The Indian surgeon Sushruta described in 600 BC several operations for the correction of deformities including those of the nose and ears. In 1784 a potter demonstrated the Indian forehead rhinoplasty to two British Army Officers which has been well documented. The midline forehead (Indian) rhinoplasty on a remarkably narrow pedicle turned through 180° has been used successfully by us and documented in the British Journal of Plastic Surgery.
Plastic surgery was revived in India in the late fifties by a few Indian plastic surgeons trained in the United Kingdom. The Association of Plastic Surgeons of India was formed by seven surgeons in December 1957 and the late Sir Harold Gillies was present and elected an Honorary Member. Gillies visited India twice and helped promote the speciality in our country.
Today the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India have over 200 members with about 15 full-fledged centres of plastic surgery. Much original work has been undertaken by these surgeons especially for endemic problems like leprosy, filariasis and burns.
India with a population of over 700 million needs a much larger number of centres for such surgery but due to limited financial resources much of this type of surgery has to be undertaken by the much larger group of general surgeons in the smaller district and country hospitals. The role of plastic surgeons is therefore to devise simple procedures and teach them to general surgeons and other specialities and restrict their work to the more major problems requiring their specialized skills and facilities. Also to undertake research in the prevention and treatment of deforming diseases like leprosy, cutaneous leishmaniasis, cancrum oris and filariasis.
Many of the deformities are the result of communicable diseases some like small-pox have been totally eradicated. Besides these there are also the congenital deformities, burns, accidents and cancer particularly of the oral cavity as a result of tobacco chewing.
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