Welcome to the newly revamped website for the Midwest Facial Plastic Center. I am very excited about the website, and the future of the MWFPC. My goal is for this to continue to be the preeminent center for facial plastic surgery in suburban Chicago. I feel that our expertise in facial plastic surgery is second to none, particularly with regards to rhinoplasty.
As most of you know, I completed both my medical school and residency training in Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery (or “ears, nose and throat”, i.e. ENT) at the University of Iowa. I take great pride in this accomplishment. What you may not be aware of is what precisely that means. ENT is an extremely competitive surgical specialty with relatively few residency slots, so typically only those at the very top of their medical school classes match in this field. Simply put, one has to be “the best of the best.” It is a surgical field, with surgeries involving essentially all areas of the complex head and neck anatomy outside of the brain and spine: from extremely complex skull base tumors to delicate inner ear surgery to pediatric airway reconstruction, ENT’s do it. This includes facial plastic surgery. It is required that ENT residents perform a certain number of “core” facial plastic surgery cases to graduate from their residency, and facial plastic surgery is a large portion of the board examination required for ENT board certification.
While many people envision cornfields and bib overalls when they think of Iowa, the ENT program at Iowa is legendary, and has consistently been rated among the top programs in the country. When I was starting my residency, it was ranked by US News & World report as the #1 program in America three years in a row. The hospital at that time was also the largest university-owned teaching hospital in the country, and yet there was no “plastic surgery” residency; facial plastics procedures as a general rule came through us.
Even though I received this level of training and successfully completed my ENT boards on my first try 14 years ago, I was not satisfied. I went on to a fellowship at Rush Medical Center in Chicago in “rhinology and facial plastic surgery” with two world-famous mentors. The union of “rhinology” (nasal and sinus disorders) and “facial plastic surgery” is rhinoplasty surgery, a particular interest of mine. While we performed all aspects of facial plastic surgery in my training and I still do to this day, rhinoplasty has always been a passion of mine. I perform both clinical and basic science research in this area. I teach students, residents and fellows this field. I lecture nationally on this topic. I love the nose.
While this was certainly more than enough to successfully practice facial plastic surgery, I still was not satisfied. Several years into my surgical practice, I sought the prestigious board certification of the American Board of Facial Plastic & Reconstrutive Surgery (ABFPRS). Becoming a board-certified member (i.e. “diplomate”) of the ABFPRS is quite difficult. There are little more than a thousand ABFPRS diplomates in the world. In addition to the fellowship training, candidates must practice facial plastic surgery for several years and submit a case log of very specific plastics’ cases over at least two years, must be in good standing with their other surgical specialty boards and their state licensing entity, must receive recommendations from qualified peers, and must complete a very rigorous board examination involving full-day written and another full-day oral board examination. The compendium of required scientific articles is voluminous, and is still not all-inclusive. After completing hundreds upon hundreds of articles, one begins tackling one of several large surgical textbooks.
What does this all mean? I want all patients who come to see me to realize that they are seeing the absolute pinnacle of expertise in facial plastic surgery. You should have no question that you are seeing someone who from day #1 was training with the “best of the best”, was training not just in a surgical field but actually learning facial plastic surgery from day one of his residency, has not once but now twice conquered the rigors of board examination in facial plastic surgery, and now has 14 years of experience in this area.
Please come join us for an initial consultation at the MWFPC. You will not regret the choice. However should you find yourself debating whether or not to come see me, please ask yourself the following: “why would I trust my face to anyone but a facial plastic surgeon?”