When a person thinks of plastic surgery today, they think of generally quick techniques in which a person is in and out of recovery in a day and home and comfortably enjoying their new changes to their body relatively quickly. With the technology that is available to plastic surgeons today, it is hard to envision anything other than plastic surgery being done in a sterile environment with absolute certainty that whatever type of plastic surgery that is being performed will be done with only the best outcome. While in today’s day and age this is typically true, this was not always the case. Plastic surgery has by far, come a very long with since its original inception.
Unbeknownst to many people, plastic surgery is recorded as early as 3000 to 2500 B.C., with one of the first mentioned treatments of repairing a broken nose in the area of Ancient Egypt. Reconstructive surgery didn’t become a practice, however, until about 800 B.C. It is important to remember, however, that until fairly recently (within the last 200 years), plastic surgery was not seen as an elective surgery. Instead, plastic surgery was strictly performed on patients who were in serious physical need. Another major reason why plastic surgery was not a widely popular elective surgery was due to the fact that anesthesia, general pain and treatment medications and antibiotics were not created yet. Think about undergoing a breast augmentation without being put under anesthesia and having to suffer through the after effects without pain medication. It is almost guaranteed that every woman would pass.
The development of modern medicine and techniques truly brought the field of plastic surgery into the realm of looking at plastic surgery as an acceptable way of changing a ‘flaw’ on the body. In 1827, the first American plastic surgeon, John Peter Mettauer, was able to perform the first cleft palate operation with surgical instruments that he had created himself. Meanwhile, all over the world during the 1800s and into the 1900s were beginning to develop techniques on various parts of the body. The development of plastic surgery came during the times of World War I and II during which time soldiers were coming back from the war horribly deformed. These techniques that had been developed were able to attempt to give these soldiers back a sense of normalcy that they felt like they had lost when they were hurt. Ultimately, this opened the gateway for many other developments to take place in the world of plastic surgery to have the field grow to where it is now.
The staff at Northeastern Plastic Surgery is very proud of the strides that have been made and continue to be made in the field of plastic surgery. It is our goal to be able to bring our clients the most up-to-date procedures and techniques. While many clients do not realize how far plastic surgery has come in this field, the results of the changes in the field are seen every day in our patients and their outcomes. If you are interested in learning more about cosmetic surgery and your variety of options, please call our office for your consultation today at 973-295-6565 or visit our website at www.northeasternplasticsurgery.com.
