The Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery
at Clinic Tsope
since 1956
Clinic of Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery Tsope was founded by M.D, PH.D. Vakhtang “Tsope” Khutsidze on the basis of the otolaryngology department in 1956 in Tbilisi. Talented head of the clinic was a very popular surgeon otolaryngologist, who performed surgical treatment of chronic tonsillitis and reconstruction of nasal airway using conservative methods of treatment of chronic and inflammatory diseases of ENT organs.
The number of patients increased unbelievably, when for the first time in his practice Vakhtang Khutsidze carried out a successful aesthetical nose surgery using a lesser known method at that time – the closed endonasal surgical approach, which caused a great interest not only among the patients, but in the medical community as well. Since then the closed endonasal approach, without external skin incisions became a preferred technique of nose surgery in the school of plastic surgery founded by him.
Brilliant results in rhinoplasty achieved at the Clinic Tsope opened opportunities for the establishment of contacts and exchange of experience with famous clinics of plastic surgery in various countries across the world including the Czech Republic, Mexico, Japan, France, USA and Germany. Using the experience gained through these liaisons, the school of plastic surgery established by Doctor Tsope was developing in various directions, introducing a range of facial and body plastic surgeries like: upper and lower eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), Face-Lift (rhytidectomy), plastic surgery of breasts (mammoplasty), tummy tuck (abdominoplasty) and Liposculpture of the body.
In the Soviet times the popularity of Clinic Tsope was incredibly high. The film by talented film-documentalists from Moscow L.P. Bakradze and L.A. Gurevich is an interesting one in this regard. Make me Beautiful – tells a story of two young women, one of them is a young artist from Moscow with exceptional demands and ambition, while the other is a modest Georgian woman coming from a village – both of them trusted their looks to the mastery of Doctor Tsope.
Getting familiar with the works by Doctor Tsope as a painter is also interesting in getting a feeling of his view of problems of modern rhinoplasty and a lot more. .
Despite the fact that the film is made in 1984, it is based on actual events and gives a rare opportunity to make a thorough analysis of reasons, which push us towards changing our looks. The film illustrates spiritual condition of patients, reflecting their worries, at the same time demonstrating at times diametrically oppositional judgments regarding rhinoplasty from people of various professions: psychologists, painters, famous artists.
