Plastic surgery is enjoying a golden age, in America and around the world, as each year brings new records for the number of procedures performed and money spent on cosmetic enhancement. Amidst the flurry of cosmetic procedures performed every year, one of the most popular options is rhinoplasty or, as it’s more commonly known, a nose job. In fact, nose reshaping was the second most popular plastic surgery option in the United States last year with over 217,000 procedures performed.
But the popularity of rhinoplasty is nothing new. In fact, people have historically been extremely concerned with the look of their nose, and medical professionals have been performing cosmetic procedures on the nose for centuries.
According to medical historians, the Ancient Egyptians detailed some of the first nasal surgery procedures in a text dating from roughly 2500 BC. Additionally, there are accounts from almost 2,000 years later that doctors in Ancient India took a flap of skin from a patient’s cheek and used it to create a new nose. This evidence points to nose jobs being one of the oldest types of surgery.
Despite these early successes, Nasal surgery didn’t really rise to prominence until the 16th century, when a syphilis epidemic spread throughout Europe. Due to syphilis’s ability to damage soft tissue in the body, many people lost their noses and were left with holes in the middle of their faces. During this time, doctors resorted to various means to recreate noses, and one of the most popular methods involved using skin from the patient’s arm and grafting it onto their face.
Following the first World War at the start of the 20th century, soldiers often returned home disfigured, and plastic surgeons would try to reconstruct their faces. This rise in practical plastic surgery played a large role in its social acceptance and led to several breakthroughs in the field. The techniques for recreating the nose became more naturalistic, and all of a sudden, having a surgically repaired nose wasn’t stigmatized the way it had been in the past.
The social acceptance of cosmetic surgery is a process that’s still ongoing, but the practice is viewed more favorably now than it has ever been. This acceptance, combined with modern advances in medicine, is what has led to the recent popularity of plastic surgery. If you’re thinking about getting a nose job, then you’re clearly not alone. The practice has a long and complicated history, and modern rhinoplasty procedures are just the latest iteration.
If you or someone you know would like to learn more about plastic surgery, please feel free to schedule a consultation or contact one of our representatives today!
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