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Surgery often developed in France before it hits US
North Americans must wait years for ground-breaking procedures
By KARIN BASARABA
Surgery was put in the same regards as teeth extractions and hair cuts until the French established its credibility 700 years ago, as we examined last week. As technology improved and people learned more about the body, new forms of surgery emerged. Again, the French can take the credit for these ground-breaking procedures, constantly looking for less invasive and painful ways to heal people.
Along with new fashions and attitudes, the 20th century introduced a form of surgery which continues to develop to this day. Dr. Suzanne Noël was the first and most famous female cosmetic surgeon. Unlike her male counterparts, Noël was concerned with her patients at all stages of the surgical process, including before and after.
Her text, La Chirurgie Esthétique, Son Rôle Social, not only summed up several decades of work in cosmetic surgery, but became the standard text on the field for years afterwards. Noël’s book marked the end of the pioneering period of cosmetic surgery and since then, doctors have only been concerned with improving on her techniques.
Since Noël, French surgeons continued to originate cosmetic surgeries. Liposuction was developed in France in the 1970s and is now the most widely requested cosmetic surgery in the world.
But the most famous French cosmetic surgeon is Professor Jean-Michel Dubernard. In 1998 he performed the first human hand transplant and the first double hand transplant in 2004.
However, Dubernard has most recently been in the spotlight for being a part of the team that executed the world’s first partial face transplant. Scientists elsewhere have performed scalp and ear transplants. However, the claim is the first for a mouth and nose transplant. Experts say the mouth and nose are the most difficult parts of the face to transplant.
MedSolution.com’s Parisian partner, Clinique-Esthétique Duquesne offers the finest and most advanced cosmetic surgeries available. Just a two-minute walk from the Champs Elysées, the clinic is staffed by leading cosmetic surgeons. All procedures are carried out under local anesthesia and intravenous sedation for greater safety and comfort.
The French have also become world leaders in minimal invasive surgeries, which have become the norm in France, but are not as widespread throughout the world.
Ten years ago, French surgeons performed the first trachelectomy. It is done in younger women with early cancer of the cervix. In this surgery, the cervix and the upper part of the vagina are removed but the rest of the uterus is left in place.
After a trachelectomy, it is possible for the woman to have children. A stitch is made at the bottom of the uterus like a drawstring and this takes the place of the cervix during pregnancy.
Two years later in 1998, the French performed the first non-invasive prostate surgery. With normal prostate surgery, patients endure a large incision, may require several weeks to recover their strength and many are left impotent when doctors inadvertently damage nerves. Some patients are even left incontinent.
But with the laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, slender tubes are inserted through five small holes in the abdomen and tipped with cameras, miniature scalpels and tweezers. It reduces the dreaded side effects – incontinence and impotence – and is generally more precise than the traditional method.
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