These scars, especially on the face, negatively affected the soldiers’ psychology and led them to think about how they would one day look at the faces of their loved ones. on this point The methods doctors used in the first quarter of the 20th century were not very adequate.

However, despite all these negativities, a doctor named Harold Gillies developed a new treatment method for facial injuries The journey of plastic surgery that continues to this day began.

In World War I, doctors’ treatment methods were very limited in terms of facial injuries.

During this period, doctors often resorted to suturing jagged wounds without regard to the skin lost. As scars heal, the skin is stretched, resulting in frightening facial shapes. It would be inevitable.

Moreover, especially Injuries in the jaw areas and improper treatments; soldiers cannot eat or drink it would make it happen. Meanwhile, a doctor named Harold Gillies, who was sent to France in 1915, witnessed the terrible facial wounds caused by the First World War.

The New Zealand doctor, who felt that the treatments for these facial lesions were completely inadequate, was admitted to the Cambridge Military Hospital on his return to England. He set up a department specifically for the treatment of facial wounds.

He even sent a message to field hospitals in France to ensure that soldiers with such facial injuries were transferred directly to him.

In addition, Gillies convinced hospital chiefs that a private hospital was necessary to handle incoming injury claims. Having achieved his goal, the doctor founded The Queen’s Hospital in Sidcup. This hospital It was the first hospital in the world to start treating facial injuries.

The goal of Queen’s Hospital is to The aim was to restore the faces of wounded soldiers to the best possible condition and enable them to live a more normal life.. Many patients wondered how they would confront their loved ones about the terrifying appearance of their faces.

Harold Gillies was aware that for these wounds to heal, healthy tissue had to be restored to its original position.

Then each opening can be filled with tissue from different parts of the body. Gillies had a lot of experience with this procedure called skin grafting. With this method, after the examination of the bone structure of the injured person is completed, reconstruction process on soft tissue It could be done.

The skin grafting process involved several techniques, but the most successful of these methods was It involved removing a large piece of skin, called a pedicle, near the wound.

This technique involved pivoting the free end of the skin flap toward the injury site. This way the physical connection is maintained, blood cells would be able to reach the skin easily and the chances that the transplant process would be accepted by the body would increase.

Doctor Gillies decided to operate with this method on Willie Vicarage, who was seriously injured in a fire during the Battle of Jutland (1916).

The patient died as a result of fire damage. He couldn’t close his eyes, open his mouth or even move his face. Doctor Gillies suggested removing a skin flap of the Masonic collar from Willie’s chest to repair the lower face.

During surgery, he noticed that the pedicle flaps were folding inward under tension and decided to sew them into a tube. So the patient blood flow increased and the risk of infection generally decreased.

In addition, Harold Gillies’ tubular skin grafting technique was also tried on Lieutenant Walter Yeo of the Royal Navy.

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Walter Yeo lost both his upper and lower eyelids during the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Pieces of healthy skin from his chest were used to cover damaged areas on his face. But because he had an infection in his body, his treatment was carried out in stages. At the end of the operation, the lieutenant’s quality of life improved and he returned to duty after a five-year treatment period.

In summary, the serious injuries sustained during the First World War It encouraged doctors to try increasingly difficult treatments. This work by Gillies allowed seriously injured faces to be given a new appearance, thus laying the foundation for modern plastic surgery.