The Great Indian Sages…
Sushruta (~1200-600 BCE ??)
Sushruta, an Indian physician, who wrote one of the world's earliest works on medicine and surgery is regarded as the 'Father of Indian Medicine' and 'Father of Plastic Surgery.'
Sushruta lived in the ancient city of Kashi.
Sushruta is known for his pioneering operations & techniques & for his influential treatise 'Sushruta Samhita', the main source of knowledge about surgery in ancient India.
Written in Sanskrit, the Sushruta Samhita is one of the earliest works in the field of medicine & Ayurveda
The Sushruta Samhita documented the etiology of more than 1,100 diseases, the use of hundreds of medicinal plants, and instructions for performing surgical procedures such as skin grafts and reconstruction of the nose.
Sushruta's treatise provides the first written record of a forehead flap rhinoplasty, a technique still used today to reconstruct a nose.
He used a flap of skin from the forehead, called a pedicle, to form a new nose.
This procedure was widely practiced by many later age Indian surgeons and it is said that Byzantine emperor Justinian II, who got his amputated nose fixed by a traveling Indian Surgeon.
A brief article by the University of Columbia on ancient Indian Nose Jobs & the origin of Plastic Surgery
columbiasurgery.org/news/2015/05/2…
Besides trauma involving general surgery, Sushruta gave an in-depth account of the treatment of 12 varieties of fracture and six types of dislocation. This continues to spellbind orthopedic surgeons even today.
He also mentioned the principles of traction, manipulation, apposition, stabilization, and postoperative physiotherapy.
Sushruta also mentions about measures to induce the growth of lost hair and removal of unwanted hair.
He also talks about post procedure healing characterized by the absence of any elevation, induration, swelling mass, and the return of normal coloring.
He was one of the first people in human history to suggest that a student of surgery should learn about the human body and its organs by dissecting a dead body.
A Sushrtua statue is place in Royal College of Surgeons, Australia, recognizing him as “Father of Plastic Surgery”
Not too sure if many Indian medical schools/universities honour this legendary surgeon, the way he deserves to be honoured!
P.S. - Information collated from multiple articles/websites
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