Warfare and Simulation Surgery

SIMULATIVE surgical techniques further developed in the first decades of the 20th century with the ground-breaking reconstructive work of New Zealander Sir Harold Gillies and others during and after the First World War on horrendous facial injuries in soldiers returning from the front (click HERE for an example), and the provision of articulated prosthetic limbs to simulate the missing extremity as much as possible. Recognised as the ‘Father of British Plastic Surgery’, Gillies, who was born in New Zealandand studied medicine at Cambridge University in England, where his surgical expertise spanned two World Wars, was also very well thought of in the USA and was often invited to lecture there. To learn more about Professor Gillies and his work go to the Gillies Archive, Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup Kent, UK by clicking HERE. Be warned, however: some sections of this site are not for the squeamish!

    World War Two further honed the simulative skills of plastic surgeons on both sides of the Atlantic with even more horrific injuries than those seen during WW1, and many of the modern plastic surgery techniques were first practised then. As the understanding of the microanatomy of wound healing developed, the results of plastic and reconstructive simulation surgery improved concomitantly, so the ability of the plastic surgeon to simulate missing tissue in function and form increased dramatically in soft tissue.