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Sir Harold Delf Gillies, the otolaryngologist and father of modern facial plastic surgery: review of his rhinoplasty case notes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2015

C R Spencer
C R Spencer*
Affiliation:
Department of ENT, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, and Department of Surgery, Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, UK
*
Address for correspondence: Mr Cheka R Spencer, 19 Garlinge Road, London NW2 3TE, UK E-mail: drchekaspencer@doctors.org.uk
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Abstract

Background:

Sir Harold Gillies, born in New Zealand, is widely considered a British icon and the father of modern plastic surgery.

Objective:

This article provides an overview of his life and the circumstances which led to him laying the foundations of plastic surgery in Britain in the early twentieth century.

Methods:

A hand search and review of case notes from the Gillies Archives at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup, UK, where he made history, was conducted.

Results and conclusion:

Gillies' ongoing legacy was found to also include his influence on the development of his cousin Sir Archibald McIndoe's work. Gillies was a talented sportsman who engaged in charitable activities. Additionally, he was a gifted teacher, with his hospital attracting many young surgeons from around the world. He was found to have expressed genius in both the design and execution of the art and science of surgery. He incepted reconstructive techniques ranging from the world's first gender reassignment operation to facial reanimation procedures for the treatment of facial paralysis. His operative work on ex-servicemen in need of complex rhinoplasty and in particular the inception of the tubed pedicle flap are depicted.

Keywords

History of MedicineRhinoplastyPlastic SurgeryFacial InjuriesReconstructive Surgical ProcedureMultidisciplinary Communication
Type
Review Articles
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , Volume 129 , Issue 6 , June 2015 , pp. 520 - 528
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 2015 

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Footnotes

Presented as a poster at the British Rhinological Society Annual Meeting, 21 May 2010, Solihull, UK, and orally at the joint meeting for The International Working Group for Otorhinolaryngological History, The British Society for the History of ENT and The Royal Society of Medicine Section of Otology, 24 September 2010, London, UK.

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