Attendees included Argentine surgeons Dr. Ernesto Malbec (Buenos Aires) and Dr. Lelio Zeno (Rosario).
The 2nd Latin American Congress was held in 1942, in Buenos Aires and in Rosario, and created a significant boost to the specialty in Argentina.
Argentina was the home of a small number of specialists up to the 1940s, and the publication of their findings were largely limited to general medical journals or the bulletin of the Argentine Society of Surgeons.
Complex cases were discussed with great interest, allowing professionals to compare and add opinions of medical diagnosis and treatment; that was the beginning of the teaching of the specialty in Argentina.
An initiative by Dr. Héctor Marino for the establishment of a professional association of Argentine plastic surgeons led to two meetings on the subject: in late 1951 and early 1952.
[1] An interim steering committee of 14 members was formed, and Doctors José C. Viñas and Alberto Beaux drafted the charter.
SACPER's Argentine Congress of Plastic Surgery met in cities across the country, and the group began to develop conferences, courses and other educational activities.
Since 1996, it was decided that the chairmanship of the latter should fall on another member of the Society, considering the complexity of these events by taking the advances and new developments in the specialty and mass audience of professionals.
The specialty has been recognized by the National Academy of Medicine, dedicating a seat which was occupied successively by two former presidents of SACPER: first by Dr. Héctor Marino and then by Dr. Fortunato Benaim.
These Congresses are increasingly important and popular because of the unceasing progress and development of new procedures, instruments and technical resources on both aesthetic and reconstructive surgery.
It is dedicated to the medical and surgical treatment of patients with cleft lip and palate with the participation of voluntary and pro bono plastic surgeons, and is directed by Dr. Rodolfo Rojas.
Surgeons in this specialty believe that the terms "aesthetic" and "reconstructive" are, in reality, inseparable in the daily practice of plastic surgery, for what is ultimately intended for each patient, according to their needs and condition, is a better quality of life.