The history of cosmetic surgery has been recorded as far back as 2000 BC with reconstructive surgery techniques being carried out in India. One of the main contributors to the field of plastic surgery during this time was Sushruta (6th century BC) and Charak whose medical works were translated and in turn made their way into Europe.
As a result of this British physicians travelled to India to see with their own eyes and to learn as much as possible about Rhinoplasty and how it was being carried out through the use of native methods. One of the British practitioners who spent 20 years in India studying these plastic surgery methods was Joseph Constantine Carpue. After his many years of study he then returned to the western world and performed the groundbreaking first ever surgery in the year of 1815 with instruments used in the operation that were developed in western territory.
However, advances and “firsts” in the world of plastic surgery were being carried out by the Romans years before this in and around the 1st Century BC. Simple procedures such as repairing ears that had been damaged were extremely popular during this time.
The first ever nose job was recorded in mid 15th Century Europe, where Heinrich von Pfolspeundt described a process “to make a new nose for one who lacks it entirely, and the dogs have devoured it” by removing skin from the back of the arm and suturing it in place. However, because of the dangers associated with surgery in any form, especially that involving the head or face, it was not until the 19th and 20th centuries that such surgery became commonplace.
All surgery carried out during these times was done so without the use of anaesthesia, therefore, all treatments were excruciatingly painful and risk of infection high. The development of anaesthesia and the use of antibiotic drugs and penicillin was a giant leap forward towards elective surgery being made possible.
Major developments and experimental surgeries took place in the 18th and 19th centuries with a surgeon called Chopart performing a surgery on a patients lip using a flap of skin from the patient’s neck, in 1792. This was followed in 1814 by Surgeon Joseph Carpue who operated on a British military officer who had lost his nose.
It was with the military and the wounded soldiers from World War One that helped develop the plastic surgery treatments and knowledge to what it is today. They were first developed during this time to repair facial deformities the soldiers suffered in the war which greatly improved techniques for cosmetic surgery.
It was at the end of World War one that cosmetic surgery came into its own and surgeons came to realise that surgery could be used not only to fix the wounded but also to make people more beautiful. As the years went on and developments progressed, treatments increased to include the treatments we are so aware of today, for example, breast augmentation, liposuction, and tummy tuck, in addition to facial surgeries.
The history of cosmetic surgery is a long and vivid one, filled with ground breaking ideas and surgeries that have resulted in the billion pound market we see today.