Creator
Gaspare Tagliacozzi
Title
De Curtorum Chirurgia per Insitionem [On the surgery of mutilation by grafting].
Coverage
Venice
Publisher
Gaspare Bindoni the younger
Date
1597
Description
Gaspare Tagliacozzi, both a philosopher and a physician, was well known throughout Europe outside his native Bologna. This work built upon those of distant predecessors such as Celsus and the more recent Gustavo Branca of Sicily. The De Curtorum is the first book exclusively devoted to plastic surgery. Tagliacozzi discusses the “Italian Method” of nasal reconstruction involving a delayed flap from the forehead skin, thoroughly considering every aspect of the flap from design to postoperative care. A quotation from his book has become a standard of care in plastic surgery to this day: “We restore, rebuild, and make whole those parts which nature hath given, but which fortune has taken away. Not so much that it may delight the eye, but that it might buoy up the spirit, and help the mind of the afflicted.”