Jaques-Louis Reverdin (28 August 1842 – 9 January 1929) was a Swiss

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

who was a native of

Cologny Cologny () is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. History Cologny is first mentioned in 1208 as ''Colognier''. The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a Neolithic lake side village which was discovered near the village ...

. He studied at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, becoming an interne of hospitals in 1865. In 1869 he became an assistant to

Jean Casimir Félix Guyon Jean Casimir Félix Guyon (21 July 1831 – 2 August 1920) was a French surgeon and urologist born in Saint-Denis, Ile-Bourbon (Réunion). He studied medicine in Paris, receiving his doctorate in 1858. He was appointed ''médecin des hôpitaux' ...

(1831–1920) in the surgical department at the Hôpital Necker in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Afterwards he moved to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, where he eventually became chief surgeon at the ''Hôpital Cantonal de Geneve'', and a professor at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

. In 1869, Reverdin performed the first "fresh skin"

allograft Allotransplant (''allo-'' meaning "other" in Ancient Greek, Greek) is the Organ transplant, transplantation of cell (biology), cells, Biological tissue, tissues, or Organ (anatomy), organs to a recipient from a genetically non-identical donor of ...

. The eponymous "Reverdin graft", also known as a "pinch graft", is a procedure for removing tiny pieces of skin from a healthy area of the body and seeding them in a location that needs to be covered. His name is also associated with a specialized surgical instrument known as a " Reverdin needle". In 1882, with his cousin and assistant Auguste Reverdin (1848–1908), he observed that

myxedema Myxedema () is a term used synonymously with severe hypothyroidism, but also to describe a dermatological change that can occur in hypothyroidism and (rare) paradoxical cases of hyperthyroidism. In this latter sense, myxedema refers to depositi ...

occurred as a delayed complication when the

thyroid gland The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans, it is a butterfly-shaped gland located in the neck below the Adam's apple. It consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by ...

is surgically removed. He documented his findings in an article titled ''Note sur vingt-deux opérations de goitre''. On 13 September 1882 he presented his observations to the Medical Society of Geneva. He retired in 1910 and dedicated himself to the study of butterflies. The Reverdin's blue butterfly is named after him. He died in Pregny on 9 January 1929.

References

Bibliography

Art and Medicine.com
about "Note sur vingt-deux opérations de goitre"

* ''Parts of this article are based on a translation of an equivalent article at the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia () is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has :fr:Special:Statistics, encyclopedia artic ...

.'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reverdin, Jaques-Louis 1842 births 1929 deaths Swiss surgeons People from the canton of Geneva Academic staff of the University of Geneva