Hi!  I’m Dr. Barry Lycka, cosmetic doctor.  I’m here to talk to you today about the history of cosmetic surgery and also new trends in cosmetic surgery.  Many of you have asked me, “when did cosmetic surgery actually begin and how has it developed where it is today?

So I’d like to take you on a bit of a stroll down the history lane, so to speak, so I can explain a little bit about cosmetic surgery history and how we got to where we are today.

Now, cosmetic surgery is a very interesting thing, but its not a new thing.  We’ve been doing it for over 4,000 years.  We’ve seen history of it way back in the ancient Egyptians.  We’ve seen it in ancient Greece.  We’ve seen it in ancient Rome.  It was actually going on in ancient Mesopotamia.  It was done long before the modern plastic surgery trends came about.  Then after a while it fell into misuse.  The Dark Ages in Europe saw that many of these ancient things that were being done regularly were not available anymore.  But then slowly, techniques started to develop in Europe.  They starting to develop in France, in Italy, in Germany and over in England and finally as North America came on the scene, as the Americans came on the scene, more and more cosmetic surgery was being done.

In 1828, the first case of reconstructive surgery actually was done when a cleft pallet was done in the United States.  But then things developed more.  Liposuction actually had its roots back in gynecology.  Doctors started doing liposuction way back in the early 1900s and some of the results were not very good.  In fact, the first liposuction done was done on the leg of a ballerina which got terribly infected and that person then required an amputation.

Fortunately, we don’t have many things that go on like that now.  Modern cosmetic surgery is based on the fact that we do things simpler, easier, with less invasion, as we see with the increasing development, and rise in popularity of non-invasive cosmetic procedures.  We try to do things with less and less downtime.  Liposuction as I know it had its roots in the 1980s by one of my friends and colleagues, Dr. Jeffrey Klein in San Juan Capistrano, California.  He invented a way to do liposuction totally under local anesthesia.  But we didn’t stop there.  We started to refine the process further.  We started to use lasers and in the early 2000s, I was fortunate enough to have some of these lasers in my office.  We then started using more advanced lasers to the point now that laser liposuction surgery, also known as smart laser liposuction, smart lipo, is the standard.  It’s the state of the art and people are very pleased with that.  People will get surgery done on a Thursday or Friday and be back at work by Monday – Tuesday which is huge, a real move forward in terms of the procedures and the recovery needed afterwards.

Now, another thing we’ve been seeing is we that try to understand what exactly is going on in the processes which cause problems such as wrinkles, aging, cellulite and we try to reverse those processes.  For example, in the 1980s, Botox was being used for the first time in cosmetic surgery.  This was discovered by two of my colleagues, the Dr. Carruthers from Vancouver, Jean and her husband Alastair.  Well, Jean was an ophthalmologist and she was doing work around the eye.  I injected some Botox around the eye for people who had spasm going on in that area.  Sure enough the spasm would go away, but her husband walked in to there one day and he asked one of the patients, “what do you like about this best?”  And the patient said, “you know, I really like the fact that my wrinkles go away.”  So there started a whole new trend with Botox as a wrinkle treatment since the late 1980s.

Now, another thing that’s happened is that we use a lot more combinations now than we ever did, combinations using different things to get a better result, than can be achieved by each procedure individually.

We do fillers, we do Botox, we do lasers, we do lifters and all these act together to get a better result.

For example, one of the things I love to do is something called the liquid facelift where we inject different things into the face to get an enhanced result and people are thrilled with that.

So combinations are a growing trend in cosmetic surgery.

We also are trying to do things in better ways with less downtime and less problems for our patients.  That is the main trend in cosmetic surgery moving through 21st century.  We are finding bigger and better ways to do things easier for our patients.

Thank you for watching here today. It really has been a pleasure.  I’m Dr. Barry Lycka.  I hope this serves you.

I look forward to connecting with you and if you have any questions for me, please click on the link on the right of this page, ask your question, and I will be back with an answer for you !

Cosmetic Surgery History and Plastic Surgery Trends – Reviewed by Dr Lycka Blog