Katie Hamilton, age 15, of White Plains, N.Y., for her question:
HAS PLASTIC SURGERY BEEN PRACTICED LONG?
Plastic surgery is a branch of surgery dealing with the remodeling of any portion of the human body that has been damaged or deformed. It may be hard to believe, but plastic surgery is one of the oldest forms of surgery practiced. Nose reconstruction operations were probably performed in ancient India as early as 2000 B.C.
Back in ancient India, the amputation of the nose was a form of punishment. The caste of potters eventually devised a method of rebuilding the nose by using a portion of the forehead, a technique still employed today.
Some discussion of such surgery also appears in ancient Greek and Roman tracts.
Significant further development of surgical techniques did not take place, however, until about the 16th century, particularly in the work of an Italian physician named Gasparo Tagliacozzi (1546 1599).
In the 20th century, the psychotherapeutic importance of plastic surgery was demonstrated following World War II. Victims of war wounds and burns regained the use of the injured parts of their bodies and were spared the external disfigurement that normally causes a loss of morale.
Reconstruction surgery involves the restoration of function to a damaged body part and the rebuilding of normal physical contours when parts of the body such as the nose, jaw, ears, or fingers are missing or disfigured.
The large number of auto accidents in modern times has resulted in many patients requiring reconstruction of the face. Cancer patients who have undergone cures of the face and neck area may also need reconstruction surgery.
Plastic surgery today is often done also for cosmetic reasons, to remove blemishes or to make unusual contours more normal.
Among the most common of the cosmetic plastic surgery operations are rhinoplasty (remodeling of the nose), oroplasty (remolding of the external ear), blepharoplasty (removing excess skin and fatty tissue from eyelids and the eye area) and face lifting, to remove the signs of aging.
Another cosmetic technique is the removal of conspicuous scars by cutting out scar tissue and adjusting the wound edges.
With the growing popularity of cosmetic surgery since the 1950s, plastic surgery has become misidentified with "beauty" surgery. In fact, only a small percentage of plastic surgeons have practices limited to cosmetic operations.
A major technique used in plastic surgery today is grafting, the transplanting or implanting of living tissue from one part of the body to another, or from one person to another, with the expectation that the tissue will adhere and grow to supply a missing part.
The training requirements for a plastic surgeon include an M.D. degree, a minimum of five years of additional study and experience in an accredited general hospital and two more years' experience as a resident in plastic surgery.