History

Tessier joined the pediatric surgery service at St Joseph in November 1944. The chief was Georges Huc who, although basically a pediatric orthopedist, was a friend of Veau and treated cleft lip and palate and hands. He was to have a great influence on Tessier who regarded him as a calm, good surgeon, a true gentleman, and father figure.

Paul Tessier Story (->click here for more)

In 1957 a young man consulted Tessier about a facial deformity, the like of which he had never previously encountered. He was described as having ‘prodigious exorbitism with a monstrous aspect’. When Tessier saw him again two months later, having carried out some research, he knew that the deformities were the result of Crouzon Syndrome and decided that the maxillary, orbital and facial deformities should be corrected in one operation.
After a lot of research & commitment from Tessier, practicing the operation on dry skulls and cadavers, the patient was finally operated on, the facial skeleton being completely freed from the cranium and advanced by 25 mm via multiple facial incisions. Bone grafts supported the advanced skeleton, but despite all the planning, the bony defects were much larger and more irregular than had been predicted. As a consequence, fixation became a major problem and after two weeks the patient’s face remained loose. Finally, an effective external fixator was constructed (not at the first attempt) and a stable result was achieved.

The field of craniomaxillofacial surgery was born after a long gestation period, and it was not until Tessier presented his work at the International Congress of Plastic Surgery in Rome in 1967 when he realized that it really was something new. Such was the interest generated that he organized a meeting at Hôpital Foch later the same year to which he invited a number of distinguished plastic surgeons, maxillofacial surgeons, neurosurgeons, ophthalmologists and pediatricians. Over a period of one week, he presented all the patients on whom he had operated and carried out four further procedures, two hypertelorism corrections and two facial corrections for Crouzon Syndrome, for their critical review. At the meeting’s end, he provoked a discussion to see whether the assembled clinicians felt it reasonable to continue the surgery or not in view of the inherent risks. Fortunately, they gave their support.

Chicago

Tessier Classification

Rome – A Key Meeting

The Society’s first meeting was held in La Napoule, France, with Dr. Paul Tessier presiding as honorary President.

“THIS FIRST MEETING NOW BELONGS TO THE HISTORY OF OUR SPECIALTY, AS DOES THE COURSE ORGANIZED BY E. CARONNI IN ROME (MARCH, 1982).”

The meeting was held in Florence, Italy, with Ian Munro presiding.

Fernando Ortiz-Monasterio presided over the meeting in Oaxaca, Mexico. This year, the society changed its name from International Society of Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery to International Society of Craniofacial Surgery.

It was the first time that the society met in the United States – in Santa Fe, New Mexico – with Linton A. Whitaker as President. The seventh biennial Congress was attended by more registrants than were present at the previous meeting.

Paul Tessier receives the Jacobson Prize, American College of Surgeons in Chicago.

After Twenty years, the founders once again came together in Monterrey, California.

At the Congress in Coolum, Australia, the Tessier Medal was awarded to for the first time – to Fernando Ortiz-Monasterio.

The Ortiz-Monasterio Lecture was inaugurated at the Congress held in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.