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"Most of you are familiar with my work on hair transplantation using the punch, but I believe that many kinds of skin surgery are better treated with the punch than with other techniques," declared Norman Orentreich, MD, whose work in dermatologic surgery was honored with the Association of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Distinguished Service Award at the Fifth International Symposium in Toronto, Canada.
The major advantage of the punch in skin surgery is the cosmetic correction it offers. For resolution of conditions such as ice pick scarring and leukoderma, it is the best technique currently available, according to Orentreich.
Documented as early as 1877, the punch instrument in its modern form was used by the German surgeon Kromeyer at the turn of the century. He is given credit for first using dental machines with rotating cylinders to remove hair from the face or to punch out ice pick scars.