Gillies was widely regarded as the modern father of plastic surgery. He began work at Queen's Hospital in Sidcup, which was the first hospital in Britain dedicated to facial reconstructive surgery.

Gillies strongly advocated for his patients and for patient-centred teams, which only became standard practice in 1960s. He used pedicled and tubed flaps to restore facial function. Gillies recognised the importance of improving the appearance and aesthetics of plastic surgery, a huge change from the functionality aspect of surgery pre-war. He made several records of pre and post-reconstructive faces, and his inventions such as the Gillies tissue forceps and the Gillies needle holders are still used to this day.

Fry worked with Harold Gillies during WWI. He specialised in treatments for patients with cleft palettes and facial deformities. He was credited for designing inventive dental prostheses that returned masticatory function to patients with jaw injuries. Fry worked with soft tissue whilst Gillies worked with hard tissue.

Wood was a sculptor who produced the idea of portrait masks. With these, he aimed to recreate the patient’s original appearance from surviving features and pre-injury photographs. The masks were uncomfortable, but valuable for reconstruction.                                                 He worked with blind and facially disfigured soldiers.

Tonks was appointed during WWI as a professor of art and official war artist, since he had been a surgeon and teacher for 20 years before the out break of the war. He sketched soldiers who had sustained facial gunshot and shrapnel wounds. His background in surgery made the drawings anatomically accurate. Four of his paintings appeared in Harold Gillies’ book, Plastic Surgery of the Face, (although, only in black and white)

Known as a ‘facial architect, Coates also worked at Queen’s Sidcup with Gillies. He created plaster cast limbs and faces that helped to execute surgical reconstruction. His plaster reconstructions helped to give an accurate idea of the amount of flesh needed in a way that photographs could not.

Kilner worked as a surgical specialist in no. 4 General Hospital. He became an assistant to Harold Gillies postwar, to continue reconstruction victims of trench warfare. Kilner was one of only two plastic surgeons in Britain by 1921. He developed many instruments such as the needle holder and malar retractor. His area of expertise was cleft lip and palate surgery.