The early days have become
history. In the beginning all members used to work in isolation. Each of
them driven by an extraordinary enthusiasm for their work. They were often
considered exotic although the origins of aesthetic surgery in Germany reach
far back into the past. Professor Joseph's name definitely has to be
mentioned at this point. The fact that we cannot call him our progenitor is
due to our not always praiseworthy past. His studies were taken up by
Aufricht and Kazanian both of whom emigrated to the United States. In
cooperation with other researchers they contributed to the enormous upturn
of aesthetic plastic surgery that took place in the United States. It is an
irony of history that wider implications eventually returned from there to
Europe.
In the years preceding the foundation of our society relevant scientific
literature was rare. A clear sign of this is that for many years to follow,
Professor Joseph's textbook was still highly regarded. For the very same
reason, personal exchange of experience became extremely valuable among a
group of researchers exclusively devoted to aesthetic surgery. As far as
aesthetic operations were at all conducted, they ranged among various
speciality fields: surgery, gynaecology, ENT, oral surgery and many more.
The idea of these operations being somehow related to each other and yet
constituting their own speciality field, originally took shape in France.
This is also where, as early as 1970, the first general assembly of
aesthetic plastic surgeons was held, raising great enthusiasm among the
participants.
The initial spark came from two German surgeons working in Hamburg - Mr. von
Lutzke and Ms. Dr.Bröscher - who became assembly members at its first
gathering: They invited me and some other colleagues to Hamburg in October
1971; for the time being the meeting was on a purely scientific basis. All
of us were keen to hear about the other colleagues' experiences. Back then,
the exchange of experience was much more necessary than today. References to
generally accepted methods or names did not exist. In November 1971 we met
again in Hanover. The idea took shape to establish - following the French
model - a purely scientific society; in February 1972 we celebrated its
foundation in Karlsruhe. Among the participants were: Mr. Muggenthaler (host),
Mr. Nürnberg, Mr. von Lutzki, Ms Dr.Bröschel, Mr. Buttner, Mr. Dörmer, Mr.
Neiss und the author of these lines. In Germany you need 7 members in order
to set up an association; a managing committee had to be elected. Mr.
Nürnberg became president, Mr. von Lutzki presidential secretary, Mr. Gsell
was elected treasurer and Mr. Muggenthaler recording clerk.
Foto: Dr. Dr. F. Muggenthaler
We had prepared statutes that closely followed the French Society's
regulations. Our French counterpart not only encouraged our work but granted
helpful and friendly support. Over the years this support continued: Without
the assistance of our French colleagues we might not have been able to meet
our own demands in holding annual conferences based on latest research
knowledge.
Founding a society is simple. But in order to receive official registration,
profound legal knowledge is necessary. Almost a year passed before we
finally registered as a non-profit organisation. Our goals were represented
in our statutes. It was supposed to remain a small élitist organisation.
The right to membership was reserved to surgery specialists, exclusively, or
at least predominantly, concerned with aesthetic operations. Each applicant
would have two members supervise his surgical performance before he could be
accepted. This procedure, which is very common today, applied already in the
early days. Members were obliged to provide themselves with relevant
specialist literature. Annual meetings were supposed to be hosted by one of
the members who had to perform in front of everybody's eyes.
Our society's frequent appearances in the general press inevitably led to
appearances in the specialists community which apparantly, however, did not
welcome us open-heartedly. The so-called beauty surgery was just about to
establish itself. It had received the blessings of philosophers and was
widely accepted as a cultural technique. However it remained unacceptable
for most big surgical centers.
Changes came only slowly which caused a schizoid relationship that lasted
for years. Nobody wanted to be a "beauty surgeon" - yet at the same time
they would conduct the same kinds of operations. It was certainly of great
advantage to the development of our profession that this situation slowly
lost its tension.
As planned, we met at least once a year for a scientific exchange and to
demonstrate to each other our surgical operations. Several times we met in
Nuremberg, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Frankfurt and Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) as
well as in Berlin, Bad Neuenahr, Munich, Essen, Ulm and Starnberg. As the
lecture programme was rather short due to the small number of members, we
were grateful to receive support from specialist colleagues from various
countries; initially most of them came from France. Even their operating
rooms were open to us. This is where the author of these lines was
introduced by Fournier to the Juri-flap and to chemical peeling. The fact
that those treatment methods have almost been forgotten today shows that our
work is not at a standstill. A talk by our unforgettable Perel was of
enduring significance. He gave an account of fat liposuction in France where
- while it was also taking shape in Italy and in Switzerland - it reached
triumphant success which has continued, globally, until today.
Illouz and Fournier from Paris as well as Otteni from Strasbourg were the
driving forces behind this development. The author of these lines once
fortunately received an invitation by these three surgeons to spend three
weeks in Guadaloupe where they conducted liposuction from the early hours of
the day until late at night. Yet there are beautiful beaches as well.
Our society has always kept a lead in experience of several years - thanks
to this French connection. I very well remember a congress held by another
society in Munich to which Illouz was invited; their members' doubt toward
Illouz' technique reached an almost impolite level. Unfortunately, this
truly beneficial technique has now and then got into the wrong hands which
sometimes resulted rather in damage than in benefit. Over the last ten years
we have continuously broadened our circle of members as it cannot be of any
value to plastic surgery to exclude possibly competent surgeons. First and
foremost this applied to specialists for plastic sugery who, during their
educational training, gathered experience in aesthetic surgery.
Our conferences were held on a
regular, annual basis. Initially, the host was obliged to demonstrate his
surgical skills in front of the eyes of all participants. As a result of
global developments in our profession, we eventually invited renowned
surgeons from different countries. We are thus grateful to the Brazilian
surgeon Joao Carlos Sampaio Goes for demonstrating to us his method of
breast stretching with minimum scars around the areola. Another form of
scar-reduced breast lifting by Madame Leojour from Brussels was performed by
her former assistant medical director, Dr.Marvan Abbuud. A method of
superficial-liposuction was presented to us by its Roman inventor Marco
Gasparotti. The inventor of ultrasound-assisted liposuction, Michelle Zocchi
from Torino, contributed valuably to our conference with his operative
demonstrations and according lectures. Foad Nahai from Atlanta, who is
currently General Secretary of ISAPS (International Society for Aesthetic
Plastic Surgery), was one of the pioneers in endoscopic operation methods
which he introduced us to. Last year we had Per Heden from Stockholm and
Claude Lassus from Nice at our conference; both luminaries held talks and
demonstrated their operational skills. We are grateful to these global
authorities for increasing our knowledge of operational techniques and
widening the range of methods we can offer to our patients.
We are all glad to see that aesthetic-plastic surgery is one of the most
beautiful surgical practices of all. It takes creativity and precise
surgical procedures. There is a strong probability that patients can be told
in advance what they are to expect. It is wonderful that patients can
gratefully remember their aesthetic operation for a lifetime.
Gsell and Nahai at the Congress in
Nürnberg, 1995
Our small élitist society currently counts 29 members, most of which are
plastic surgeons. Five members are ENT-, or MKG-specialists respectively.
According to the statutes from 2002, only specialists for plastic surgery
will be granted membership anymore.
Dr.med.Franz GSELL, Chirurg-Plastische Chirurgie, Licentiate of the Medical
Counsil of Canada
(Note from the editor: This was a draft by our respectable and excellent
aesthetic surgeon Dr. Franz Gsell. He was not able to submit a final version
after having suffered an incident of terrible mugging in his flat near
Nuremberg in January 2003. He was under intensive care, struggling for his
life, and eventually passed away March 26, 2003. The aesthete and venerable
Grandseigneur is no longer with us. We are deeply grateful to him for
providing this text though virtually with his final breath.)
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