The aesthetic correction of the ptotic breast by the procedure of nipple–areola transposition1 – a contemporary translation and commentary

Summary‘No vertical scar’ techniques of breast shaping have received increasing attention during the last decade and are sometimes viewed as ‘new’ methods. In this article, we provide a comprehensive introduction to the roots of this procedure. Raymond Passot has to be credited with the original design of ‘no vertical scar’ methods. We provide a contemporary translation of his original article written in French in 1925. The historical context of this new procedure was researched using original sources that were in French and German languages. The evolution of the procedure and its reception by Passot's contemporaries up to 1932 are examined, which give insight into the concepts of blood supply to the breast, shaping techniques and the aetiopathology of breast deformities in the pre-World War II era, which were successfully developed by the Austrian–German school of thought, resulting in the birth of modern breast shaping surgery based on Passot's ‘no vertical scar’ procedure. The lasting truths discovered in that era were frequently reinvented in the subsequent decades in English without crediting the original authors.