The Historical Basis for Plastic Surgery

From today's point of view, it may be surprising to learn that plastic surgery first emerged on the battlefield as a service for disfigured soldiers.

In today's society, the most popular elective plastic surgery by far is breast augmentation. The first cosmetic procedure was performed on a battlefield on a wounded male soldier, and the empathetic consideration given to that hero began to brick the path to today's booming industry.

Plastic surgery as it applies to the cosmetic industry evolved somewhat heroically. As wars and the weapons they wielded became more advanced and less personal, injuries became significantly worse. Doctors began to consider how a patient would ultimately look as well as how well he could function, and plastic surgery was born.

Sir Harold Gillies performed the very first plastic surgery on a British soldier during World War I. Historically, this is said to have been cosmetic because Gillies looked beyond restoring function for the soldier's injury and considered the psychological and social effects of disfigurement. The soldier's maxillofacial injury was operated on for both functionality and cosmetic purposes. The field owes Gillies much for his development of the many techniques that were honed on disfigured military men.

In the United States, it was also World War I that had doctors in the field considering aesthetics in the field. Vilray Blair was to the United States as Gillies was to Britain. This was the first war of its kind as far as sophisticated weaponry was concerned. This new kind of long distance fighting left no room for concern from opposing soldiers as to what injures would result from a battle. Previous wars were fought face to face with aim and shoot firearms or even piercing swords. These new powerful long distance explosive devices meant horrible disfigurement would accompany injury. Skin grafting was used more than ever and some procedures done during this time are still referenced in modern day cosmetic applications.

From the aesthetic considerations of soldiers in this war came empathy for children with disfigurements. Doctors and families of children with birth defects such as malformed ears, cleft lips, or other visible facial anomalies began to consider fixing these things for the sake of a better life for the child even though some of the conditions had no ill effect on development or health.
Out of these humane considerations for others grew the cosmetic industry that exists today. While a majority of plastic surgeries are done as an addition to a medical need, cosmetic surgery has emerged as a purely elective part of the surgical specialty.

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