How British learned Plastic Surgery from Indians :

 

Don't underestimate the achievements of ancient Indians .

Sushruta Samhita is a Sanskrit text on surgery, attributed to Sushruta, a physician who possibly resided in Varanasi around 6th century BCE.Susrutha-Salya-Tantra were composed about 6th century B.C. It has been revised by Nagarjuna in the later part of 4th century BCE.

This text, along with the Charaka Samhita, is considered as foundational texts of Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine).The text was translated to Arabic as Kitab-i-Susrud in the 8th century CE.‘Sushrutha Samhitha’ is considered to be the most advanced compilation of surgical practices prevalent in India around two thousand millennia ago. In his book, Sushruta emphasized all the basic principles of plastic surgery and vividly described numerous operations in various fields of surgery with significant contributions to Plastic Surgery.

Between 1769 AD to 1799 AD, four Mysore Wars were fought between Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan and the British.During these wars the British learnt two very important Indian techniques: Rocketry and plastic surgery.A Maratha cart-driver, Kawasajee, who had served the British, and four tilanges (Indian soldiers of British army) had fallen into the hands of the Sultan of Srirangapattam. Their noses and right arms were cut off as a punishment for serving the enemy. Then they were sent back to the English command.

After some days, when dealing with an Indian merchant, the English commanding officer noticed that he had a peculiar nose and scar on his forehead. On inquiry, he learnt that the merchant’s nose had been cut off as a punishment for adultery and that he had a substitute nose made by a Maratha Vaidya of the kumhar (potter) caste.
The commanding officer sent for the Vaidya and asked him to reconstruct the nose of Kawasajee and others.The operation was performed near Pune in the presence of two English doctors, Thomas Cruso and James Findlay. An illustrated account of this operation, carried out by an unnamed Vaidya, appeared in the Madras Gazette. Subsequently, the article was reproduced in the Gentleman’s Magazine of London in October 1794. The operation is described as follows :

“A thin plate of wax is fitted to the stump of the nose so as to make a nose of good appearance; it is then flattened and laid on the forehead. A line is drawn around the wax, which is then of no further use, and the operator then dissects off as much skin as it had covered, living undivided a small slip between the eyes. This slip preserves the blood circulation till a union has taken place between the new and the old parts.

The cicatrix of the stump of the nose is next paired off, and immediately behind the new part, an incision is made through the skin which passes around both alae, and goes along the upper lip. The skin, now brought down from the forehead and being twisted half around, is inserted into this incision, so that a nose is formed with a double hold above and with its alae and septum below fixed in the incision. A little Terra Japonica (pale-catechu) is softened with water and being spread on slips of cloth, five or six of these are placed over each other to secure the joining. No other dressing but this cement is used for four days. It is then removed, and cloths dipped in ghee are applied. The connecting slip of skin is divided about the twentieth day, when a little more dissection is necessary to improve the appearance of the new nose. For five or six days after the operation, the patient is made to lie on his back, and on the tenth day, bits of soft cloth are put into the nostrils to keep them sufficiently open. This operation is always successful. The artificial nose is secured and looks nearly as well as the natural nose, nor is the scar on the forehead very observable after a length of time.”

This description fired the imagination of the young English surgeon J.C. Carpue, who after gathering more information on the “Indian nose” performed two similar operations in 1814 with successful results. After Carpue published his account, Graefe, a German surgeon, performed similar plastic operations of the nose using skin from the arm. After this plastic surgery became popular throughout Europe. All replacement operations which use a flap of skin in the immediate vicinity of the loss are known as Indian plastic surgery.