Its Name Has Nothing To Do With Plastic

Gaspare Tagliacozzi

The documented beginnings of plastic surgery techniques date all the way back to the 16th century when Italian physician Gaspare Tagliacozzi—who was himself copying techniques described in an Indian manual written roughly 1,000 years earlier—successfully reconstructed the damaged nose of a patient using tissue from the inner arm. But the term “plastic” was first used to describe these techniques in 1837—a good 18 years before the invention of plastic, the substance.

The term is from the Greek plastikos, meaning to mold or shape, and specialists in these techniques were initially far more focused on the reconstruction of misshapen or damaged body parts than cosmetic augmentation. By the mid-19th century, advances in anesthesia and sterilization had made it possible for more daring procedures, such as the original nose job, to be attempted.

Throughout this time, however, plastic surgery was not formally recognized as a branch of medicine despite its obvious potential. And while it is true that its early focus was helping those disfigured by injury or disease, we will take a brief aside to answer your other obvious question.

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