British association of plastic surgeons program from another generation *

Transcription

1 Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery (2010) 63, 727e732 British association of plastic surgeons program from another generation * M. Felix Freshwater* University of Miami School of Medicine, 9100 S. Dadeland Blvd. Suite 502, Miami, FL , USA Received 15 December 2008; accepted 4 February 2009 KEYWORDS History of Plastic Surgery; Craniofacial surgery; Tessier; Closed-circuit television Summary Purpose: To Compare the Association s Summer Programs of 1971 and Methods: I attended the 1971 meeting of BAPS that was held in London and kept the program. I compared the content of that meeting with the 2008 Provisional Program. A blowup of that 1971 program will be the highlight of the poster. Results: The 1971 meeting s registration fee was 10 for me as an overseas non-member registering at the desk compared to the current fee of 500. The meeting was three day long, but only one day was devoted to papers. The first and third days of the meeting were devoted to watching live cranio-facial surgery performed by Tessier at the Hospital for Sick Children. To make the length of these televised sessions more tolerable, a cash bar was available and lunch including beer and squash were served from noon until 4 pm followed by tea from 4 pm to 6 pm Dinner Jackets were required for the 1971 Association dinner compared with dark lounge suits in In contrast to 2008, the 1971 scientific program consisted of only 13 papers of which all but five were written by single authors. Seven of the papers were published in the British Journal of Plastic Surgery. There were no cosmetic and no breast papers. There were no poster sessions. There were no panel discussions. There were no exhibits. Conclusion: The 1971 meeting was truly from another generation in both its form and content. ª 2009 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. I fell in love with plastic surgery when I was a medical student. The concept of helping patients by putting pieces back together both thrilled me emotionally and fascinated me intellectually. Obviously, as a medical student, I could * Presented in part as a poster at the 2008 Winter Meeting of the British Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons in London from December 3e5, * Tel.: þ ; fax: þ address: mfelix.freshwater@gmail.com do little more than suture lacerations in the emergency department and operate on rats. 1 Therefore, I sought other means of putting pieces back together and began to delve into the history of our field. I soon discovered that surgical historians had incorrectly pieced together the development of skin grafting and had wrongly ignored George Pollock, the Englishman who had popularized skin grafting in the late 19th Century. 2 I wrote a paper about Pollock but remained curious as to why his obituary in The Lancet said: He was not especially original, he introduced no great /$ - see front matter ª2009 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi: /j.bjps

2 728 M.F. Freshwater Figure 1 Tuesday and Wednesday program. Figure 2 Thursday AM program.

3 British association of plastic surgeons program 729 Figure 3 Thursday PM program. advance in surgical science and left no striking work behind him. 3 Since 1839, Yale has been unique amongst American medical schools in requiring its students to complete a thesis as a condition for obtaining an M.D. degree. 4 Although my previously published rat research would have been acceptable as a thesis, I thirsted to explore the history of plastic surgery in general and Pollock in particular. At the time, there were no fellowships or stipends available to fund my research; therefore, I used a meager inheritance from my grandmother to pay for my three months in England. I visited London in order to learn all that I could about Pollock and 19th Century British surgery. I located and visited several of his descendants and visited St. George s Hospital where he studied and subsequently practiced. I explored great collections including the British Museum and its Newspaper Library in Colindale, the Wellcome Institute, the Royal College of Surgeons, Somerset House and the India Office Library. My curiosity about Pollock and the 19th Century naturally led me to the developments in India in the 18th Century. 5 One day I walked into the Royal College prepared to do some research in its library and saw a sign for the summer meeting of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons. My curiosity was aroused and I asked the registrar if I could attend the meeting. I not only kept my annotated program (Figures 1e4) but also kept a diary of my stay in England (Figures 5e9). Attached are the relevant diary pages about the meeting. Bear in mind that they were written by a brash 23-year-old who was passionate about plastic surgery, had already presented his own papers at three national American meetings, and who had demonstrated no compunction about proving that the establishment was wrong about its official history. I have redacted the most Figure 4 Friday program.

4 730 M.F. Freshwater Figure 5 Diary page 1. Figure 6 Diary page 2.

5 British association of plastic surgeons program 731 Figure 7 Diary page 3. Figure 8 Diary page 4.

6 732 M.F. Freshwater Figure 9 Diary page 5. obnoxious ad hominem adjectives and obscenities, but wanted you the reader to gain a sense of the excitement that I felt about my first meeting of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons. Methods I compared the content of that meeting with the 2008 Provisional Program. Results Plastic Surgeons love comparing before and after results. The program was noteworthy because it was the first occasion that Paul Tessier performed live cranio-facial surgery that was viewed by the attendees via closed circuit television broadcast from the Great Ormond Street Hospital. The first and last days of the meeting were devoted to these televised procedures. To make the length of these televised sessions tolerable, a cash bar was available and lunch including beer and squash were served from noon until 4 pm followed by tea from 4 pm to 6 pm The paper portion of the proceedings was only one day long and consisted of 13 papers of which eight were written by single authors. Seven of the papers were ultimately published in this journal. In contrast to 2008, there were no cosmetic or breast papers. There were neither scientific posters nor commercial exhibits. There were no panel discussions. The registration fee for me as an overseas non-member registering on site was 10 compared to the current fee of 500. Dinner Jackets were mandatory for the 1971 Association dinner compared with dark lounge suits in The 1971 meeting was truly from another generation in both its form and content. Financial disclosures None. Acknowledgement I thank Mr. Philip J. Sykes M.A., F.R.C.S. for his thoughtful insights and recommendations. References 1. Freshwater MF, Krizek TJ. Liquid crystallometry: a new technique for predicting the viability of pedicle flaps. Surg Forum 1970;21:49e Freshwater MF, Krizek TJ. Skin grafting of burns, a centennial, a tribute to George David Pollock. J Trauma 1971;11:862e5. 3. Obituary, George David Pollock, F.R.C.S. Eng. Lancet 1897;1: [accessed ]. 5. Freshwater MF. More about B.L., Mr. Lucas and Mr. Carpue. Plast Reconstr Surg 1972;49:78e9.