Suzanne Noël

Suzanne Blanche Gros Noël (1878–1954), also known as Madame Noël, was one of the first French plastic surgeons; she became known for her face lift technique, the “petite operation.” Noël was also a very active feminist, a trait which was seen as extremely radical for a cosmetic surgeon to possess. Her career spanned from 1916 until 1950.

She was born on January 8, 1878, in Laon, France, the only daughter of a well-off family. At the age of nineteen she married Henri Pertat, a physician and nine years her senior. In 1905, she started taking medical classes to work with her husband. She has done well in her studies and after the birth of her daughter, she passed the "Internat des Hospitaux de Paris" in 1912. She was the fourth of sixty-seven students to do this. In 1919, her first husband, Henri Pertat, died and Noёl married a fellow dermatology student, André Noёl. Their marriage was short lived as after the death of her daughter, André Noёl threw himself into Seine River while Suzanne could see him.

Noёl first gained an interest in cosmetic surgery in 1912 when she saw American actress Sara Bernhardt, who was well over sixty, come back from a trip looking rather rejuvenated. Noёl began to experiment with pinching her skin to see if she could acquire the same effect. She later moved to experimenting on anesthetized rabbits. When she started her practice in 1916, Noël was allowed to treat wounded soldiers for facial surgeries during World War I. She received training on how to operate on disfiguring scars and the rejuvenation of wrinkled faces. Most hospitals did not admit doctors, let alone female doctors, who only practiced plastic surgery. Due to this fact, she decided to set up a clinic from her home. Her practice at home was limited to minor surgeries such as face lifts and eyelid corrections. Her famous "petite operation" was a technique in which she would make small incisions along the hairline, making the incision invisible. She would then suture just enough skin, while careful not to excise any underlying tissue, to fabricate tension in building improvement. She became well-known drawing "world-renowned persons of the fashion world and of the European aristocracy." At the onset of World War II, she gave up her private practice and moved to practice at Clinique des Bluets in Paris, where she could do major surgery. In Paris she did bolder surgeries such as reshaping the breasts, slimming the abdomen and arms, excising fat from the legs and eliminating wrinkles in the hand by injecting a sclerosing solution into the blood vessels. Noël's concern for her patient's well-being extended beyond the actual surgery as she would make incisions behind the hairline or actually dye the bandage to match their hair color. She would even suggest changing one's hairstyle or buying a new hat so they wouldn't have to explain what happened to friends and family who were unaware of the surgery. In 1926, she wrote a plastic surgery handbook that became widely read.

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