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Abdominoplasty Mexico
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Question: over the 25 years following World War II, apathy of organized
medicine and opposition from many in the disciplines from which plastic
surgeons emerged were overcome to a large extent. Plastic surgeons
accom-plished this organizationally and as individuals 1) by edu-cational
and public relational activities. 2) by producing thousands upon thousands
of superior results, 3) by setting up their own journals, 4) by becoming
adroit politically in medical circles external to plastic surgery, and 5) by
many other techniques
Can anyone give me some information on present and future cosmetic surgery?
I have assignment on this and all I know is just something on period in past.
Can anyone help?
Answer: I have avoided mention of particular contributions in cosmetic surgery and
those who made them for two rea-sons. First, because it was so difficult for
many of us in this field to get our ideas into our plastic surgical journal,
many new ideas and refinements had to circulate around for years by word of
mouth; the real originators, perhaps, never will be known. Secondly, I have
chosen to limit this endeavor, for the most part, to the development of the
field as an entity rather than to the individual technical ad-vances that
have made up the field. However, there were conceptual advances and the
introduction of new tech-niques or refinements of techniques; and these
gradually were elevating the standards of care and the expertise of the
individuals providing the care, as they became known to the practitioners.
One older man who was considered by many to be a maverick was Jacques
Maliniac. He was not ashamed to voice his interest in cosmetic surgery and
had done so, in particular, in regard to reduction mammoplas-ty.
Introduction in the late sixties of silicone rubber and silicone gel
prostheses brought about a reversal in this country in the frequencies of
reduction mammoplasty ver-sus augmentation mammoplasty, the latter hurtling
ahead of the former following the advent of better prosthetic devices.
Castanares provided a firm base for modern ble-pharoplasty. Aufricht and
Millard made significant contri-butions in the thinking regarding face
lifting maneuvers. Pitanguy and others outside this country advanced thigh
lifting, abdominoplasty, and other body contouring sur-gery. Implants for
augmentation mamoplasty were being improved; and, ever so slowly, more was
becoming known about that most difficult cosmetic procedure, rhinoplasty. In
other words, through the fifties and sixties a body of knowledge was
accreting; and, by whatever means that they acquired it, certain men gaining
this knowledge were concentrating more and more of their work around it.
The situation was ripe for what I consider the next sig-nificant happening.
It occurred also in the sixties in Miami with the introduction to the
plastic surgical world of the Baker-Gordon seminars. It was at these that
most of us in-terested in cosmetic surgery in those days were introduced to
chemical face peeling and, incidental to that introduc-tion, to each other.
Thomas Baker and Howard Gordon should always be considered significant
figures in the his-tory of cosmetic surgery; they had sufficient personal
cour-age to announce their first seminar and sufficient talent to carry it
off in a fashion that was exciting and inspiring to all of us. I am sure
that they sensed the displeasure of many of their colleagues in organized
plastic surgery; but they did it, and they were not to be stopped in their
impor-tant efforts to disseminate knowledge. I believe that Mario's
continuing seminars in Mexico made it easier for the Baker-Gordon seminars
to survive any national resis-tance or opposition. At least, certain of the
American lead-ers who had opposed Mario and his efforts could say that now
the Americans were in the ball game, Mexico no long-er had the monopoly.
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