Editing Plastic surgery (section)

==Development of modern techniques==
{{Refimprove section|date=February 2024}}
[[File:Walter Yeo skin graft.jpg|thumb|[[Walter Yeo]], a sailor injured at the [[Battle of Jutland]], is assumed to have received plastic surgery in 1917. The photograph shows him immediately following (right) the [[flap surgery]] by [[Sir]] [[Harold Gillies]], and after healing (left).{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}]]

The father of modern plastic surgery is generally considered to have been Sir [[Harold Gillies]]. A New Zealand [[Otorhinolaryngology|otolaryngologist]] working in London, he developed many of the techniques of modern facial surgery in caring for soldiers with disfiguring facial injuries during the [[First World War]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Chambers JA, Ray PD | title = Achieving growth and excellence in medicine: the case history of armed conflict and modern reconstructive surgery | journal = Annals of Plastic Surgery | volume = 63 | issue = 5 | pages = 473–8 | date = November 2009 | pmid = 20431512 | doi = 10.1097/SAP.0b013e3181bc327a }}</ref>

During [[World War I]], he worked as a medical minder with the [[Royal Army Medical Corps]]. After working with the French [[oral and maxillofacial surgeon]] [[Hippolyte Morestin]] on skin grafts, he persuaded the army's chief surgeon, [[William Arbuthnot-Lane|Arbuthnot-Lane]], to establish a facial injury ward at the [[Cambridge Military Hospital]], [[Aldershot]], later upgraded to a new hospital for facial repairs at [[Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup|Sidcup]] in 1917. There, Gillies and his colleagues developed many techniques of plastic surgery; more than 11,000 operations were performed on more than 5,000 men (mostly soldiers with facial injuries, usually from gunshot wounds).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Roxburgh |first=Tracey |date=2017-04-11 |title=Pupil speeches honour soldiers |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/queenstown/pupil-speeches-honour-soldiers |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=[[Otago Daily Times]] |language=en}}</ref> After the war, Gillies developed a private practice with [[Arthur Rainsford Mowlem|Rainsford Mowlem]], including many famous patients, and travelled extensively to promote his advanced techniques worldwide.

In 1930, Gillies' cousin, [[Archibald McIndoe]], joined the practice and became committed to plastic surgery. When [[World War II]] broke out, plastic surgery provision was largely divided between the different services of the [[British armed forces|armed forces]], and Gillies and his team were split up. Gillies himself was sent to [[Park Prewett|Rooksdown House]] near [[Basingstoke]], which became the principal army plastic surgery unit; Tommy Kilner (who had worked with Gillies during the First World War, and who now has a surgical instrument named after him, the kilner cheek retractor) went to Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton; and Mowlem went to St Albans. McIndoe, consultant to the RAF, moved to the recently rebuilt [[Queen Victoria Hospital]] in [[East Grinstead]], [[Sussex]], and founded a Centre for Plastic and Jaw Surgery. There, he treated very deep burns and serious facial disfigurement, such as loss of eyelids, typical of those caused to aircrew by burning fuel.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Albert Ross Tilley: The legacy of a Canadian plastic surgeon|year=2013 |pmc=3891087 |last1=Mowbrey |first1=K. |journal=The Canadian Journal of Plastic Surgery |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=102–106 |doi=10.1177/229255031302100202 |pmid=24431953 }}</ref>

McIndoe is often recognized for not only developing new techniques for treating badly burned faces and hands but also for recognising the importance of the [[Rehabilitation (penology)|rehabilitation]] of the casualties and particularly of social reintegration back into normal life. He disposed of the "convalescent uniforms" and let the patients use their service uniforms instead. With the help of two friends, Neville and Elaine Blond, he also convinced the locals to support the patients and invite them to their homes. McIndoe kept referring to them as "his boys" and the staff called him "The Boss" or "The Maestro".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Furness |first=Hannah |date=2017-05-21 |title=Story of maverick WW2 'Guinea pig' surgeon to be told on big screen for first time |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/21/story-maverick-ww2-guinea-pig-surgeon-told-big-screen-first/ |access-date=2024-09-14 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}</ref>

His other important work included the development of the [[walking-stalk skin graft]], and the discovery that immersion in [[Saline (medicine)|saline]] promoted healing as well as improving survival rates for patients with extensive burns—this was a [[Serendipity|serendipitous]] discovery drawn from observation of differential healing rates in pilots who had come down on land and in the sea. His radical, experimental treatments led to the formation of the [[Guinea Pig Club]] at [[Queen Victoria Hospital]], Sussex. Among the better-known members of his "club" were [[Richard Hillary]], [[Bill Foxley]] and [[Jimmy Edwards]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Maev |date=2013-04-04 |title=War surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe and his 'Guinea Pigs' honoured |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/05/wartime-surgeon-archibald-mcindoe-honoured |access-date=2024-09-14 |work=[[The Guardian]] |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>