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 It often takes
in place in history of the world that the trigger point for the advanced
progress of any sphere of science is the developed problem of the society.
Mostly it concerns the medicine. And this is obvious since the health of humans
is of a high priority and significance throughout the history. The same refers to plastic surgery,
very specific sphere of medicine. It is acknowledged by the scientists that
preliminary plastic surgery was done in the very old times, several centuries
B.C., in ancient India.
The facts are officially evidenced by the numerous historical documents.
So, what was
the origin of surgery in ancient times? It is known that severe customs and
traditions of ancient Indian tribes caused the surgery. Thus, nose cutting off was
very «popular» punishing action for those who dared to thieve, for people who
wanted to blame the enemies or make the unfaithful wife ugly or may be the
faithful spouse as well to avoid the seduction for some neighbors to have
affairs while the husband was away.
And yet,
the look of the noseless Indian native was not surprising for those times, and
moreover, that was very typical for the tribes with such national traditions.
The punishment was not considered as the problem unlike its consequences, and
thus the problem arouse to restore the nose and the innovative, and revolutionary
surgery was needed. The very first attempts
to rehabilitate the part of the face were the first stage of progress in the
sphere of rhinoplasty, the surgery to rehabilitate the nose. In spite of the ancient
time and wild customs, the mastership of the ancient Indian surgeons is of high
appreciation and admiration, for the techniques they used two and a half
thousand years ago are still used up to date and they did not outdate in the
sphere of rhinoplasty. What they did is that they used the patch of the skin of
the patient from the forehead to implant to the nose skin. The patch of the forehead
skin was cut to have the patch on the «base» which was then turned at the angle
of 180º and they formed quite a good nose from it. And only a minor scar on the
bridge of the nose reminded of the surgery.
And the surgeons
in the ancient Greece
would practice the similar technique. Moreover, the Greek doctors improved the technique
of plastic surgery on lips and auricle apart from rhinoplasty. In I century A.D.
there were first attempts noticed in Rome to perform
liposuction, and yet they found a document in China dated back to X century A.D.
depicting the procedure of surgery on correction of the hare lip.
Gaspar
Taliacocci, the Sicilian prominent doctor of XV century A.D. is considered the
forebear of plastic surgery, though. He published the tractate the base of which
was rhinoplasty with the help of cutaneous flaps in the area of biceps muscle
of arm, and his tractate appeared to be very progressive technique of plastic
surgery for that time. The Italian priesthood roundly condemned the
achievements of the great surgeon putting them up as the interference into the
God's actions and excommunicated Gaspar Taliacocci. Religious figures were angry
to the extent that after the scientist dies, they caused to bury his body in
the cemetery for criminals and other persona non grata.
The following
several centuries turned to be the dull periods of time in view of improvement
of plastic surgery. And yet, only in the early nineteenth century the medicine
again turned back to practicing this surgical sphere, and again, the nose proved
to be the subject of the increased concern. The rhinoplasty was first done in 1814
by one of the surgeons, D. Carpeu practicing in London, applying the same methods of ancient
Indians. Further the English doctor performed several successful surgeries on
rehabilitation of the hard palate in patients with hare lip and a lot many
plastic procedures.
First painkillers
appeared to be the high-power pulse to improve the plastic surgery. This period
is known for the fact that plastic surgery gradually turned from rehabilitation
procedures into the cosmetic ones aimed to improvement of the esthetic
appearance of the person, while the former procedure was assigned to
rehabilitate the missing part of the body. It is strange now for us that the first
patients who experienced the surgery were men in majority. The surgery to remove
excess of fat from the mammas (gynecomastia) was highly demanded. Perhaps the minor
number of women who risked having the services of plastic surgery is explained
with the fact that such women were sharply accused by the society.
World Wars I
and II and post-war periods caused the procedure of plastic surgery improve.
There were huge crowds of people injured and deformed during the wars who were
ready for many actions to rehabilitate the natural appearance. And again, such surgery
was available and affordable only to the wealthiest part of the world.
Today the demand
for plastic surgery went to the heavens. Currently the plastic surgery is available
not only to the skim of the society but to any average person with the average
profit. The safety, high quality and a range of techniques available offer complete
rehabilitation of any defect of the appearance giving confidence to the person
and making them active in social life.
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