Paula Victoria Knaibl

Paula V. Knaibl was Uruguay's first female Plastic Surgeon, and became BAPS' first female Latin American Associate member.

Dr Paula V. Knaibl

Whilst Britain entertained a steady stream of trainees from around the world after the Second World War, surgery and in particular Plastic Surgery, remained a male-dominated specialty. Dr. Paula Victoria Knaibl emerged as a transformative figure, not only redefining plastic and reconstructive surgery in Uruguay but also helping to shatter gender barriers in medicine.

Born on March 9, 1916, in Buenos Aires, Argentina to Czech parents, Dr. Knaibl began her medical studies at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). In 1940 she transferred to the University of the Republic (Udelar) in Montevideo, Uruguay, where she embraced her new homeland, becoming a naturalized Uruguayan citizen in 1943. She managed to balance her studies with motherhood, having two children in the mid-1940s, graduating Doctor of Medicine and Surgery in 1949.

Defying societal expectations of the time, Dr. Knaibl specialised in plastic and reconstructive surgery, becoming Uruguay's first female plastic surgeon and the first woman to join the Sociedad de Cirugía del Uruguay.

Dr. Knaibl next to Gillies at Rooksdown, 1951

In December 1950, aged 34, having won a coveted British Council Scholarship, she came to Britain to train under an impressive cross-section of nearly all the leading plastic surgeons of the time. Dr. Knaibl spent her first weeks in the country at the plastic and jaw unit of Rooksdown house under the tutelage of Sir Harold Gillies. She then spent the next six months attending clinics at all the major plastic surgery centres, first in the south of England and then in Scotland. During this period she was able to observe, amongst others, TP Kilner, Mowlem, McIndoe, Denis Browne at Great Ormond Street, Patrick Clarkson at Guys, Guy Pulvertaft, Jack Tough in Glasgow and A. B Wallace in Edinburgh. Dr. Knaibl witnessed a broad range of reconstructive plastic, hand and burns surgery, both in Britain and for a short time in Vienna too, with Lorenz Böhler and Rudolf Ullik.

On September 27, 1951, her visit culminated with being unanimously elected as an Associate Member of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons. At a time when the Association had only four female members, Dr. Knaibl became the fifth, and the first woman from Latin America.

Paula assisting. Possibly with AB Wallace?

Dr. Knaibl went back to Uruguay and made a great impact upon the course and direction of plastic surgery there. She founded the Plastic Surgery Unit at the Military Hospital and the Pediatric Plastic Surgery Unit at Hospital Pereira Rossell, addressing critical needs in burn care and treatment for children with congenital anomalies. She also worked at several other hospitals treating severe hand injuries. She widely published and presented her work internationally on bone grafting, Dupuytren's contracture, paediatric burns and eyelid and brow reconstruction.

Paula Victoria Knaibl died, aged just 46, whilst herself undergoing a surgical procedure. She made a massive contribution not only to Uruguayan and South American surgery, but was also celebrated for her multifaceted contributions and unwavering dedication to her patients and community. She thus became a pioneer, paving the way for future generations of women in plastic surgery.