1958

Surgeon Francis Usher successfully uses polyethylene plastic (developed for use in space program parachutes and in 1957 used to make hulu hoops) in a woven mesh to repair groin hernias: “Scar tissue fuses the synthetic material with the surrounding tissues, restoring their original solidity. Usher placed the mesh deep in the abdominal wall, between the hernial sac and the muscle layer” (Van de Laar, ch 22).