History Edit
See also: History of surgery
Plates vi & vii of the Edwin Smith Papyrus at the Rare Book Room, New York Academy of Medicine[4]
Treatments for the plastic repair of a broken nose are first mentioned in the Edwin Smith Papyrus,[5] a transcription of an Ancient Egyptian medical text, some of the oldest known surgical treatise, dated to the Old Kingdom from 3000 to 2500 BC.[6] Reconstructive surgery techniques were being carried out in India by 800 BC.[7][8] Sushruta was a physician that made important contributions to the field of plastic and cataract surgery in 6th century BC.[9] The medical works of both Sushruta and Charak originally in Sanskrit were translated into the Arabic language during the Abbasid Caliphate in 750 AD.[10] The Arabic translations made their way into Europe via intermediaries.[10] In Italy the Branca family[11] of Sicily and Gaspare Tagliacozzi (Bologna) became familiar with the techniques of Sushruta.[10]
Statue of Sushrut, the Father of Plastic Surgery, at Haridwar
British physicians traveled to India to see rhinoplasties being performed by native methods.[12] Reports on Indian rhinoplasty performed by a Kumhar vaidya were published in the Gentleman's Magazine by 1794.[12] Joseph Constantine Carpue spent 20 years in India studying local plastic surgery methods.[12] Carpue was able to perform the first major surgery in the Western world by 1815.[13] Instruments described in the Sushruta Samhita were further modified in the Western world.[13]