Walter Yeo

Walter Ernest O'Neil Yeo (20 October 1890 – December 1960) was an English sailor in the First World War, who is thought to have been one of the first people to benefit from advanced plastic surgery, namely a skin flap.

Three weeks after his birth, his father was killed aboard HMS Serpent while on route to Sierra Leone, after hitting rocks off Cape Vilan, Spain.

He was rated ordinary seaman on his 18th birthday and conducted his adult training at HMS Vivid (shore establishment 1890).

[1] Gillies's notes on this case indicate that the main disfigurement was severe ectropion as well as waxy scar tissue of the forehead and nose.

[1] Yeo is thought to have been one of the first patients to be treated with this newly developed technique, a form of skin transplantation called a 'tubed pedicle' flap.

On 30 November, the second stage of the surgery was performed which consisted of excision of the scar tissue of the face and transfer of the graft.

He underwent a further operation in August 1921, after which his disfigurement was recorded as 'improved, but still severe', and he was recommended for medical discharge, which took place on 15 December 1921.