ABSTRACT
Based on a tendency of people in Western cultures to enhance their self, facial plastic surgery is commonly associated with the attempt to improve aesthetic appearance. To increase their body's attractiveness, some people even undergo operations. In the course of time, many surgical interventions of the face have evolved that restore, reconstruct, or modify facial structures in order to correct objective or subjectively felt deformities. A historical sketch of the development of plastic surgery will bring to light the fields of tension that have characterized it since its very beginning and continue to pose challenges to the plastic surgeon. Progress has been made due to surgical and anatomical pre-conditions and premises that helped to develop techniques for facial reconstruction. By analyzing a quotation by 16th-century plastic surgeon Gaspare Tagliacozzi, three controversial areas of conflict will be investigated: Aspect and Dignity, the Role of the Physician and Plastic Surgeon, and the Artificial versus the Natural. These will be discussed with reference to contemporary techniques, such as allotransplantation, and actual social and scientific inclinations in society. A brief outlook into the near future from the angle of plastic surgeons working in this area of conflict and striving to reduce the tensions will conclude this chapter.
