Rhinoplasty, or reconstructive nose surgery, was first recorded as a practice in ancient Egypt, around 1500 B.C. Later, and most famously, it was performed by a doctor in India, Sushruta, in 800 B.C. An ancient document he wrote, called the Sushruta Samhita, details his methods for reconstructing body parts, including noses that were amputated in barbaric religious, military, or criminal punishment practices. He taught these techniques to his medical students who practiced them as well.
Sushruta’s methods involved grafting skin from the cheek to the nose, cutting the area that used to have the nose to form an open wound that the skin can be attached to. Tubes of the castor-oil plant were used to shape the nostrils. Various herbs and sesame oil were used for the healing of the new nose.
In Rome, circa 27 BC to AD 476, Aulus Cornelius Celsus wrote an 8-volume encyclopedia on surgical procedures. He described reconstructive surgery for the nose, along with other body parts that needed replacement or correction.
In the 300’s, Oribasius, physician to Emperor Julian the Apostate published a similar encyclopedia, albeit in 70 volumes. His method for reconstructive nasal surgery permitted reconstruction without distortion of the skin on the rest of the face.
In AD 920, Bald’s Leechbook, a manual for physicians, described a procedure for correcting a cleft lip. Surprisingly, in the 1200’s, the then ancient Sushruta’s medical compendium was translated worldwide and used in practices in Arabia, Persia, Egypt and even Western Europe.
Nearing modern times, in the 1500’s, Gasparo Taliacozzi, a surgery and anatomy professor for the University of Bologna, wrote a surgical procedure manual. This manual described procedures for repairing and reconstructing facial features for wounded soldiers. This procedure actually used muscle tissue from the biceps to help form the new flap of grafted skin into the shape of a nose.
