- Plastic and reconstructive surgery techniques have broad applications, not only to limbs and the face but also to the body’s internal regions: Abdominal walls, for example, can be reconstructed, tendons transferred and even the smallest of blood vessels restored to function.

- Surgeons can also retain or restore function to the tongue, palate and esophagus as one aspect of a cancer surgery.

- Specialists in plastic and reconstructive surgery are often part of a team of physicians focused on a patient’s care and their skills incorporated into a coordinated approach to treatment.

- For many millions of people who have suffered highly disfiguring injuries or health conditions, the specialty has offered the chance at a life lived without the stares of others. For others, it has meant a life returned to normal activity.

- The field had its earliest recorded beginnings in India, around 2000 BC.

- By 1794, the first published reports appeared in an English magazine.

- In 15th century Europe, the technique was used sometimes to replace a nose lost and devoured by dogs.

- In 1827, the first American plastic surgeon repaired a cleft palate. As soldiers returned from World War I, plastic and reconstructive surgeons gained, unfortunately, experience with reconstruction of explosive- and burn-injured faces.