C5.6.1 Famous New Zealanders: Sir Harold Gillies
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This article is from the New Zealand FAQ, by Phil Stuart-Jones and Lin Nah with numerous contributions by others.
C5.6.1 Famous New Zealanders: Sir Harold Gillies
MJ Pickering wrote: (more details may be available from her)
"New Zealand surgeons practically invented the process of reconstructive
surgery. Well, that's not quite true - there were many instances of
reattaching noses and ears and such in Italy and India and a few other
places. But the first world war resulted in plenty of cases to work on and
by the time the second world war rolled around, a phenomenon called
Airman's Burn where pilots who disobeyed orders and removed their goggles
and gloves due to the heat in their cockpits suffered extensive burns to
their faces and hands when shot down meant that skin grafting really took
off.
"In the time between the two World Wars there were 4 full time
reconstructive surgeons - three were New Zealanders (working in Britain of
course). Sir Harold Gillies was the first one and pioneered many of the
techniques. Rainsford Mowlem was another but the most famous was Sir
Archibald McIndoe who started the Guinea Pig club of his patients which
some of you may have heard aboout. By the time of the WWII more pilots
were surviving crashes due to better constructed planes and penicillan
ensured a greater survival rate so there were more men for him to work on.
Gillies tended to work of the canon fodder of the front in WWI. The Guinea
Pig club still meets every year. MacIndoe was not only at the forefront of
"holistic" medicine in that he treated his patients' minds and their trauma
as well as their bodies - he wouldn't let them go back into service until
he was sure their minds had recovered also, but he was the one to make the
connection between the recovery rate of burns victims who had fallen into
the sea and the concept of saline baths for burns victims. Prior to that
an oil solution was used on their burns."
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