BOOK REVIEWS

BR~LURES DE LA FACE. Edited by R. TUBIANA and S. BAUX. Pp. 216, with 114 illustrations. Published by Masson, Paris, New York, Barcelona, Milan, 1976. Price (15.1.76) 230 French francs.

This is the third of a series of monographs on reconstructive surgery under the general “patronage” of Claude Dufourmentel. The first, on wounds and scars of the face, was edited in 1966 by Claude Dufourmentel and R. Mouly, and the second, on orbital fractures, was written in 1969 by A. Reny and M. Stricker. This latest monograph, with contributions by 15 authors, is divided into 3 sections: the first deals with general considerations of the acute burn of the face and its local and general effects; the second deals with the management of both the acute phase and the late reconstruction, and the third with particular problems, including electrical and chemical burns, burns in children, burns of the eyes and respiratory tract, and finally, medico-legal problems.

It is regrettable that the authors of Chapter z have adhered to the old and now superseded burns classification of “first” “ second”, and “third degree” burns, further complicated by sub-divisions, rather than the more descriptive modern classification of “partial” and “full thickness” burns. Also, in the local treatment of burns, the now popular tangential excision has not been mentioned.

Although the references are not always related to the text, but just listed at the end of some of the chapters, the layout is nevertheless pleasing, easy to read, and embellished with excellent diagrams. As Dufourmentel rightly says in his foreword, this monograph cannot cover all the problems of early and late treatment, but this publication is achieving its aim of preventing those who are treating burns of the face from making irreparable mistakes.

This book is a very useful addition to the plastic surgeon’s library, as well as being most helpful to those who are compelled to treat burns without the aid of a plastic surgeon.

M. N. SAAD

BECENT ADVANCES IN PLASTIC SURGERY. Edited by JAMES CALNAN. Number I. Pp. viii+210, with 62 illustrations. (Edinburgh London and New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1976.)

It is many years since the “Recent Advances” series of books appeared, but this is the first time that one has been devoted to Plastic Surgerv. The book is edited bv Professor James Calnan of Hammersmith Hospital and the choice of subjects very much reflects the interests of his own group. There are extensive reviews of the surgery of the rheumatoid hand by F. V. Nicolle and Robert A. Dickson and various aspects of cleft palate and speech are covered by James Calnan and R. C. A. Weatherley-White. There is good and up-to-date review of the use of pedicle flaps by Ian Jackson which is the best chapter in the book. The remainder of the chapters are fairly brief reviews on such subjects as facial injuries, burns and head and neck cancer. Although all the sections will be of interest to plastic surgeons, it IS very doubtful if it is reasonable to include papers on the conservative treatment of leg ulcers, and neutron therapy in head and neck cancer, in a hard back volume which purports to be devoted to recent advances in plastic surgery.

I. F. K. MUIR

PLASTISCHE CHIRURGIE IM GESICHTS-HALS-BEREICH, Ein uberblick. By ERWIN HAAS. Pp. I 18 with 120 illustrations. (Stuttgart: Georg Thieme Verlag, 197-j.) Price DM. 49%.

“Plastic surgery in the region of the face and neck” is a series of reprints of 12 articles published in the Zeitschriyt fiir Laryngologie, Rhinologie, Otologie und ihre Grenzgebiete in 1973 and 1974. Professor Erwin Haas is head of the Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic of St Vincent’s Hospital in Karlsruhe. The book is concerned therefore with only those aspects of plastic surgery which are applicable to E.N.T. lesions; there are 5 sections on rhinoplasty, and sections on prominent ears, scars, nasal defects, cheek and lip defects, and holes in the neck. Almost all the illustrations in the rhinoplasty sections are line drawings, and while there are some before and after photographs in some of the other sections, the results illustrated are not all outstanding. This is the plastic surgery of the 1950’s and early 1960’s and plastic surgeons of today will gain little from it. Even E.N.T. surgeons who wish to dabble in plastic surgery would be wise to look for a more up-to-date text.

T. GIBSON

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