Plastic and reconstructive surgery
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Plast. Reconstr. Surg. · Dec 2001
Biography Historical ArticlePaulus Aegineta, a seventh century encyclopedist and surgeon: his role in the history of plastic surgery.
Paulus Aegineta (625-690 ad), born on the island of Aegina, practiced medicine at Alexandria. The last of the eclectic Greek compilers in the Byzantine period, he wrote an Epitome of medicine in seven books. The sixth book, which is considered the best section of his work, is devoted mainly to surgery. ⋯ This Grecian master influenced not only his own but also the subsequent ages. Rhazes, Haly Abbas, Albucasis, Avicenna, and Fabricius ab Aquapendente were the greatest physicians influenced by Paulus Aegineta. Because the work of Paulus Aegineta was the only source for many of the surgical treatises of Arabian authors, his Epitome bridged Western and Eastern medicine and conveyed surgical experience and knowledge, including several plastic surgery procedures, to the subsequent ages.