His endeavours comprehended subcutaneous operations such as tenotomy, the surgical division of a tendon.

In 1839, Dieffenbach performed the first successful myotomy for the treatment of strabismus on a seven-year-old boy with esotropia.

From 1816 to 1820 he studied medicine at the University of Königsberg, then relocated to Bonn as an assistant to Philipp Franz von Walther.

In 1832, he became an associate professor at the university of Berlin, and in 1840 became director of the Clinical Institute for Surgery at Charité Hospital.

[5][6] Awarded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Plastische, Rekonstruktive und Ästhetische Chirurgie e. V. (Association of German Plastic Surgeons), the Dieffenbach Medal was created by artist Fritz Becker.