The British Microsurgical Travellers Club

Arguably the biggest single innovation, and paradigm shift in reconstructive surgery was the advent of practical microsurgery in the 1970s. The images here are from our Mowlem Collection. They feature in a reprint paper kept by Mowlem entitled ‘Replantation and Reconstructive Microvascular Surgery’ (Bernard McCarthy O’Brien, Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons, 1976, vol 58).

Since research and developments in microsurgery were in their infancy, there was a hunger amongst British Plastic Surgeons to learn more about the evolving techniques. They achieved this by fellowships to pioneering units, such as Melbourne and Louisville, but also by forming a short lived, and largely informal group known as “The British Microsurgical Travellers Club”. It became a vehicle through which they could travel in a semi-formal way to units in Ljubljana, Hamburg, Munich, Beijing and Hong Kong where they were welcomed by prominent surgeons of the time and treated to professional programmes of lectures and operative demonstrations. This no doubt advanced the progress of British Microsurgery.

The BAPRAS Collection is keen to tell the story of the development of microsurgery in the UK. Unfortunately, the Collection does not currently contain a great deal of material relating to Microsurgery and its history. Thus, we would like to hear from any members of the “The British Microsurgical Travellers Club”, or those who sought early fellowships abroad. Any first-hand recollections, images or mementoes relevant to this period would make invaluable donations to the Collection, helping us tell the story of British Plastic Surgery.  Any material will also support the content of our soon to be launched “Virtual Museum”. If you would like to donate or contribute, please contact us on collection@bapras.org.uk