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This past week, as President of the Kentucky Society of Plastic Surgeons, I was responsible for arranging and running the yearly meeting here in Louisville. I spent a fair amount of time organizing a fun and informative learning opportunity for the residents of UK and UL as well as the academic and private practice plastic surgeons from around the state. I had visiting a plastic surgeon from my alma mater at Duke, a Ph.D. from Santa Barbara and practice consultant from Ohio all make outstanding presentations to a record crowd. It was so nice to hear many compliments from my peers about what a great meeting experience it was. One of the lectures that I devised was a panel where difficult plastic surgery problems were addressed by several surgeons from around the state. In our specialty, there is often many solutions to a given problem and that is where the “art” of plastic surgery lies. We did have a little scare for our dinner plans which were scheduled for a steakhouse near my office. Apparently, there was no power at that establishment. It was Ryder Cup week in Louisville and most restaurants that could accommodate large groups had been booked long in advance. Fortunately, for us, another steakhouse had a cancellation that morning. As some of our local patients may know, hurricane force winds had wreaked havoc in greater Louisville earlier that week. We were fortunate that another group had to back out at the last minute.

Today I saw a patient that exemplifies some of the positive effects we as plastic surgeons can have on our patients. A few weeks ago a very nervous teenager came in with her mother to be evaluated for small breasts. She seemed shy and was quite hesitant to let me examine her. Her mother said that her daughter hated summertime because she refused to be seen in a bathing suit. She had more than just small breasts. She had a breast deformity that we see quite often called tubular breasts. In this condition, the base of the breast does not form correctly leaving the nipple and areola pointing downward. I will usually not do breast surgery on a teenager but in these situations of deformity at an age where body image is vastly important to the psyche, I think it is warranted. About a week ago, she had expandable breast implants placed so that we could gradually increase her size over several months and she could determine the final size before the port is removed. What a change a week made. She came in all bubbly and excited. Her mother states she can’t keep her out of a bathing suit. The same girl who several weeks ago was hesitant to be examined had to be reminded that we have finished looking at her and she could replace her robe. While I don’t cure cancer or return trauma patients to health anymore, it’s days like these that remind me why I choose to be a plastic surgeon in the first place. Happy patients.