[A contribution to the history of the treatment of middleface-injuries (author's transl)].

The first descriptions of facial injuries, especially about hurts of the nose, their diagnosis and their treatment are found in the writings of the old cultures. There are already corresponding references in the Papyrus Edwin Smith and in the Papyrus Ebers. There exist descriptions of the surgery of India and in the papers of Hippocrates, which contribute details to these injuries and their treatments. Here it is pointed to the splinting of the septum by inserting open tubes. A careful bandage, respecting the rebuilding of the nose, and the reposition of lower jaw fractures are remarked. In the Middle Ages there were some innovations in wound-treatment, especially in the technique of suture, but no important innovations in the medical care of middleface-fractures. There are only some modifications in the special treatment, but the surgeons always refer to the already available therapy-methods, mainly to those of Hippocrates. Only towards the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, these themes, particularly the treatment of upper jaw hurts, got new impulses by Graefe, Lang and Le Fort, who also worked out new methods of the external and internal fixation by wire.