Advances in aesthetic surgery.

Abstract

The evolution of aesthetic surgery began centuries before the birth of Christ. Since Sushutra's first attempts, surgeons still try to achieve or reconstruct the perfection of individual beauty. Surgeons who are engaged in this field of plastic surgery are called cosmetic or aesthetic surgeons. Aesthetic surgery is not just a specialization concerned largely with the removal of the outward signs of aging, nor is it limited to plastic surgery for improvement by restoration of damaged areas of skin and removal of blemishes. Aesthetic surgery crosses the dividing line between surgery for reconstruction and alteration of deviations (which do not in themselves constitute objective deformities) and is sometimes even performed without medical indication, but just for the gratification of individual vanity. This article summarizes the progress of aesthetic surgery during the last decade in some aspects of the field and tries to estimate its' lasting value.