Looking Back At Plastic Surgery

Plastic surgery is perhaps best known for improving the cosmetic features of its patients; however plastic surgery goes beyond just enhancing the size of a woman’s breast or changing the slope of someone’s nose. Plastic surgery can also benefit patients who are born with birth defects such as a cleft palate or patients who are disfigured or deformed from an accident or illness. Plastic surgery encompasses both cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. For example, women who undergo breast cancer and often loose some or all of their breast tissue to cancer, breast augmentation surgery is not just about getting bigger breast, it is about reconstructing what cancer took from them.
Plastic surgery may have gained notary in the twenty first century but it has been around even earlier than that. Some historians credit Walter Yeo, a British solider who was disfigured from battle in World War One, as the first patient to benefit from cosmetic surgery when he received a skin graft in 1917 on his burned face.
But even earlier, in 1891, Dr. John Roe performed rhinoplasty on a patient, changing the shape of her nose to eradicate a hump. And even earlier than this, in the first century BC, the ancient Egyptians and Romans were doing some simple plastic surgeries without the benefit of our in depth knowledge and training on human anatomy.
So it really shouldn’t come as any surprise that in today’s technological, fast paced world, that we are pushing the limits of cosmetic surgery to include going beyond skin grafts for the burned faces of soldiers like Walter Yeo, to face transplants for the maimed.
Today cosmetic surgery is safer than ever before thanks to the push from plastic surgeons and other professionals to recognize this area of specialty and to further regulate it. The American Board of Plastic Surgeons was formed with this intent in mind in 1931 when plastics were still in their infancy compared to today’s advances.
In order for a surgeon to be a member of the board, surgeons must complete six years of surgical training with at least three years specializing in plastics. Physicians must adhere to a strict code of ethics and can only operate in accredited medical facilities. These internal regulations have helped to create high standards for professionalism that all physicians strive towards.
Today, board certified surgeons are doing all kinds of plastic surgeries to change and improve lives, but the top five cosmetic procedures that most people are familiar with, include breast augmentation, rhinoplasty, Botox, tummy tucks and liposuction. The top reconstructive surgeries include repairing cleft palates, breast reconstruction, laceration repairs and tumor removals.
As cosmetic surgery continues to advance and change, to keep up with demand, it is obvious that its roots have firmly planted the profession of plastics, here to stay for the duration.