A forgotten innovator in facial reconstruction: Pietro Sabattini.

Pietro Sabattini (1810-1864), a creative surgeon from Bologna, Italy, first had the idea of repairing a posttraumatic upper lip defect using a flap taken from the lower. The flap contains the three elements--skin, muscle, and mucosa--and is based on a specific vessel, the circumlabial artery. Therefore, it anticipates the musculocutaneous flap concept of today. Sabattini published his paper in 1838, 60 years before Abbé. This paper provides the first English translation of the original text and a biography of this forgotten innovator in facial reconstruction.