This is a pretty good question. A lot of people think as Plastic Surgeons we use plastic in our operations. Now we do use a lot of prosthetics like chin implants, cheek implants, titanium plates and screws, breast implants and many more. Thing is, none of these are made of plastic.
The specialty got it’s name from the etymology of the word Plastic.
The first known defintion of the word dates back to 1632, and it meant “capable of shaping or molding,” from the latin word plasticus, and from the Greek word plastikos “able to be molded, pertaining to molding,” from plastos “molded,” from plassein “to mold” (see plasma). The Surgical sense of “remedying a deficiency of structure” is first recorded 1839.
I thought this was a good nerdly bit of Plastic Surgery trivia you might enjoy.
Lee Corbett, MD
502.721.0330
All posts on this blog are presented by Louisville, KY Cosmetic Surgery expert, Dr. Lee Corbett
