Alphonse Guérin

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Alphonse François Marie Guérin (August 9, 1816 - February 21, 1895) was a French surgeon who was a native of Ploërmel. He studied medicine in Paris, and in 1850 became a surgeon of Parisian hospitals. Subsequently, he practiced surgery at the Lourcine, Cochin, Hôpital Saint-Louis and Hôtel-Dieu. In 1868 he became a member of the Academy of Medicine.

In 1870 Guérin introduced the practice of using cotton-wool bandages for prevention of wound infections. He also 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 a Guérin fracture.

He was a specialist in urologic surgery, and has a handful of genitourinary terms that contain his name, such as:

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 (fold of navicular fossa).
Guérin's valve: Fold or valve of mucuous membrane in the navicular fossa.