It might surprise you to hear that plastic surgery (or cosmetic surgery as it is more often known) is turning 100 years old this year. As most people approaching this age will tell you, there are many memories to be had and a number of wrong turns along the way when you reach that number of birthdays. Plastic surgery has certainly changed during its lifetime, but for men and women who are hoping to reach the ripe old age of 100, it is still a great way to maintain looks and even look after our health and wellbeing.

World War 1

The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery revealed recently that an impressive 20 million cosmetic procedures were undertaken just last year – a far cry from the few that were performed when it all began 100 years ago. Back then, doctors were building on the success of Harold Gillies the man who first performed skin grafts and to help soldiers injured during World War 1.

Gillies was renowned for reconstructing the faces of 2,000 men who had been disfigured by their experiences in the trenches. While the techniques were crude and the results less than perfect, the men went on to live lives that would not have been possible without his inspiring work.

World War 2

In World War 2, this work was carried on by Archibald McIndoe who not only fixed the injured soldiers, he also considered their emotional and psychological wellbeing as part of their treatment. He believed that all people had a right to a normal life. It is this philosophy that our modern surgeons use as the underpinning of their work.

A normal life

Whether cosmetic surgery is carried out to correct abnormalities that are there from birth or those that develop as we age – we all have the right to live a normal life as we see it to be. That may mean that we wish to hold back the years, correct scars caused by acne or sun damage or to fix flaws left over from weight gain/loss or childbirth. The procedures that we undertake to correct these flaws is up to us, but it can be as small as using the right moisturiser right through to full re-constructive surgeries.

We understand that all of our clients have their own reasons for requesting cosmetic procedures and our belief is that we follow in the footsteps of these great men and hope