Abstract
In 1939, Bangour Emergency Medical Services Hospital was built as an annexe to Edinburgh War Hospital. The Maxillofacial and Plastic Surgery Unit opened in 1941, one of the several set-ups built with the support of Sir Harold Gillies, to ensure a service with specialist skills throughout Great Britain. The unit was led by Alexander Burns Wallace, who had to rapidly adapt the service to reflect the patterns of injury reflected by the more modern warfare practiced in the Second World War, while also incorporating techniques that were, at the time, revolutionary. Although much has been written about other units, Bangour's activity revealed through its case histories' highlights that plastic surgery was developing in parallel throughout Britain. The influence of Sir Harold Gillies was clear, and his input to support the fledgling service serves as an important aspect of the newly developing specialty of plastic surgery: collaboration and sharing of knowledge. This paper analyses the work of the Maxillofacial and Plastic Surgery Unit at Bangour General Hospital in Scotland between 1941 and 1942 and demonstrates its historical significance, as well as its relevance to current practice. Ninety-two case notes from the unit recently became accessible. These were analysed and four were selected for review in this study. These cases were selected as they were well-documented with photographs and good examples of the work performed at the unit in order to highlight the innovative, creative and complicated work carried out at the Unit.
Highlights
Sir Harold Gillies is known as “The Father of Plastic Surgery”, having developed techniques and established principles that would become the corner-stones of the specialty of plastic surgery
All accessible cases from the Bangour Maxillofacial and Plastic Surgery Unit complying with Lothian Health Services Archive (LHSA) regulations were obtained
Modern plastic surgery focusses on timely, functional, patient-centred reconstruction based on principles that were established in the early and middle part of the twentieth century by Sir Harold Gillies and his protégés
Summary
Sir Harold Gillies is known as “The Father of Plastic Surgery”, having developed techniques and established principles that would become the corner-stones of the specialty of plastic surgery Many of these came from his pioneering work in reconstructing and supporting injured soldiers from the First World War.[1,2] His approaches to the often horrific gunshot wounds to the face were considered revolutionary. His experience of treating soldiers suffering such injuries meant that, as it became clear a second global conflict was on the horizon, as he was involved in preparing for a more comprehensive approach to dealing with the inevitable injuries many would sustain. It became very clear that the injuries sustained by soldiers, sailors and airmen were not isolated to the facial region and required complex reconstruction of soft tissues in many areas of the body
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