Elastic lifting stems from the experience of Dr. Capurro, who, when still only 19 years old, began assisting his mother, the first woman plastic surgeon in Italy, in her lifting procedures. After all these years, Dr. Capurro, who is a surgeon and patent-holder, has turned these operations into mini-invasive procedures, thereby destroying the myth of dissection.
The elastic lifting procedures preserve the integrity of the vascularisation and innervation of the tissues, achieving efficacious and natural rejuvenation even in areas where traditional esthetic surgery is complex and risky. At the 2019 Congress of the Italian Society of Esthetic Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, from 26 to 28 september, Dr. Capurro will present an overview of the most common elastic lifting procedures of the face and neck, including the latest two: elastic rhinoplasty and elastic canthopexy.
Flora Spolidoro Capurro, the first woman plastic surgeon in Italy and a writer, was born in Piombino in 1916. Her father, the Marquis Spolidoro, was an officer in the Italian Navy and her mother was the daughter of American bankers. Up to the age of seven years she lived in America, but moved to Liguria when her father became commander of the Port of Santa Margherita. Despite the premature death of her father, Flora and her five siblings all took university degrees. Her brother Rurik, a gold-medal winner, was admitted to the Normal School in Pisa when only 16 years old, becoming the youngest graduate in Italy. He subsequently died in a concentration camp at Gusen. Flora graduated in medicine and surgery in 1940 and was awarded the Diploma of Honor of the city of Genoa. She then worked at San Martino Hospital, where she treated the war wounded and became the first woman plastic surgeon in Italy. Encouraged by her husband, Stelio Capurro, who held the chair of histology and embryology at Genoa University, she founded a private practice of esthetic surgery and therapy. She was an enthusiastic, optimistic woman with boundless energy. In the words of her son Sergio, "She was a full-time mother: generous, loving and attentive". As a journalist and publicist, she wrote for the Corriere Mercantile and authored numerous articles and scientific papers. Among her many prizes and awards, she received the Esculapio d'oro in 1970. In 1992, she was made a Knight of the Italian Republic. In 1999, at the age of 83 years, she published the book "Da Esculapio ad Afrodite. Diario di una chirurga plastica". She left us on 18 August 2012, aged 96 years.
