The early history of clinical photography for burns, plastic and reconstructive surgery

Abstract

The progressive use of clinical photography for plastic surgery has been governed by technical developments in photography per se (Coe and Haworth-Booth, 1983) and the years 1851, 1878 and 1939 are critical. The invention of wet collodion glass plates in 1851 by Archer, and of albumen paper in the previous year by Blanquet-Evrard together made photography, as we know it now, possible. Sunlight with an exposure of from 5 to 60 seconds was needed and the subject usually required a headrest. Nothing was easy. The sheet of glass was hand-coated with a thin film of collodion (guncotton dissolved in ether) containing potassium iodide, and was sensitised on the spot with silver nitrate. This plate had to be exposed whilst still wet and developed immediately. Photography became easier when, in 1878, Maddox invented gelatine dry glass plates which were prepared beforehand and for which a short exposure only was required. Two years later came silver bromide paper and, also in 1880, Talbot and Klic started to print by the photogravure process. Celluloid film, invented by Carbutt, became readily available in 1895. 1939 brought practicable colour clinical photography.