Pioneers in Plastic Surgery

Book excerpt: This book is a collection of short accounts of the lives and works of surgeons who began to use techniques in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that were to form the basis of reconstructive and cosmetic surgery and give rise to the specialty of plastic surgery. Descriptions of the intricate and novel surgical operations undertaken by these pioneers are included, but the emphasis is above all on stories of widely varying and fascinating characters, from the strange or eccentric, such as Hippolyte Morestin, to the serious or ambitious and a few, such as the Dutchman Johannes Esser and the legendary Sir Howard Gillies, who were accomplished in other fields, including business, sport and art. It is related how the two World Wars played a key role in the development of new techniques and how the endeavors of the pioneers were sometimes rejected by obstructive or abusive colleagues, impacting on careers and reputations. Pioneers in Plastic Surgery will appeal to all with an interest in the history of the discipline and the figures who shaped its birth and growth.