Portraits of two innovative plastic surgeons in the National Portrait Gallery

As a medical doctor, when I visit a gallery or museum, I look for portraits of medical doctors. During my stay in London, I visited the National Portrait Gallery, where I happened to see the portraits of two famous plastic surgeons: Sir Harold Delf Gillies (1882-1960, Figure 1) and Sir Archibald Hector McIndoe (19001960, Figure 2). The name “Gillies” caught my eye because the approach named after him is one of the indirect approaches for the reduction of the zygomatic arch (Gillies: temporal; Keen: transoral; and Dingman: lateral brow). The name “McIndoe” was also familiar because of the “McIndoe operation” for reconstruction of the vagina in the congenital absence of the vagina, using an indwelling skin graft.[2] World War I (WWI, 1914-1918) was characterized by trench warfare, during which Combatant’s head and neck were exposed to high-energy weapons, resulting in severe facial wounds.[3]