Autoplasty (Gr. self, and to shape or form), a surgical operation by which the nose or other superficial portion of the body, being destroyed by accident or by disease, may be renewed or replaced by a portion of skin taken from another part of the same body. This art is said to have been practised in India from time immemorial. It was a custom to punish crime by cutting off the nose, or the lips, or the ears of the criminal; and for a time the parts were immediately replaced and found to grow again. To prevent this the excised parts were destroyed by fire; but the fact of the natural part adhering after it had been excised, and healing as a common wound, suggested the idea that a portion of skin removed from any other part of the body, and applied immediately to the mutilated part, might heal and become a natural substitute for the part removed. When the nose was cut off by the executioner, the surgeon cut a triangular portion of skin from the forehead, leaving it still attached by a small pedicle over the root of the nose, and, twisting it round, reversed it over the nasal region to supply the place of the nose which had been cut off.

The skin adhered and the deformity was lessened, but a scar remained upon the forehead where the skin had been removed. This method was adopted in other countries, where the nose, the eyelids, or any portion of the face had been injured by accident or by disease. Celsns speaks of nasal and labial autoplasty. In the 15th century this art was practised in Calabria by the Branca family of surgeons, who introduced the practice of taking a portion of skin from the arm to replace a deformity in the face, instead of turning over a piece of skin from the immediate neighborhood of the part repaired, leaving a scar close by almost as bad as the original deformity. In the following century Lanfranc, an Italian surgeon, practised the art of nasal autoplasty with success in Paris; and the celebrated Gasparo Ta-gliacozzi (Taliacotius) practised the same art in Italy, and wrote his work on the artofautoplastic surgery, which is still in good repute. The last-named surgeon improved the operation to such an extent, and did so much to bring it permanently into recognition, that the restoration of the nose or other lost parts, when performed according to his method, received his name, and became known as the "Taliacotian operation." In the beginning of the present century this art was revived by the celebrated English surgeon Carpue, and has been much improved by Grafe, Dzondi, Delpech, Cooper, Dupuytren, Roux, Lisfranc, Blandin, Velpeau, Lallemand, Dieffenbach, and other celebrated surgeons of the present time.

New methods have been introduced, and almost any superficial portion of the body may be now repaired by autoplastic surgery. Three methods are adopted, the Indian, the Italian, and the French, and one or the other is preferred according to the parts involved. The Indian method, already described, consists in turning over a contiguous portion of skin to repair the deformity; the Italian method consists in tak-ing a portion of skin from the arm, or from a distant portion of the body; the French method consists in loosening the skin on either side of the injury, so as to detach it from the parts beneath, drawing it together until it covers the lost part, and then uniting the borders, by suture pins and ligatures, until the parts adhere and grow together. This is far the best wherever it is practicable. The resources of this art are now very considerable, but skill is required to operate well, and judgment to decide whether it will be practically useful; for, where the general health of the patient is unfavorable, the operation may be unadvisable. - Different names are given to the operation, according to the parts repaired by this method: it is termed "blepharoplasty" when applied to the eyelids; "otoplasty" when applied to the ears; "rhinoplasty" when applied to the nose; "cheiloplasty" in reference to the lips; "palatoplasty" for the roof of the mouth; and "bronchoplasty" for the trachea.