Plastic surgery is a medical specialty interested in the correction of form and function. While famous for aesthetic surgery, plastic surgery also includes a variety of fields: craniofacial surgery, hand surgery, burn surgery, microsurgery, and pediatric surgery. The word "plastic" derives from the Greek plastikos meaning to mold or to shape; its use here is not connected with the synthetic polymer material known as plastic.

History

British physicians traveled to India to see Rhinoplasty being performed by native methods.Lock etc., page 651 Reports on Indian Rhinoplasty were published in the Gentleman's Magazine by 1794. Joseph Constantine Carpue spent 20 years in India studying local plastic surgery methods. Carpue was able to perform the first major surgery in the Western world by 1815.Lock etc., page 652 Instruments described in the Sushruta Samhita were further modified in the Western world.

The Romans were able to perform simple techniques such as repairing damaged ears from around the 1st century BC. Due to religious reasons they didn't approve of the dissection of both human beings and animals, thus their knowledge was based in its entirety on the texts of their Greek predecessors. Notwithstanding this Aulus Cornelius Celsus has left some surprisingly accurate anatomical descriptions, some of which —for instance, his studies on the genitalia and the skeleton— are of special interest to plastic surgery.

In 1465, Sabuncuoglu's book, description, and classification of hypospadias was more informative and up to date. Localization of urethral meatus was described in detail. Sabuncuoglu also detailed the description and classification of ambiguous genitalia (Kitabul Cerrahiye-i Ilhaniye -Cerrahname-Tip Tarihi Enstitüsü, Istanbul)Fact: date=May 2008 In mid-15th century Europe, 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.

Up until the techniques of anesthesia became established, all surgery on healthy tissues involved great pain. Infection from surgery was reduced once sterile technique and disinfectants were introduced. The invention and use of antibiotics beginning with sulfa drugs and penicillin was another step in making elective surgery possible.

In 1792, Chopart performed operative procedure on a lip using a flap from the neck. In 1814, Joseph Carpue successfully performed operative procedure on a British military officer who had lost his nose to the toxic effects of mercury treatments. In 1818, German surgeon Carl Ferdinand von Graefe published his major work entitled Rhinoplastik. Von Graefe modified the Italian method using a free skin graft from the arm instead of the original delayed pedicle flap. In 1845, Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach wrote a comprehensive text on rhinoplasty, entitled Operative Chirurgie, and introduced the concept of reoperation to improve the cosmetic appearance of the reconstructed nose. In 1891, American otorhinolaryngologist John Roe presented an example of his work, a young woman on whom he reduced a dorsal nasal hump for cosmetic indications. In 1892, Robert Weir experimented unsuccessfully with xenografts (duck sternum) in the reconstruction of sunken noses. In 1896, James Israel, a urological surgeon from Germany, and In 1889 George Monks of the United States each described the successful use of heterogeneous free-bone grafting to reconstruct saddle nose defects. In 1898, Jacques Joseph, the German orthopaedic-trained surgeon, published his first account of reduction rhinoplasty. In 1928, Jacques Joseph published Nasenplastik und Sonstige Gesichtsplastik.