The history of tumescent anesthesia, Part II: Vishnevsky's anesthesia from Russian textbooks, 1930 to 1970

Although "tumescent anesthesia" has been described as a new technique, historical references reveal that in reality it has been used for decades all over the world. In "The History of Tumescent Anesthesia, Part I: From American Surgical Textbooks of the 1920s and 1930s" (Aesthetic Surg J 1998;18:353-357), Dr. Welch reported on early references to tumescent anesthesia in works published in the United States. In Part II, the authors report that tumescent anesthesia is very similar to a local anesthesia method, "Vishnevsky Local Anesthesia," widely known and used in Russia since the 1930s. (Aesthetic Surg J 2002;22:46-51.).