[Present status and perspectives of plastic surgery in Croatia]

Medical treatment in the field of plastic surgery has been known since 5000 B. C. Despite that, it was only since World War I that plastic surgery developed as a new branch of surgery a separate organization. In Croatia, plastic surgery started after World War II. Today Croatia has already the seventh generation of surgeons educated in plastic surgery. The Health Legislation of 1994 recognized plastic surgery as a subspecialty of general surgery. This kind of organization is also known in the world. Education of this type is necessary considering a great need for sophisticated reconstruction procedures in plastic surgery. During the war in Croatia, which started in 1991, a small number of surgeons practising plastic surgery successfully treated a great number of casualties. However, in the post-war period emerged the need for secondary reconstructions in many patients. A new centre for plastic surgery, where surgeons with microsurgical skills who are able to do complicated microsurgical reconstructions would work, should solve this problem.