A Surgeon’s Opinion of Traditional Plastic Surgery

TRADITIONAL PLASTIC SURGERY- AN INSIDER (SURGEON) OPINION

To me, plastic surgery that is practiced using traditional approaches represents a not progressive approach to rejuvenating the aging face.

The picture below is a perfect example. This is an actual face lift scar from a prominent plastic surgeon. It is displayed on his website. Important points to note:

• Very noticeable straight line incision in front of the ear.
• This woman can never wear her hair back without other people noticing.
• This is unfortunately common and typical of old-school, traditional techniques.
• With the proper approach, this is, fortunately avoidable.

Below is an example of the type of face lift incision that I design, following the approach of progressive plastic surgery. Important points to note:

• It is a very discreet incision, almost imperceptable.
• The entire ear looks normal.
• She can wear her hair in any style she wishes, dry or wet.
• The incision is created using 3 curves that follow the contour of the ear.

But Don’t You Practice Here in the Boston Area, with a Long History of Traditional Medicine?

Yes, I do. But unlike many surgeons who practice in the area, I did not receive my training in Boston and instead was fortunate enough to receive my surgical training in head and neck surgery and facial cosmetic surgery in San Francisco.

I was educated at Harvard college, where I graduated with honors in Biology. I also spent 2 summers and 1 year as a research assistant at the National Cancer Institute (NCI-NIH) in Bethesda, MD and 1 summer as a researcher in a general surgery lab at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

So I have benefited from the best of several worlds:

• A Harvard undergraduate education
• Basic science research at the NIH
• Basic science research at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital
• Cutting-edge surgical training at the best institution on the west coast, the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF)

Large Medical Institutions

I do believe that in some respects, the traditional local medical community is unparalleled. If you have a serious medical problem, you cannot get better care than at one of several world class hospitals in Boston. With cosmetic facial surgery, however, much of the progressive thinking and techniques have emanated from the West coast and other cities, and not the traditional bastion of medicine.

A progressive approach to facial plastic surgery can only help to make for better, more natural looking results.