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Podcast: Today In History with The Retrospectors
Episode: The First Boob Job
Description:
Dr. Vincenz Czerny performed the world’s first breast augmentation in Vienna on 24th November, 1893. After removing a benign tumour via a mastectomy, Czerny addressed the asymmetry left behind by innovatively transplanting a non-cancerous lipoma from his patient’s lower back to reconstruct her breast.
Czerny’s work was cutting-edge for its time (pun intended): it wasn’t until the Second World War, in the era of curvier pin-up girls, that cosmetic surgery began to become widespread, alongside the rise of silicone. The breakthrough came in 1962, when American surgeons Frank Gerow and Thomas Cronin develope...