Shocking pictures of the pioneering plastic surgery done by New Zealander Sir Harold Gillies more than 90 years ago have been published in a London newspaper.
Sir Harold, from Dunedin, is famous for having standardised skin grafts and facial reconstructions and creating the specialisation of "plastic surgery".
The new type of surgery was developed to help soldiers whose faces were shattered or burned beyond recognition in World War 1.
Sir Harold began rebuilding faces by taking tissue from other parts of the body, and the photographs published in London show one of his first patients, sailor Walter Yeo, who lost his upper and lower eyelids and was horribly scarred when he was badly burned on a ship.
The images show him before and after Sir Harold used skin grafts in surgery, in Plymouth in 1917. They were released by artist Paddy Hartley, who now hopes to trace Yeo's family.
Hartley, 37, of London, told The Sun: "I'm keen to find out how he and his family coped with the consequences of his injuries and subsequent surgery."
Sir Harold published a text book Plastic Surgery of the Face in 1920, setting down the principles of modern plastic surgery which were adopted by surgeons around the world.
The British Medical Journal described it as "one of the most notable contributions made to surgical literature".
The surgeon died in New Zealand in 1960.
