UK plastic surgery in the interwar years

I enjoyed reading the article by Sykes and Bamji in this months Annals of Plastic Surgery. Their article complements the one by Fraser and Hultman (1) in the previous issue.

They explore the reasons why British plastic surgery was overtaken by the Americans during the interwar period. During this period the 'big four' plastic surgeons (Gillies, Kilner, McIndoe and Mowlem) dominated the specialty. It is thought that this dominance may have led to a stifling of competition. Also, whereas as Americans embraced the nascent art of cosmetic surgery, the British did not.

The advent of the Second World War gave impetus for expansion of the specialty and reinforced its position as a worthwhile surgical specialty that deserved individual units around the country.

1. Fraser JF, Hultman CS. America’s fertile frontier: how America surpassed Britain in the development and growth of plastic surgery during the interwar years 1920–1940. Ann Plast Surg. 2010;64:610.

Image: From left to right: Mowlem, Kilner, Gilies, McIndoe (Copyright - Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)

Plastic surgery news

Medscape from WebMD provides a free news service for plastic and aesthetic surgery. The main focus is on US based stories. There are also links through to the relevant eMedicine articles.

Recent articles include: "FDA Clears Cryosurgical Device for Spot Reduction of Love Handles". It didn't comment on whether it was effective for 'muffin tops' as well.

Sign up for the service here.

Emergency Management of Severe Burns

The next course with places available is in Newcastle on 9th December 2010. Contact Donna Kelly (donna@britishburnassociation.org).

British Burn Association

Cosmetic Surgery: On the face of it

The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death has just released their report into cosmetic surgery. It is available to download here.

It highlights areas that require improvement, such as the need for units to have sufficient expertise and case load for the procedures they provide. The BBC report can be found here.

National Training Number update

The NTN interviews are approaching. According to the London Deanery there will be 9 ST3 posts available. The interviews for the three Academic Clinical Lectureships in London are now going to follow the NTN interviews.

BMA Books Awards 2010

I had a very enjoyable evening last night at the BMA Book Awards 2010. It was good to see three plastic surgery books in the Surgery (sub-specialty) category. They were all ~ $300 - ouch! More details to follow.

Warning: plug coming up. The series I edited did well with a win for Training in Obsterics and Gynaecology and highly commended for Training in Paediatrics.

Check out the series here (especially Training in Surgery!).

Surgery School

New three part documentary on ITV. It follows a bunch of junior surgical trainees in the London Deanery as they embark on their surgical career.

Watch it on ITVPlayer.

Skin

I jumped on a 'Boris bike' this evening down to the Wellcome Collection and finally had a look around 'Skin'. It is certainly worth a visit.

There is a mixture of material from the archives as well as art and sculpture commissioned for the exhibition. It explores skin both medically and its place in human culture.

Late night opening on Thursdays until 10 pm.

Plastic Surgeons Academy

Just noticed another spin off from the 'Doctors Academy' stable. The Plastic Surgeons Academy doesn't look like it has been updated for a while.

There are listings for worldwide courses and meetings related to plastic surgery. This is a good idea but unfortunately the courses are accessed via a rather convoluted method.

UK cutaneous melanoma guidelines

Revised UK guidelines for the management of cutaneous melanoma have been published in this months JPRAS. Check them out here: Marsden et al. JPRAS; 63(9):1401-1419.