The dawn of plastic surgery in Mexico: XVIth century.

An aspect of early Mexican surgery in the sixteenth century is presented. The treatment of facial wounds by Alonso Lopez de Hinojosos and Agustin Farfán is reviewed. Farfán proposed total nose reconstruction, with a cutaneous arm flap, 18 years before its description in De Curtorum Chirurgia, by Tagliacozzi, in 1597 in Venice, Italy. The chapter on facial wounds by Lopez de Hinojosos and Farfán shows their concern for the final aesthetic results and should be considered the first Mexican publication in the field of plastic surgery.