Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery

In 1911, plastic surgery was barely recognized as a distinct specialty, its literature scattered across journals and fragmented across languages. Frederick Strange Kolle saw physicians worldwide desperately seeking reliable guidance on procedures that could restore function and form to injured bodies. This book represents his effort to consolidate everything known about the field into one authoritative volume: skin-grafting techniques refined through wartime wounds, electrolysis methods for unwanted hair and tattoos, the delicate art of reconstructing faces shattered by accident or disease. Kolle traces the practice back to ancient civilizations, showing how modern antiseptic surgery finally made possible what healers had dreamed of for millennia. The prose carries the careful optimism of a pioneer writing for a profession on the cusp of transformation. For readers curious about where modern cosmetic and reconstructive surgery began, this text offers an unvarnished look at the state of the art a century ago, when doctors were still inventing the protocols we now consider foundational.