PLASTIC SURGERY AND ITS HISTORY

  It seems that the first countries that had used this kind of surgery were India and Egypt, but also,  that the first attempt recorded was around 2000 B.C, in India, and it was about any reconstructive operation on body. 


Sushruta, an Indian surgeon and researcher, made many contributions to the field and much of his work was compiled the Sushruta Samhita which was later translated into Arabic and eventually made its way to Europe.
There are Egyptian papyrus describing ancient reconstructive surgeries on the lips, ears, and nose using skin grafts from the folds of the forehead and cheeks.

  The history of plastic surgery in Eastern medicine did however move very slowly for thousands of years: the techniques used in the ancient Eastern world were rudimentary and often severely painful as anesthesia methods were not well developed.

The patients were also prone to infection until the concepts of sterilization and disinfectants were introduced.

The development of antibiotics, namely sulfa drugs and penicillin also helped fight infection and make the reconstruction surgeries successful. 

The industry exploded with the advent of modern war. The modern weapons used in World War I brought about so many severe deformities in the face and body. After seeing the intense impact the outer appearance had on these maimed soldiers and their success in life, many talented surgeons dedicated themselves fully to improve surgical treatments that would help the thousands of men that were burned and wounded by war.

Therefore, by World War II, doctors and surgeons were much better prepared when they needed to relieve the suffering of soldiers through the reconstruction of their broken bodies and scarred flesh.

 In the United States, plastic surgery began with surgeon Peter Mettauer in 1827. He performed the first cleft palate surgery in North America using instruments he designed himself.

By the same period, Dr William Stewart Halstead founded the first general surgery training program in the United States.

Harold Delf Gillies, was the first to develop plastic surgery as a field of Medecine. In 1918, he's the first physician to be specialized in Plastic surgery and in 1939, one of only four qualified plastic surgeons in England.