos, from kheir - “hand” + ergon - “work.”  So basically plastic surgery has nothing to do with the use of synthetic or plastic materials; it means molding or shaping with the hands.
2. Plastic Surgery has been practiced for over 2700 years, since about 600 B.C., with the first recorded “nose Job” found in ancient Indian Sanskrit texts. It is said that physicians would reconstruct noses by cutting skin from either the cheek or forehead of the patients and then twisting the skin, side out, over a leaf of the appropriate size, and sewing it into place. Two polished wooden tubes would then be inserted into the nostrils, during the healing process, in order to keep the air passage open.
   
3. By the first century B.C., Romans were practicing various forms of plastic surgery to repair noses, eyes, lips, and teeth. Roman physician Cornelius Celsus (25 B.C.- A.D. 50) also describes procedures such as circumcision reversal and even breast reduction in men.  Another popular procedure of the time, was scar removal, particularly on the back of patients, as these scars were marks of shame, suggesting that the patient had turned his back in battle, or worse, that he had been whipped like a slave.
4. Then, during the Middle Ages, plastic surgery was typically deemed pagan and sinful and the power the surgeon had over the body, were akin to magic.
5. During the Renaissance, when plastic surgery became popular, surgeons took skin grafts from various donors, such as a neighbor’s pig, to create a nose for example, but when that shriveled up and fell off, they concluded that the flesh was “sympathetic,” meaning that the graft died when its original owner died.  Most of these surgeries were also performed in barbershops.
6. The “father of modern plastic surgery,” Italian Gaspare Tagliacozzi (1946 – 1599), in his textbook De curtorum chirugiau, notes that there was an increase need for nose operations due to duels and street fights and also due to the pervasive outbreak of syphilis.  He used a “virtual” nose, but it could also fall off, if the user blew too hard.
7. In 1794, British surgeons witnessed an Indian bricklayer repair the nose of a British cattle driver who had his nose and hand cut off while a prisoner.  The surgeons then brought the procedure back to Europe where interest grew rapidly.
8. Karl Ferdinand Graefe (1787 – 1840) coined the term “plastic surgery” in his 1818 text Rhinoplastik.  He was also the one who gave the nose reconstruction procedures the name “rhinoplasty”, in an attempt to make it more similar to other procedures and remove the moral stigma associated with it.
9. On November 24^th, 1893, we have the first modern breast augmentation in Heidelberg Germany, by Vincent Czerny, on a 41 year old singer. The patient had a fatty growth (lipoma) on her back, which was harvested, removed and transplanted to her breast, after the removal of a growth.
10. Plastic and Cosmetic surgery, as we know it today, has many of its roots in World War I, since the overwhelming number of invalids and disfigured victims forced the surgeons to improvise and experiment.  This developed innovative and new plastic surgery techniques that are used until today.  As a matter of fact, the injection of liquid silicone to plump out legs withered by polio was used at that time in Japan, which brought forth the injection of the same silicone to breasts.  Also, surgeons who served in WWI established the American Association of Plastic Surgery, in 1931, and helped limit unregulated plastic surgery.
11. World War II helped build on that knowledge, advancing Plastic Surgery techniques, including building of entire limbs, extensive skin grafts, microsurgery, antibodies, and increased knowledge about tissue health.  These procedures were mandated in Nazi Germany and enabled the “too ugly” soldier to become a “real” soldier, and increased the performance of Benito Mussolini’s Italian soldiers, by correcting drooping eyelids.
12. The modern age of breast augmentation began in 1962 with the implant of silicone gel-filled prosthesis by Doctors Cronin and Gerow.
13. Dr Yves-Gerald Illouz, developed liposuction as we know it today, using blunt cannulas to remove fat, in France, in 1977.
14. In 1988, US President Bill Clinton signed a bill, which required insurance companies to cover the cost of reconstructive breast surgery for women who had undergone mastectomy.
15. And some fascinating numbers: a) Two thirds of plastic surgery patients are repeat patients, b) men account for only 9% of the total plastic surgeries, c) over the last 15 years cosmetic procedures have increased by 457%, d) nearly 10 billion dollars are spent annually on cosmetic procedures, and e) the most popular performed procedure is Botox (botulism toxin).
16. Lastly, some interesting procedures: a) the voice lift, b) pectoral implants for men, c) dimple fabrication, d) calf implants, e) toe tuck, and f) toe shortening.