Medicine & Surgery

Rhinoplasty (nose reconstruction)

core ~6th c. BCE; text redacted ~3rd-4th c. CESushruta (attrib.)Sushruta SamhitaMaharashtra / Central India

600 BCECorrected

The forehead-flap technique for rebuilding a nose — the origin of the 'Indian method' of rhinoplasty.

Dated: 600 BCE–400 CE
As scholars put it: core ~6th c. BCE; text redacted ~3rd-4th c. CE
Originator: Sushruta (attrib.)
Source text: Sushruta Samhita
Region: Maharashtra / Central India
Discipline: Medicine & Surgery
Evidence: Documented
Confidence: High
Verification: Corrected

Meanwhile in the West

Adopted by European surgeons in the 18th-19th c.

Fair to say

The surviving text was redacted centuries after Sushruta; the technique's antiquity is nonetheless well accepted. The 1794 Pune operation was done by a craftsman-surgeon; historians note its link to the Sanskrit text is assumed rather than documented.

Path to modern innovation

Foundational to modern reconstructive and plastic surgery.

Transmission

Reported in Gentleman's Magazine (1794); performed by J. C. Carpue in London (1814; published 1816); refined by von Graefe/Dieffenbach.

Primary sources

5An English translation of the Sushruta samhita, based on original Sanskrit text. Edited and published by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna. With a full and comprehensive introd., translation of different readings, notes, comperative views, index, glossary and plates Susruta; Bhishagratna, Kunja Lal, Kaviraj, 1865-, Internet Archive, 1907Unreviewed
6Sushruta Samhita javanesegraviton, Internet ArchiveUnreviewed

References

1Sushruta Samhita
2Gentleman's Magazine (1794)
3D. Wujastyk, The Roots of Ayurveda