The Advances of Cosmetic Surgery Over the Years

Often when we think of cosmetic surgery we think of all the mistakes and botched surgeries, such as Michael Jackson's famous face. However, there is so much more to them and there are more successes than failures in the industry. Though there are emergency situations where one would need plastic surgery, most often it is an elective surgical procedure to change some part of a person's physical features that they are not happy with.

Plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery are often used interchangeably. This is based on the fact that plastic surgery is not really plastic but refers instead to the art of sculpting or shaping. Not only is it for cosmetic purposes, but also it can be used out of medical necessity for things such as severe burns, hand correction surgery, microsurgery, reconstruction of a body part after serious accident, or other reconstructive situations.

The first time cosmetic surgery was performed was around 4,000 years ago, but most historians have it going back to 800 B.C. in India, by the famous Indian physician Sashruta, who was known as the "father of Indian surgery." Another famous plastic surgeon was Charak whose contributions to the practice include writings in both Sanskrit and Arabic. These led to plastic surgery procedures being introduced throughout Europe.

Plastic surgery was brought to Britain in the late 1700s after surgeons began traveling to India to watch the Indian physician, Kumbar Vaidva. In his writings, Aulus Cornelus Celsus described various surgeries using skin grafts and in 1814 the physician Joseph Carouc did a rhinoplasty on a officer in the British military who had lost his nose due to being poisoned by mercury. Four years later, in 1818, the book, Rhinoplastik, was published by Carl Ferdinand von Graefe. This book put a strong emphasis on skin grafts from skin taken from the patient's arm.

As the 19th century was coming to a close, Americans were introduced to cosmetic surgery by the operation of a child's cleft palate by Dr. John Peter Mettauer in 1827 with instruments that he had designed himself. Later, in 1945, Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach's book, Operative Chinergie, brought the idea of changing the looks of one's nose to Americans. World War I later changed the face of plastic surgery permanently. Then with the introduction of the Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons in 1931, more creative ideas in the world of plastic surgery were invented.

As with any other surgical procedure, cosmetic surgery is painful and it would not be as popular today without the use of anesthetics in the operating room. The chances of an infection were greatly lessened with the introduction of disinfectants during the procedures and penicillin after. Plastic surgeons have held high offices in the United States such as Surgeon General. Changes to the profession in recent years have made the public more aware of plastic surgery and its realities.

Now many experiments are being done with face transplants as well as other areas in the field of cosmetic surgery. As we see progress in the medical profession, we see many ways in which our lives can be made better through the use of plastic surgery.