Thursday word: rhytidectomy

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

rhytidectomy (rit-i-DEK-tuh-mee) - n., the surgical removal of facial wrinkles.


The technical medical term for a face-lift -- which, if you've ever been curious about it, involves removing some skin and pulling the rest tighter, a fairly tricky procedure, given the skin isn't flat and you have to redrape it over the flesh beneath. Which vastly oversimplifies current processes and techniques, but this is a lexical blog not a medical journal. Suffice it to say, coined around 1930 from Greek rhytid-, the stem form of rhytís, wrinkle + ec-, a form of ex-, out/away + tomia, cutting.

With Botox or the ever-popular rhytidectomy, the patina of age can be polished away -- at least for a brief time.

---L.

Comments

[med_cat]

There's a Greek term for that...who knew?!

Thanks!

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

There's a Greek (or Latin) term for everything in medicine, pretty much.

---L.

[med_cat]

Quite true; but some of them seem less commonly used than others--odynophagia is another example.