Although cosmetic surgery was being done, and with good repute, before the advent of the Christian era,1 it has been through succeeding periods of recognition and condemnation. During the years of the present century, the point of view has tended to be that there is an unethical element in the performance of an operation about the face and neck when the view of the patient is only to improve his personal appearance—an entirely mistaken idea.
Although the patient may not be at all aware of it, there is always something deeper than mere vanity behind any request for cosmetic surgery about the face, whether it is for improvement of the contour of a long or twisted nose2 or a markedly retreating chin,3 the removal of disfiguring scars, the correction of oversized and outstanding ears,4 or a face-lifting operation.
In many such instances there are obvious reasons