Harold Gillies

Harold Gillies was a very smart doctor.

He helped fix faces for men in a big war. He learned how to use skin to help them.

He built a large hospital to do this work. Many men went there to get better. He also helped people feel happy in their bodies. This work helped many people around the world. He was a very famous and kind doctor.

Harold Gillies was a famous doctor from New Zealand.

He is known as the father of modern plastic surgery. This is a type of medicine that repairs the body. During World War I, many soldiers had face injuries. Gillies wanted to help them. He studied new ways to use skin to fix faces. This is called a skin graft.

He helped start a special hospital in Sidcup. This hospital was called Queen's Hospital. It had over 1,000 beds for patients. Gillies and his team did more than 11,000 operations there. He also helped people who wanted their bodies to match who they were. He used a flap technique to do this work. This method was used for 40 years.

Gillies loved his work. He said that helping people find happiness was the best part of being a doctor. He also loved to play golf. He was a very good golfer in England.

Sir Harold Gillies was a famous surgeon from New Zealand.

He is known as the father of modern plastic surgery. Plastic surgery is a type of medicine used to repair the body. During World War I, many soldiers returned home with serious face injuries. Gillies wanted to find new ways to help these men. He spent his life creating new methods to fix damaged skin and bone. His work changed how doctors treat people forever.

To fix a face, Gillies used special ways to move skin. One way he used was called a flap technique. This involves moving a piece of skin to a new spot. He also used skin grafts, which is moving skin to cover a wound. He learned about these ideas by watching other doctors. One doctor in Paris used skin from a patient's jaw to cover a tumor. Gillies used these lessons to help many injured soldiers. He worked hard to make sure the skin would heal well.

Gillies grew up in Dunedin, New Zealand. He went to school in Whanganui before studying medicine in Cambridge. He was a very good athlete in his youth. He even competed in the famous Boat Race in 1904. After the war, he became a very busy doctor. He worked with many famous patients in his private practice. He also taught other doctors all over the world. He wanted his new medical skills to spread everywhere.

In 1917, a special hospital opened in Sidcup, England. It was called the Queen's Hospital. This hospital was located at Frognal House. The hospital had over 1,000 beds for patients. Gillies and his team performed more than 11,000 operations there. They helped over 5,000 different men during the war. For his hard work, Gillies was made a knight in 1930. This meant he was called "Sir" Harold Gillies.

Gillies also helped people who wanted their bodies to match who they were. In 1946, he helped a man named Michael Dillon. In 1951, he helped a woman named Roberta Cowell. He used his flap technique to help her. This method was used by doctors for 40 years. Gillies said that giving people happiness was the best part of medicine. He lived a long life and died in London in 1960. His work left a lasting mark on the world of science.

Sir Harold Delf Gillies was a pioneering surgeon from New Zealand. He is widely recognized as the father of modern plastic surgery. This specialized field of medicine focuses on repairing and reconstructing body parts. Gillies developed many of the techniques used to heal severe facial injuries. His work changed the way doctors approach reconstructive surgery forever.

During World War I, many soldiers returned with devastating facial wounds. Gillies began his medical career as an otolaryngologist, which is a specialist in the ear, nose, and throat. He observed early experiments with skin graft techniques in France. A skin graft involves moving a piece of skin to cover a wound. He also watched oral surgeon Hippolyte Morestin in Paris. Morestin used skin from a patient's jaw to cover a facial tumor. These observations helped Gillies develop more advanced methods for repairing faces.

One of his most important methods was the flap technique. In a flap surgery, a piece of skin is moved to a new area while remaining attached to its original blood supply. This helps the tissue survive and heal in a new location.

A sailor named Walter Yeo is believed to be one of the first to receive such surgery in 1917. Gillies and his colleagues used these innovations to treat thousands of men. They moved beyond simple skin grafts to more complex reconstructions. This allowed for much better healing and functional results for patients.

To manage the growing number of injured soldiers, a specialized hospital was needed. Gillies persuaded the army's chief surgeon to establish a facial injury ward. This ward eventually grew too large for its original location in Aldershot. In June 1917, the Queen's Hospital opened at Frognal House in Sidcup. This hospital later became known as Queen Mary's Hospital.

It provided over 1,000 beds for patients needing facial repairs. During the war, Gillies and his team performed more than 11,000 operations on over 5,000 men.

Gillies had a very active professional life both during and after the wars. He was awarded an OBE in 1919 and a CBE in 1920. He was eventually knighted in the 1930 Birthday Honours. Between the wars, he ran a successful private practice with Rainsford Mowlem. He also traveled the world to lecture and teach his techniques. He even invited his cousin, Archibald McIndoe, to join his practice. McIndoe went on to become a very famous plastic surgeon himself.

In his later years, Gillies performed groundbreaking gender-affirming surgeries. These procedures helped people whose bodies did not match their identity. In 1946, he helped Michael Dillon through one of the first male gender-affirming surgeries. In 1951, he and his colleagues performed a female gender-affirming surgery on Roberta Cowell. For this, they used a flap technique. This specific method became the medical standard for 40 years. Gillies believed that providing real happiness was the highest goal of medicine.

Gillies was also a talented athlete before his medical career took off. He was a competitive rower and a highly skilled amateur golfer. He competed in many major golf championships between 1906 and 1931. He even represented England in matches against Scotland. Despite his professional success, he did not accumulate great wealth. He earned about £30,000 per year during his peak. However, he left an estate of only £21,161 when he died.

Sir Harold Gillies died in London on 10 September 1960. He suffered a cerebral thrombosis, which is a blockage in the brain, during a major operation. He was 78 years old at the time. His legacy lives on through the many doctors he trained. He trained many surgeons from various Commonwealth nations. His impact is also remembered through memorial sites in England and New Zealand. These include Gillies Lane and a road named Gillies Close in Cambridge.