Evolution of Rhinology

The study of the nose is as old as civilisation. Various conditions affecting its structure and function has been documented in Edwin Smith Papyrus in hieroglyphic script, an Egyptian writing system of the mid −4th Millennium BC.The major contribution for the complete reconstruction of the nose originated in India by Sushruta in around 600 BC. Writing in Sanskrit in the form of verses he described in detail the technique of total reconstruction, which is still being practiced today as Indian Rhinoplasty. This surgical reconstruction paved the way to modern plastic surgery in Europe and United States in 18th century. Sushruta contributed not only to the plastic surgery of the nose, but described entire philosophy of Head and Neck and other surgery as well. Other notable contributors were Greek physicians, Hippocrate and Galen, and at the birth of the Christianity, Celsus wrote eight books of medical encyclopaedia, which described various conditions affecting nose.