- A dictionary of medical eponyms

Erich Lexer

Born  1867-05-22
Died  1937-12-04

Related eponyms

    German surgeon, born May 22, 1867, Freiburg im Breisgau; died December 4, 1937.

    Biography of Erich Lexer

    Erich Lexer was born in Freiburg in Breisgau, where his father, Matthias von Lexer (1830-1892),  was a university teacher in Germanistics. Erich Lexer studied in Freiburg and Würzburg, obtaining his doctorate at the latter in 1889. He was licensed in 1890 (Approbiert) and subsequently worked for as brief period of time as an assistant in the anatomical institute in Göttingen under the anatomist Friedrich Sigmund Merkel (1945-1919 and then spent eleven years  in the Berlin surgical clinic under Ernst von Bergmann  (1836-1907).

    Lexer was habilitated for surgery in Berlin 1898 and promoted to professor extraordinary in 1902, becoming head of the surgical policlinic 1904. In 1899 he married Rosa Leiden, the daughter of a merchant. Their daughter Erika was born in 1900, their son Wolfgang in 1902, in 1906 the son Gernot and the daughter Gunda in 1910.

    In 1905 he assumed the chair of surgery at the Albertina University in Königsberg, 1910 in at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena.

    With the outbreak of World War I Erich Lexer, being head physician to the navy – Genraloberarzt der Marine -  first stationed in Hamburg and later in Flandern. Subsequently he was made head of the surgical clinic in Jena. In 1919 he was invited to the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg, where he stayed until 1928 when he became director of the university surgical clinic in Munich. Already within a year he wa elected head of the Bavarian Surgical Association - Bayerischer Chirurgenvereinigung. In 1936 he was elected to the Leopoldina.

    Lexer is remembered for his introduction of surgical techniques concerning plastic and cosmetic surgery. He is credited for his pioneering work involving transblepharoplasty; more popularly known as "forehead lift" surgery. In 1906 he performed one of the earliest facelift operations. In 1921 he pioneered a technique for mammaplastic surgery that later became popular in the 1950s. Lexer is also credited as the first physician to advocate subcutaneous mastectomy for treatment of fibrocystic breast disease.

    Today, the Erich Lexer Clinic for Aesthetic-Plastic Surgery in Freiburg is named in his honour.

    Bibliography

    Wert der Quecksilberbehandlung in der Syphilistherapie. Doctoral dissteration, Würzburg, 1889

    Entfernung einer im Querfortsatz des ersten Brustwirbels eingeheilten Kugel.
    Habilitation thesis, Berlin 1898.

    Ersats der Ohrmuschel.
    In F. König, A. von Eiselsberg und Körte W. Hildebrand.
    Archiv für klinische Chirurgie, Berlin, 1910, 92a (3): 774-778.

    Zur Gesichtsplastik III. Ersats der Ohrmuschel.
    Archiv für klinische Chirurgie, Berlin, 1910, 92b (3): 774-793.

    Ortoplastik. Ohrbildung. In: Chirurgie des Kopfes. by H. Coenen, F. Krause, W. Kümmel, H. Küttner, E. Lexer, G. Perthes & O. Römer. Stuttgart : Verlag von Ferdinand Enke, 1921: 731-735.

    Chirurgie des Kopfes. Bearbeitet von H. Coenen, F. Krause, W. Kümmel, H. Küttner, E. Lexer, G. Perthes & O. Römer. Published by: Carl Garrè, Hermann Küttner and Erich Lexer.
    Stuttgart : Verlag von Ferdinand Enke, 1921.

    Die Chirurgie des Gesichtes. Plastische Operationen.
    In: Chirurgie des Kopfes, Volume 1, part 1, Stuttgart : Verlag von Ferdinand Enke, 1921: 442-634.

    Wert der Quecksilberbehandlung in der Syphilistherapie.
    Doctoral dissertation. Würzburg, 1889.

    Lehrbuch der allgemeinen Chirugie. Stuttgart, 1903.

    Die freien Transplantationen. 
    Neue Deutsche Chirurgie, volume 26 a and b. Stuttgart, 1919-1924.

    Wiederherstellungschirurgie. Leipzig, Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1920. 361 pages.
    Reprinted in 2007.
    2nd. edition entitled: Die gesamte Wiederherstellungschirurgie. 2 volumes, 1931.

    Die gesamte Wiederherstellungschirurgie. Leipzig, Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1931.
    2nd edition of Wiederherstellungschirurgie.

    Chirurgie der Wirbelsäule und des Beckens.
    Published by Carl Garré !857-1928), Hermann Küttner (1870-1932) and Erich Lexer.
    Handbuch der praktischen Chirurgie. IV. Band. 5. Auflage
    Stuttgart: Verlag von Ferdinand Enke, 1922.  1142 pages.

    Chirurgie der Wirbelsäule und des Beckens. Bearbeitet von H. Graff, A. Henle, H. Kümmell, C. Rammstedt,  H.Schlange, C. Steinthal, W. Stoeckel & O. Zuckerkandl.
    In Handbuch der praktischen Chirurgie. Fifth edition.
    Published by Carl Garré, Hermann Küttner and Erich Lexer
    Stuttgart, Verlag von Ferdinand Enke, 1922. 1142 pages.
    Contributions:
    Adolf Henle (1864-1936): Die Chirurgie des Rückenmarks; Die Chirurgie der Wirbelsäule.
    Carl Steinthal (1859-1926): Die Chirurgie des knöchernen Beckens einschließlich der Gefäße und der Nerven.
    Max Schede (1844-1902), Neubearbeitet von H. Kümmel & H.Graff: Die Chirurgie der Nieren und Harnleiter.
    Otto Zuckerkrandl (1861-1921): Die Chirurgie der männlichen Harnblase.
    Conrad Ramstedt (1867-1963): Die Chirurgie der männlichen Harnröhre.
    Walter Stoeckel (1871-1961): Die Chirurgie der weiblichen Harnorgane.
    Hans Schlange (1856-1922): Die Chirurgie der Prostata.
    Fritz v. Bramann (1854-1913) & Conrad Ramstedt (1867-1963): Die Chirurgie des Hodens und seiner Hüllen.
    Conrad Ramstedt (1867-1963): Die Chirurgie des Penis.

    Chirurgie des Bauches. In: Handbuch der praktischen Chirurgie. III. Band.
    Publisherd by Carl Garré, Hermann Küttner and Erich Lexer.
    Stuttgart, Verlag verlag von Ferdinand Enke, 1923. 1048 pages. Also 1929, 1297 pages.
    Contributions:
    Carl Steinthal (1859-1926): Die Chirurgie der Bauchdecken.
    Werner Körte (1853-1937): Die Chirurgie des Peritoneum; Allgemeines über Bauchoperationen.
    Johann von Milulicz (1850-1905) & Walther Kausch (1867-1928): Die Chirurgie des Magens und Darms.
    Carl Garre (1857-1928): Pathologie und Klinik des Darmverschlusses (Ileus).
    Walter Capelle (1889-1921): Die Entzündung des Wurmfortsatzes.
    Ernst Graser (1860-1929): Die Hernien.
    Hermann Heineke (1873-1922): Chirurgie der Milz.
    Werner Körte (1853-1937): Die Chirurgie des Pankreas.
    August Borchard (1864-1940): Chirurgie des Mastdarms und des Afters.

    Chirurgie der oberen Gliedmassen.In: Handbuch der praktischen Chirurgie. III. Band.
    Publisherd by Carl Garré, Hermann Küttner (1870-1932) and Erich Lexer.
    Stuttgart, Verlag verlag von Ferdinand Enke, sixth edition, 1929.

    Chirurgie der unteren Gliedmassen.In: Handbuch der praktischen Chirurgie. III. Band.
    Publisherd by Carl Garré, Hermann Küttner and Erich Lexer.
    Stuttgart, Verlag verlag von Ferdinand Enke, sixth edition, 1929.

    Chirurgie der unteren Extremitäten. Bearbeitet von M. Borchardt, M. v.Brunn, A. Hoffa & P. Reichel. Handbuch der Plastischen Chirurgie, volume fifth edition, volume 6. 903 pages.
    Carl Garré !857-1928), Hermann Küttner (1870-1932) and Erich Lexer, publishers.
    Stuttgart: Verlag von Ferdinand Enke, 1923.

    Die pyogenen Infektionen und ihre Behandlung. = Neue Deutsche Chirurgie volume 56. Published by Erich Lexeer. Stuttgart, Ferdinand Enke, 1936. 118 pages…

    Ferdinand Sauerbruch (1875-1951):
    Festschrift zum 60. Geburtstage von Geheimrat Prof.Dr. E. Lexer in Freiburg i. B. am 22.Mai 1927. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Chirurgie Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, 1927, 12, 701 pages.

    Isidor Fischer (1869-1943), publisher:
    Biographisches Lexikon der hervorragenden Ärzte der letzten fünfzig Jahre.
    Berlin – Wien, Urban & Schwarzenberg, 1932.

    Ulrich T. Hinderer and Juan L. del Rio:
    Erich Lexer’s mammaplasty. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, New York, 1992, 16 (2): 101-107.

    Ellen Magdalena Dittmann:
    Der Chirurg Erich Lexer (1867–1937). Untersuchungen zu seiner Person, seiner Wirkung und seinem Nachruhm.
    Published by Georg Lexer, Klagenfurt, and Arnulf Thiede, Würzburg
    Dr. Reinhard Kaden Verlag Heidelberg, 2007.

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