The History Of Cosmetic Surgery

The history of surgery reaches back in history to 800 B.C. in India where skin grafts and fine suturing were performed to correct facial disfigurements and tumors. Surgery has advanced tremendously since then and new procedures and ideas of beauty have been established. In America, cosmetic surgery started to play a huge role after World War I. There were a high number of shattered faces that needed to be rebuilt and reconstructive surgery gave many of these soldiers hope. After the war era, surgeons began to recognize the capabilities of reconstructive procedures and the potential it offered. The purpose of plastic surgery has changed a great deal from altering facial deformities to achieving the ideal self-image. There was an early struggle for cosmetic surgeons to gain recognition. Dr. Charles Miller, seen by many as the originator of cosmetic surgery, was considered an impostor by countless general surgeons. His book, The Correction of Featural Imperfections, did not gain any respect in the medical world and was ahead of its time in many aspects. Many early cosmetic surgeons devoted their life and practices to plastics and consistently faced hostility and opposition from other fields of medicine. It wasn’t until later in the 20th century that plastic surgery emerged as a recognized specialty. There has been a constant shift in views concerning the validness of cosmetic surgery and there is a higher openness and acceptance than in early history. More procedures and techniques are being developed as more people seek to undergo the knife to correct areas they are not completely satisfied with. It is beginning to be defined as a positive experience for many people.

The history of plastic surgery was very informative and interesting to me because I was unaware at how much opposition there was to it at the beginning of history. I was very surprised to see how much cosmetic surgery has changed over the course of the 20th century and I suspect that it will continue to transform. I have discovered that although plastic surgery may be a positive experience, many still find through the history, that it is a negative tool in our society. Throughout the years, there continues to remain a controversy on whether plastic surgery should be recognized as a specialty and be practiced by many surgeons.