Visegrad Plastic Surgery Conference

When in 1335 the kings of Bohemia, Hungary and Poland met in Visegrád, their main aim was to cooperated in the field of politics and trade. The closer relations of our countries were not accidental, as this part of Europe was scene of cultural and political partnership of our nations for centuries. It was thus natural to wish to return to that cooperation after the fall of communism. On the initiative of presidents of Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Prime Minister of Hungary the Visegrád Declaration was signed on 15 February 1991, with the prime objective of integrating our countries. Since 1993 the V4 Group, as it is referred to in short, is made of four states: Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, with 64 million inhabitants, which forms a significant European population.

The history of plastic surgery stretches back far earlier, almost 3000 years in the past, but in this part of the world it is only centuries old. What is intriguing, also in this field we find numerous examples of cooperation between surgeons from our countries, especially in the twentieth century. It was thus natural to continue this tradition, with the intent to give it new forms. The 18 March 2018 meeting of delegates of plastic surgery societies from Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia in Polanica Zdrój initiated the creation of Visegrád Plastic Surgey Project, which aims at integrating plastic surgeons from V4 Group member states. Our intention is to give this cooperation a measurable shape, through the organization of scientific conferences. In order to enable the integration to be more comprehensive we decided to broaden the scientific program with elements of sports and recreation. It is most likely the best opportunity to get to know each other. We plan to organize our meetings annually, in subsequent V4 Group countries. The first conference will be held in Polanica Zdrój - the cradle of Polish plastic surgery. I do hope that it will form the foundation for our cooperation, which may relatively fast transform in friendship. I do hope that the interesting program will attract not only practitioners from V4 Group states, but also from the neighbouring countries, to Polanica Zdrój. The lecturers will include both the leading plastic surgeons from Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, but also world famous lecturers from outside the V4 Group. We also plan skiing competition in the nearby Ski Center Zieleniec. The whole will be topped with attractive evening meetings.

We do hope that both the programme of the conference, and the planned attractions will meet the expectations of everyone, who will visit Polanica Zdrój in March, 2019.

Welcome to Polanica Zdrój, Welcome to Visegrád Plastic Surgery Conference.

Jerzy Kolasiński
Program Chair and host of the conference