Colles, Abraham (1773-1843)

Irish surgeon who in 1814 observed and described a common fracture of the wrist, now named after him. Colles was born in County Kilkenny and educated at Dublin and Edinburgh. He set up in practice in Dublin 1797 and began to teach anatomy and surgery. At the age of 29 he became president of the Royal College of Surgeons, where he was a professor 1804-36. In 1814 the paper on Colles's fracture was published describing the fracture of the distal (carpel) end of the radius bone in the forearm. This causes deformity and swelling of the wrist, but can be easily treated once diagnosed. Colles advocated the use of tin splints to stabilize the wrist after closed reduction of the fracture. Nowadays the reduction is followed by the use of plaster of Paris casts but exactly the same principles apply. Also named after him are Colles's fascia, Colles's space, the Colles ligament (of inguinal hernia), and Colles's law of the communication of (congenital) syphilis.