Wednesday 19 May 2010

Surgeon evolution

When I went to the Hunterian museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, I spent some time snooping around the hallowed halls and came across these aloof, dusty old gentlemen: important figures of the RCS painted in the style of the old masters, with frowning marble busts keeping guard over them. They were only rendered less intimidating by their presence just outside the loos.
What a fascinating contrast to the approachable, friendly surgeons of today: here's Akan Emin sharing his expertise with a fashion student at the All Stitched Up event last Friday night. She asked him to suture an artificial scar in a cast of a face for a comparative study of surgical techniques and conventional embroidery and stitching. He was very apologetic about the fact that it wouldn't work: "The material was unfortunately very soft (consistency of a cheese like substance) and the sutures would cut through regardless of the suture material and needle or position of the suture that was used." Darn.

No comments:

Post a Comment