Plastic Surgery: The Origins

When most people think of plastic surgery, they think of a relatively modern advancement in science and technology. While this is true to an extent, the fact is that cosmetic procedures have been around for almost 4,000 years.

While there may not have been a market for a show like Nip/Tuck in the days long before Christ, there is certainly evidence that even those early civilizations were doing things to improve their appearance through what could be called an early form of plastic surgery.

As early as 800 B.C., individuals in India were using the technology of skin grafts to help those who had been injured. These early attempts at plastic surgery may not have informed much of what is done in the doctor’s offices of today, but they still remain a potent reminder that our desire to improve our appearances and make the most out of our scientific knowledge has been there for much of our existence as a species.

It wasn’t until the early 1800s that plastic surgery as we know it today got its real start. That is when a doctor named John Mettauer began designing instruments that could be used for more advanced medical procedures. One of his biggest breakthroughs came in 1827, when he was the first doctor to perform a cleft palate operation in America. He is considered to be one of the first doctors to advance this type of medicine in the modern world.

As much as Mettauer and others gave to the profession, it was circumstances more than anything else that drove the rapid advancement of plastic surgery. War, in particular, was a major influence on the development of new techniques that could aid those who had been injured and disfigured in battle. It was World War I that saw physicians across the world have their skills tested in ways that had never been seen before. To say they rose to the challenge would be an understatement. Treating injuries such as broken jaws, extraordinary head wounds, and other disfigurements meant that these doctors had to push the envelope to come up with satisfactory solutions.

Facial restorations and other forms of the science eventually gave way to people seeking out cosmetic enhancement for pure reasons of vanity and self-esteem. This trend has continued throughout the years until today, when almost anything is possible when it comes to changing the way you look through surgical means.

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