[1/8] In need of some positivity? Check out the amazing story of Gillies, McIndoe and The Guinea Pig Club!
The devastation of war can prove the driving force for scientific and medical innovation. #histmed #oldoptheatre

[2/8] This was certainly true for surgeons Harold Gillies and Archibald McIndoe at the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, during the First and Second World Wars. The destructive side-effects of progress could be seen in airmen who were left with disfiguring wounds.

[3/8]These wounds were caused by exploding fuel tanks and searing temperatures in the cockpit. They were often destined to live as social outcasts, scraping a living as side-show freaks before giving up and committing suicide.

[4/8] Enter Gillies and his cousin McIndoe, who would not only restore faces but lives as well. During the First World War, Gillies built on Joseph Constantine Carpue’s revived rhinoplasty procedures from the 19th century.

[5/8] He pioneered the waltzing pedicle to graft healthy skin from anywhere on the body, gradually rebuilding the faces of his disfigured patients. The pedicle technique is one of the oldest forms of surgery, but it was crude and prone to infection.

[6/8] Gillies improved upon it by rolling the skin into a tube to protect the open wound. McIndoe continued Gillies work during the Second World War, going further by encouraging his patients to keep active and to visit local pubs and cinemas.

[7/8] McIndoe, his staff and East Grinstead locals supported the men in their transition back into society. The men also supported each other by forming the Guinea Pig Club, with an emblem, anthem and a regular magazine.

[8/8]Support, kindness & pioneering spirit enabled their successful recovery, both physically and mentally. May we all give the same kind of support and kindeness to others under the current circumstances! Please, support the museum during the closure http://ow.ly/K5HI50AnPGy