Face Maker Brought to Screen

The pioneering methods used by NZ facial surgeon, Sir Archibald McIndoe, and his Canadian partner, Dr Ross Tilley, during WW2 are the inspiration behind a new Canadian documentary, The Guinea Pig Club. McIndoe and Tilley used radical techniques on Allied airmen who had suffered severe burns and disfigurement during battle, with the underlying belief that “the emotional scars were no less their concern than the physical scars […] The two surgeons were venerated by their patients because they restored their confidence and will to live, even while the airmen endured an average of 25 agonising operations each.” Read the NZEdge profile on McIndoe compatriot Sir Harold Gillies.