MAGIC OF PLASTIC SURGERY REPLACES SCARRING KNIFE
During the World War the mutilating injuries suffered by many of the men were assuaged through the development of new features in surgical technique.
Whereas formerly it was considered sufficient merely to sew up a wound, to amputate a shattered limb or to save life regardless of appearance, surgeons then began to consider operations with a view to the most presentable appearance possible after repair.
The technique itself is difficult but the war yielded a few masters in the medical service of each of the warring nations.
Stitching and Filling In.—In addition to making wounds more sightly by fine stitching, methods were evolved for filling in defects by transplanting tissues from points elsewhere in the body.
For instance, a wound under the eye was repaired by moving some of the loose tissue from the forehead or the cheek. This was left attached to its original blood supply until new vessels had come in and then the original attachment or pedicle was removed.
In one instance tissue taken from the upper part of the chest filled in the side of the face. Here mutilations were made sightly and at least a tolerable existence given to men whose lives otherwise might have been an agony of sensitiveness.
Transplanting Muscles.—In one case a man whose arm was lost at the shoulder had not even enough of a stump to attach an artificial limb.
By transplanting muscles and tendons from neighboring parts, surgeons were able to make a stump that served well for the attachment of an artificial limb with which the man was able to earn a livelihood.
The economic aspects of the situation are, of course, even more important than those relating wholly to the patient’s appearance.