The medical innovations crafted by the Americans during World War II were more effective at treating and saving soldiers than the practices used before, and significantly changed the way in which medicine is handled during wartime. These various treatments were so effective that many of them are still in use today, whether on the battlefield or in regular, civilian hospitals.
After the carnage of World War I, which had just occurred just 21 years before, scientists and those in charge of army tactics began to realize that in order to save lives improvements were necessary. In World War I, an estimated 8,528,831 soldiers were killed (approximately 116,516 being Americans) making this conflict one of the bloodiest wars in the 20th and 21st centuries …show more content…
Up until World War I, plastic surgery was mainly used for non-important cosmetic procedures, primarily breast implants. However, at the beginning of World War I, the skin graft was discovered and used to treat soldiers in need of cosmetic restructuring. Yet, despite this amazing discovery, plastics was still not being considered a serious medical field both by the American people and the government until 1937, when the American Board of Plastic Surgery was founded, just 2 years before the start of World War II (American Society of Plastic Surgeons). During World War II, nine military plastic surgery centers were created within the United States. These were created to better manage the specialized work required to “treat facial trauma and burns caused by trench warfare” (American Society of Plastic Surgeons). The various treatments preformed improved the life of many soldiers coming home from war and even aided in post-traumatic stress disorder which was, and still is, considered one of the most serious mental issues facing soldiers returning from war (Borah, Rankin, and Wey). Although plastic surgery today is still used largely for nonessential cosmetic restructuring, many soldiers returning home from modern wars with wounds rely on this type of cosmetic treatment to aid them and allow them to better reintegrate themselves into regular, civilian
After the carnage of World War I, which had just occurred just 21 years before, scientists and those in charge of army tactics began to realize that in order to save lives improvements were necessary. In World War I, an estimated 8,528,831 soldiers were killed (approximately 116,516 being Americans) making this conflict one of the bloodiest wars in the 20th and 21st centuries …show more content…
Up until World War I, plastic surgery was mainly used for non-important cosmetic procedures, primarily breast implants. However, at the beginning of World War I, the skin graft was discovered and used to treat soldiers in need of cosmetic restructuring. Yet, despite this amazing discovery, plastics was still not being considered a serious medical field both by the American people and the government until 1937, when the American Board of Plastic Surgery was founded, just 2 years before the start of World War II (American Society of Plastic Surgeons). During World War II, nine military plastic surgery centers were created within the United States. These were created to better manage the specialized work required to “treat facial trauma and burns caused by trench warfare” (American Society of Plastic Surgeons). The various treatments preformed improved the life of many soldiers coming home from war and even aided in post-traumatic stress disorder which was, and still is, considered one of the most serious mental issues facing soldiers returning from war (Borah, Rankin, and Wey). Although plastic surgery today is still used largely for nonessential cosmetic restructuring, many soldiers returning home from modern wars with wounds rely on this type of cosmetic treatment to aid them and allow them to better reintegrate themselves into regular, civilian