The Art of Rhinoplasty: Researching Technical and Cultural Foundations of Western World Rhinosurgery, from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance

Overview

The authors analysed written historical sources to follow how rhinoplasty techniques developed and what the surgery meant in its own time. They focused in part on lesser known surgeons in order to establish their cultural and surgical contribution. The article covers the Italian contribution in particular and the work of Gaspare Tagliacozzi.

Sections of note

• Historical review of written sources; the journal assigns level of evidence V.
• No patients, techniques evaluated, outcomes or follow up are reported.
• The analysis follows the gradual development of each new technique in the field.
• The authors highlight a deep connection between trauma surgery of the nose and the development of modern aesthetic and reconstructive nasal surgery.
• Descriptions by lesser known authors are used to show rhinoplasty was a distinct and central practice since Antiquity.
• The contributions of the Italian Branca and Vianeo families are highlighted for their influence in the Early Modern Age.
• Gaspare Tagliacozzi's work is examined in detail, including the debates his techniques and innovations produced.
• Tagliacozzi's work is described as laying the foundations of modern plastic surgery and tissue transplantation.

What it means for a patient

• Nasal reconstruction predates cosmetic rhinoplasty by centuries and grew out of treating injury and disease.
• The article records history. It has no clinical application.
• Named families and surgeons here are documented figures in the historical record, not modern practitioners.

Why this paper matters

Rhinoplasty is often described as the origin point of plastic surgery, and this study traces the documentary evidence behind that claim. It shows the technique passed through named Italian practitioners into the modern era. It evaluates no technique against another.

Terms

• Rhinosurgery: surgery of the nose, covering both reconstruction and appearance.
• Reconstructive surgery: surgery restoring form and function lost to injury or disease.
• Gaspare Tagliacozzi: a sixteenth century Italian surgeon known for nasal reconstruction using an arm flap.
• Tissue transplantation: moving tissue from one site to another.
• Early Modern Age: the historical period roughly from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century.