Oculoplastics

Abstract

Oculoplastics surgery is a relatively “new” subspecialty within Ophthalmology which deals with disorders of the lids, lacrimal system and orbits. Like any other surgical subspecialty, oculoplastics was born out of a need to provide specialized surgical care and in this particular case, to people suffering from severe eyelid disease, trauma and watery eye problems. One can say that this particular line of surgery originated from a ‘cross breed’ between plastic surgery and ophthalmology. The influential British plastic surgeon Jack Mustardé*, way back in the 1960s, was beginning to hope that “in the future we might see a generation of surgeons arising who would be, fundamentally, either plastic surgeons or ophthalmic surgeons, but who would take specific training of some sort in the contralateral field.” He went on to say that “I had the honour to be invited to speak at conferences by both plastic surgeons and ophthalmic surgeons. The plastic surgeons didn’t know enough ophthalmology to contradict me, and the ophthalmic surgeons didn’t know enough plastic surgery to contradict me either!”