Thomas Dent Mütter
Thomas Dent Mütter | |
|---|---|
Mütter in the 1840s | |
| Born | 9 March 1811 |
| Died | 19 March 1859 (aged 48) |
| Burial place | Indian Hill Cemetery, Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson Medical College |
| Known for | American pioneer of Plastic Surgery, Mütter Museum |
| Partner | Mary Wright Alsop Mütter |
| Parent(s) | John and Lucinda Mütter |
Thomas Dent Mütter (March 9, 1811 – March 19, 1859) was an American surgeon born in Richmond, Virginia. Orphaned at the age of 8 and raised by a distant relative, he attended Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia (1824) and graduated with an MD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1831. Later he eventually took a position as an assistant to Dr. Thomas Harris at the Medical Institute of Jefferson College. At the age of 30, he became the Chair of Surgery at the Jefferson Medical College and held this position from 1841 to 1856, when he resigned because of gout and lung disease.
He operated on hundreds of patients to repair deformities and became the first surgeon in 1846 to administer ether anesthesia in Philadelphia. He is best known for the "Mütter Flap" which he used in order to treat burn victims; the grafting procedure is still used today.