Louis Xavier Édouard Léopold Ollier (; 2 December 1830 – 26 November 1900) was a French

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

, known for his pioneering work in

reconstructive surgery Reconstructive surgery is surgery performed to restore normal appearance and function to body parts malformed by a disease or medical condition. Description Reconstructive surgery is a term with training, clinical, and reimbursement implicat ...

and

orthopedics Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics (American and British English spelling differences, alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgic ...

Biography

Ollier was born in Les Vans, department of

Ardèche Ardèche (; , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche (river), Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

, and in 1851 began work as medical interne at

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

Hospital. In 1857 he earned his medical doctorate in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and in 1860 became chief-surgeon at the

Hôtel-Dieu In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu () was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris being the oldest an ...

. In 1877 he became a professor of clinical surgery. Following Ollier's death in 1900, his position at Lyon was filled by surgeon Mathieu Jaboulay (1860–1913). Ollier is famous for his work in bone and joint surgery. He became internationally known for developing techniques involving bone- resection, and is remembered for his extensive research of regeneration of bone by the

periosteum The periosteum is a membrane that covers the outer surface of all bones, except at the articular surfaces (i.e. the parts within a joint space) of long bones. (At the joints of long bones the bone's outer surface is lined with "articular cartila ...

following resection. He was a pioneer in the field of

bone grafting Bone grafting is a type of transplantation used to replace missing bone tissue or stimulate the healing of fractures. This surgical procedure is useful for repairing bone fractures that are extremely complex, pose a significant health risk to the ...

, and also devised a surgical operation known as astragalectomy. In 1872 he developed a split-thickness

skin graft Skin grafting, a type of graft (surgery), graft surgery, involves the organ transplant, transplantation of skin without a defined circulation. The transplanted biological tissue, tissue is called a skin graft. Surgeons may use skin grafting to ...

that was later improved upon by Karl Thiersch (Ollier–Thiersch graft). His name is also associated with Ollier's disease, a bone disorder that is also known as multiple enchondromatosis. Furthermore, the cambium layer (inner layer of the

) is sometimes referred to as "Ollier's layer". This is the layer of tissue where

osteoblasts Osteoblasts (from the Greek combining forms for "bone", ὀστέο-, ''osteo-'' and βλαστάνω, ''blastanō'' "germinate") are cells with a single nucleus that synthesize bone. However, in the process of bone formation, osteoblasts functi ...

reside. On 24 June 1894 Ollier was awarded commander of the

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

by French president

Marie-François-Sadi Carnot Marie François Sadi Carnot (; 11 August 1837 – 25 June 1894) was a French statesman who served as President of France from 1887 until his assassination in 1894. His presidency was marked by a series of poorly handled crises. General Boula ...

. Ironically, later that evening Carnot was stabbed by an assassin, and Ollier was summoned to tend to the dying president's wounds. Today, the museum of

pathological anatomy Anatomical pathology (''Commonwealth'') or anatomic pathology (''U.S.'') is a medical specialty that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the gross examination, macroscopic, Histopathology, microscopic, biochemical, immu ...

at the

University of Lyon The University of Lyon ( , or UdL) is a university system ( ''ComUE'') based in Lyon, France. It comprises 12 members and 9 associated institutions. The 3 main constituent universities in this center are: Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, which f ...

is named in Ollier's honor.

Selected writings

* "Des moyens chirurgicaux de favoriser la reproduction des os après les résections, etc.", in: ''Gazette hebdomadaire de médecine et de chirurgie'', 1858 (Ollier's layer described). * ''Traité expérimental et clinique de la régénération des os et de la production artificielle du tissu osseux'', two volumes (Paris: Victor Masson, 1867). * "Greffes cutanées ou autoplastiques", in: ''Bulletin de l'

Académie de Médecine An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

'' (Paris, 1872) (Ollier–Thiersh graft described). * ''Traité des résections et des opérations conservatrices qu'on peut pratiquer sur le système nerveux'' (Paris, 1885–1898). * "Exostoses multiples", in: ''Mémoires et comptes rendus de la Société des sciences médicales de Lyon (1889)'' (1890); (Ollier's disease described).Bibliography
at

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

References

Sources

''Louis Xavier Édouard Léopold Ollier''
at

Louis Léopold Ollier "The Father of Bone and Joint and of Reconstructive Surgery"

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ollier, Louis Leopold 1830 births 1900 deaths People from Les Vans French orthopedic surgeons Commanders of the Legion of Honour