Here is a portrait of a facially-injured French soldier from #WWI drawn by the very skilled artist #RaphaelFreida, born #OTD in 1877. He collaborated with #AlbericPont, a dentist who opened one of the first specialist units for facial trauma in Lyon. 23 of Freida’s portraits of these men survive.

Here is #AlbericPont operating at his #maxillofacial unit during #WWI. He was also instrumental in the production of a specialist academic publication called La Restauration Maxillo-Faciale which allowed practitioners to share ideas in the management of #facialtrauma.

😃 My PhD thesis was a study of medical portraits of #WWI facial trauma by #HenryTonks, who’s very well known, and a French artist called #RaphaelFreida who isn’t!! The latter did some fantastic portraits of #AlbericPont patients in various stages of treatment. Wonderful sources.

#AlbericPont is also a good reminder of the importance #childhoodvaccinations - he is the only one of a family of eight children who survived #diphtheria, although at that time presumably it was sheer luck rather than a vaccination that saved him.

Although perhaps not as effective as a #plasticsurgeon as #HaroldGillies in England, #AlbericPont had a similar attitude to the plight of his patients, who were often extremely self-conscious of their appearance. Like Gillies, he employed some of these men at his home.

#AlbericPont also devised an emergency set to wire jaw fractures on the battlefield in an attempt to offset complications arising from delayed treatment (it was often several weeks or months before injured soldiers made it to a specialist #facialtrauma centre). #WWI