Alphonse Guérin
Alphonse François Marie Guérin was a French surgeon who was a native of Ploërmel.
He studied medicine in Paris, and in 1850 became a surgeon of Parisian hospitals. During his career, he practiced surgery at the Lourcine, Cochin, Hôpital Saint-Louis and Hôtel-Dieu. In 1868 he became a member of the French Académie Nationale de Médecine.
In 1870, Guérin introduced the practice of using cotton-wool bandages for prevention of wound infections. He described a horizontal fracture of the maxilla immediately above the teeth and palate, that is known today as a "Le Fort I fracture", or sometimes as a "Guérin fracture".
Associated eponyms
He was a specialist in urologic surgery, and has a handful of genitourinary terms that contain his name:- "Guérin's glands": Today referred to as periurethral glands, or as Skene's glands.
- "Guérin's sinus": The lacuna magna; a diverticulum or cul-de-sac behind Guérin's valve.
- "Guérin's valve": Fold or valve of mucous membrane in the navicular fossa.