THE CHARLES PROCEDURE - MISQUOTED AND MISUNDERSTOOD SINCE 1950

The Charles procedure, named for Sir Richard Henry Havelock Charles, i s an eponym for a surgical treatment of leg lymphedema. Sir Havelock l ed a fascinating life, with his travels taking him to India, the Afgha n territories, and the Court of King George V of England. At the turn of this century, Sir Havelock published material describing a series o f 140 consecutive patients treated successfully for scrotal lymphedema . In a book chapter published a decade later, entitled ''Elephantiasis Scroti,'' Sir Havelock briefly described the treatment of leg lymphed ema but did not document a single successful case report. The name of Sir Havelock Charles was absent from the literature until 1950, when S ir Archibald McIndoe attributed the treatment of leg lymphedema with r adical excision and skin grafting to Sir Havelock. References to Charl es for the treatment of leg lymphedema have proliferated since that ti me.