Redefining Plastic Surgery

P lastic surgery is one of the most ancient forms of surgery, and its roots can be traced back to the time of Sushruta, the father of surgery (600 BC), 1 who is credited with performing the first ever reported plastic surgical procedures. The name, however , defies a clear understanding and an appropriate definition that could cover the entire scope of activities performed at the present moment. An extensive search of the plastic surgery literature was performed to find out the best available definition, but a comprehensive definition could not be found. This led the authors to explore the modern and ancient literature , including the thousand-year-old sacrosanct Indian epics, Gita, and Vedas in their quest to redefine plastic surgery. This review of the age-old fundamental secrets of life made it possible for us to extract the coveted relevant information to redefine plastic surgery, which is being presented in this article. The term " plastique " was first used by a French anatomist and surgeon, Desault in 1798. 2 The word " Plastic " is derived from the Greek word " Plastikos, " which means the ability to mold tissues. The procedures were being performed on body parts from the head to the toes. However, the term " Plastic " was first incorporated by von Graefe 3 in his monograph " Rhinoplastik " published in 1818. The term " Plastic Surgery " was used by Zeis 4 of Germany as part of the title of his classical work Handbuch der plastischen Chirurgie published in 1838, and the term thereafter became popularized. Davis, 5 in his book Plastic Surgery—Its Principles and Practice, defined the scope of plastic surgery from " top of the head to the sole of the foot. " Gil-lies, 6 in his book Plastic Surgery of the Face, laid down 16 principles of plastic surgery to be followed. He defined reconstructive surgery as an attempt to restore the individual to normal and aesthetic surgery as an attempt to surpass the normal. Esser, 7 a Dutch surgeon, pointed out that " plastic " was a poor term that did not define the specialty and that the term " Structive " derived from the Latin word " structo " (I build) was more appropriate, and it was adopted to be used for the European Journal in December 1936. McGregor, 8 in his book on the fundamental technique of plastic …