Education
He studied medicine at Halle and Leipzig, and after obtaining his licence from Leipzig, he was in 1807 appointed a private physician to Duke Alexius of Anhalt-Bernburg.
He studied medicine at Halle and Leipzig, and after obtaining his licence from Leipzig, he was in 1807 appointed a private physician to Duke Alexius of Anhalt-Bernburg.
In 1811, he became a professor of surgery and director of the ophthalmological institute at the University of Berlin. During the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon, he was a superintendent of military hospitals. When peace was concluded in 1815, he resumed his professorial duties.
He was also appointed physician to the general staff of the Prussian army, and he became a director of the Friedrich Wilhelm Institute and of the Medico-Chirurgical Academy (Charité).
He died suddenly at Hanover, where he had been called to operate on the eyes of the crown prince. He developed his own techniques in regards to rhinoplasty, being modifications of the Italian methods of Gasparo Tagliacozzi (1545–1599) as well as Indian surgical practices that date from antiquity.
Graefe also performed one of the first operations for treatment of a congenital cleft palate, and was a pioneer of eyelid surgery. His lectures at the University of Berlin attracted students from all parts of Europe.
He is also reputed to have carried out the first reported clitoridectomy in the West, which was done on a teenage girl regarded as an "imbecile" who was masturbating.
German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.