Tuesday, 5 April 2011

Surgical Observations On The Restoration Of The Nose; And On The Removal Of Polypi And Other Tumours From The Nostrils,

I quite agree it does not paint a pretty picture,
but that was what the book published in 1833 was titled, although He was not the first person to write about nose jobs, Greek and Roman surgeons are thought to have had the skill to perform the operations, details of the procedure were recorded in the 16th century, but the knowledge was apparently lost and only regained in the 19th century when this work was published,

though not entirely his own work, the author, John Stevenson, who listed his qualifications on the opening page of the book and included his fellowship of the Linnaen Society and membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, as well as the Surgeon to the Dumfries Public Dispensary and the president of the Plinian Natural History Society, as well as many other titles, translated the first part from a German text by a Dr Dieffenbach, the text describes how surgeons should use scalpels, knives, pins and needles to carry out the operations, the book was bought by an eagle-eyed dealer at a recent house clearance sale in the west country and has now been sent to auction, with an estimate of £3,000,

it lists useful tools for the job, including scalpels, knives, scissors, quills, pins and needles, the extensive list of nose jobs includes methods of restoring depressions of the nasal ridge, improvement of the nose by transplantation from neighbouring parts, and restoration of the entire nose from the forehead and from the scalp, also advice on holding the patient still, 'the patient being seated on a chair, behind which an assistant holds the head firmly against his breast, the operator thrusts a small pointed scalpel into the left side of the cavity before the sunken point of the nose, and by an incision proceeding obliquely upwards, cuts through the soft parts as far as the nasal process of the frontal bone, a similar incision is then made on the right side,' no mention of anesthetics, I wonder how many would volunteer for a nose job today under those conditions?

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