第1395期:A new face

Everybody has looked in the mirror at some point in their lives and thought they could do with a smaller nose or fewer wrinkles. Almost 10 million operations were performed in 2014, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Eyelid surgery topped the list of the five most popular procedures, which included breast augmentation and rhinoplasty.

We hear a lot about cosmetic surgery these days. But what many people may not realise is that reconstructing someone's face has an ancient past. There are reports of treatments to restore a broken nose in ancient Egyptian documents.

Considering that safe anaesthetics and antibiotics were only discovered in the 19th and 20th centuries, it was a truly painful and risky business to go under the knife in the past. But as far back as the mid-15th century nose jobs were carried out using skin taken from the upper arm.

Plastic surgery went through a revolution during World War One. The trenches protected the soldiers' bodies, but many who stuck their heads up were exposed to explosions. New techniques were developed by Harold Gillies who ran a ward at the Cambridge Military Hospital in Britain, and later a whole hospital dedicated to helping disfigured soldiers. Many wounded men at that time couldn't stand looking at their own faces. There were no mirrors in the hospital. In parks near the hospital, some benches were painted blue to signal to patients with facial injuries that they could sit there. And it was a way of telling local residents to prepare for the shock of seeing someone with a disfigured face.

Plastic surgery has come a long way since then. It reconstructs what does need reconstructing but it also makes people with no particular problems feel more confident. Bigger breasts? Straight nose? Facelift? In many cases, cosmetic surgery isn't a necessity at all, just a choice. But when done properly by capable doctors on patients who have a realistic goal, it's believed that plastic surgery can heal psychological wounds almost as much as physical ones.

词汇表

can do with 需要
wrinkle 皱纹
procedure 手术
breast augmentation 隆胸
rhinoplasty 鼻子整形
cosmetic surgery 整容手术
anaesthetic 麻醉剂
antibiotic 抗生素
to go under the knife 开刀，做手术
nose job 鼻子整形手术
trench 战壕
ward 病房
disfigured 毁坏了外形或容貌的
facelift 去皱整容手术，面部拉皮手术
realistic 现实的；合情合理的