Hippolyte Morestin was a French surgeon, and associate professor of anatomy at the University of Paris

University of Paris

The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...

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The son of Charles Amédée Morestin, he was one of the founders of cosmetic surgery. He was dubbed "The Father of the Mouths" after his breakthroughs in oral and maxillofacial surgery

Oral and maxillofacial surgery

Oral and maxillofacial surgery is surgery to correct a wide spectrum of diseases, injuries and defects in the head, neck, face, jaws and the hard and soft tissues of the oral and maxillofacial region. It is an internationally recognized surgical specialty...

. He greatly influenced the British-New Zealand surgeon Harold Gillies

Harold Gillies

Sir Harold Delf Gillies was a New Zealand-born, and later London based, otolaryngologist who is widely considered as the father of plastic surgery.-Personal life:Gillies was born in Dunedin, New Zealand...

, who met him on leave in Paris during the First World War. Gillies was attached to the British General Hospital in Rouen. Morestin, when Gillies was observing him, removed a tumour from a patient's face, and essentially "grafted

Skin grafting

Skin grafting is a type of graft surgery involving the transplantation of skin. The transplanted tissue is called a skin graft.Skin grafting is often used to treat:*Extensive wounding or trauma*Burns...

" skin by cutting and rolling it from the patient's jaw onto the wound to allow the skin to regrow.

Morestin also doctored Al Capone

Al Capone

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...

 and Sarah Bernhardt

Sarah Bernhardt

Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas...

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External links

• Translation of French Wikipédia article: Hippolyte Morestin at Wikipédia
• Harold Gillies article on The New Zealand Edge website: http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/gillies.html