Hurricane Rash
Kevin Fong looks at the birth of plastic surgery and its links to the air battles of WWII.
Discovery · BBC World Service
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Show Notes
Plastic Surgery does not always have a good press, more often associated with the excesses of Hollywood.
But the birth of modern day reconstruction has far nobler roots.
Dr Kevin Fong looks at the surprising, and heroic origins of the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery.
It is a field that was born in response to the great air-battles of World War II, and the development of a new fighter plane - the Hawker Hurricane - that left its legacy not just in terms of success in the air, but in the devastating injuries caused to many of the airmen who flew them.
He looks at the work of pioneering surgeon Archie McIndoe and his brave airmen "guineapigs" who underwent months, if not years, of painful surgery that led to the birth of modern day reconstructive surgery.