Alexander von Winiwarter (22 April 1848 – 31 October 1917) was an Austrian-Belgian surgeon who was a native of Vienna.
[1] Alexander Winiwarter obtained his medical doctorate in 1870 at the University of Vienna, and worked as a surgical assistant at the Vienna University Clinic under Theodor Billroth, a pioneer in the field of modern surgical practices.
Later, he became head of the surgical department at the Kronprinz-Rudolf-Kinderspitals (Crown Prince Rudolf Children's Hospital), and in 1878 relocated to Belgium, where he became a professor of surgery at the University of Liège.
In the latter part of the 19th century, Winiwarter introduced specialized massage and compression procedures to treat lymphedema, a disease that causes swollen arms and legs due to fluid retention in the lymphatic system.
[2] In 1932, Danish physiotherapist Emil Vodder refined and improved Winiwarter's technique to treat lymphedema.