How Did Plastic Surgery Develop During the World Wars?

How did plastic surgery evolve into a field that also became deeply connected with aesthetics and beauty? What difficult paths did it pass through before reaching today’s refined facial reconstruction, breast surgery and body contouring techniques?

In this article, I want to share both the historical development of plastic surgery and a highly talented surgeon I regard as a role model.

The world wars were periods marked by explosives, shrapnel, machine guns, chemical warfare and injuries of a scale medicine had rarely faced before. Severe deformities of the face and body made reconstructive plastic surgery a necessity.

During the First World War, trench warfare and high-energy weapons caused unprecedented numbers of devastating facial injuries. These injuries pushed surgeons to develop new reconstructive techniques and laid some of the foundations of modern plastic surgery.

From those painful beginnings, plastic surgery evolved through demanding stages and eventually became a field that could restore function, identity and, later, aesthetic harmony.

For the full article, please visit voxaesthetic.com.