MedTech+Art

 From this week's readings and lectures I found it interesting that doctors treated their practice as an art in the past while in the present days, people treat this knowledge not only as an art but also as science. Indeed, in the original Hippocratic Oath doctors were not allowed to use knives to help patients (pbs.org). After WWI it became a necessity to use knives actively to help soldiers’ injuries for them to come back to normal life after war (Vesna). 

doctors should take an Oath

Nowadays, people undergo surgeries not only due to necessity, but to enhance their beauty. As Fernandes refers to Macgregor explaining that “the body image [is] a basic component of our self-concept and our feeling of personal identity, encompassing the mental picture we have of our physical characteristics as much as our attitudes toward these characteristics, in a conscious and even unconscious way” (Fernandes, 1). Plastic surgery became very important in the world ruled by beauty standards. People gain confidence and feel better about themselves after undergoing plastic surgeries. No wonder that because even Leonardo Da Vinci was looking for the perfect proportions of a human body relating man to nature and the universe by depicting his “Vitruvian Man”.

Vitruvian Man

A lot of artists were inspired by the idea of human beauty and beauty standards. One example is a contemporary French artist ORLAN, who has undergone plastic surgeries herself to “change her appearance [...] in the name of art” (artnet.com). As we see medicine and art cannot exist without each other as any science in fact cannot exist in isolation. Every aspect of life, every natural phenomenon is a work of art that can be described by science. To finish off, I would like to cite J.W. Fernandes that “The surgeon, as the artist, has an accurate view of human body shapes. The artist may take it for fantasy whereas the plastic surgeon will make it a new reality for the patient´s sake” (Fernandes, 1).

ORLAN's Art

“Find Doctors, Drugs and Facilities.” Optima Health, https://www.optimahealth.com/find-doctors-drugs-and-facilities. 

“ORLAN (French, Born 1947).” Artnet.com, http://www.artnet.com/artists/orlan/. 

“Orlan.” Annenberg Space for Photography, 6 Feb. 2018, https://www.annenbergphotospace.org/person/orlan/. 

Fernandes, Julio Wilson MD, FBCS The Legacy of Art in Plastic Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - Global Open: April 2021 - Volume 9 - Issue 4 - p e3519

doi: 10.1097/GOX.0000000000003519

Magazine, Smithsonian. “Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man May Not Have Been a Flawless Picture of Health.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 19 Feb. 2014, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/vitruvian-man-may-have-had-hernia-180949806/. 

The Vitruvian Man - by Leonardo Da Vinci, https://www.leonardodavinci.net/the-vitruvian-man.jsp. 

Tyson, Peter. “The Hippocratic Oath Today.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 27 Mar. 2001, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/hippocratic-oath-today/. 

Vesna, Victoria. “MedTech+Art Part 3.” UCLA, 13 Apr. 2022, https://www.ucla.edu/.