The Healing Mission of Plastic Surgery: One Surgeon's Story

He appeared to be an ordinary middle-aged man sitting in the first examination room of my plastic surgery clinic. The baseball cap was the only thing that seemed somehow out of place. I said, "Hello, Mr. Brown, I am Dr. Cronin; what can I do for you?". Without saying a word, he grabbed the bill of his cap and, with a little flair, removed it to expose the reason for his visit. "Can you help me, Dr. Cronin?" he said. My eyes open a little wider, and I stood a little taller as I tried to be nonchalant. The entire structure of his forehead was missing. In its place was an indentation large enough to steady a basketball. I wondered how someone with such a deformity and apparent loss of brain tissue could be such a normally functioning individual. Eventually, I was able to give him a new forehead through the art and science of plastic surgery.

This man represents only one of many intriguing plastic surgery true stories that will unfold in The Healing Mission of Plastic Surgery. I will highlight many of the stories with images that further bring to life the human condition of actual patients in their quests for healing. This book reveals a seemly side to plastic surgery that is transforming lives every day in hospitals and clinics all over the world. I explore the interrelationship between functional, reconstructive, and aesthetic (cosmetic) surgery. I show the scope of plastic surgery from the top of the head to the bottom of the feet, which involves patients from infants to octogenarians.

This book is a memoir of the 38 years of my very diverse plastic surgery practice. All of the cases were done by me unless explicitly stated otherwise. The book touches on the origins of plastic surgery and attitudes about it. I exemplify self-image and body image issues with case studies. I elucidate the arduous requirements necessary to become a plastic surgeon. I reveal the lack of regulation of specialists and some of the general misperceptions of the public regarding plastic surgery. I explain my early interest in medicine and my journey to become a plastic surgeon with the help of many excellent mentors.

I have had a particularly enjoyable type of practice, which combined private medicine with teaching in an academic residency program, with exposure to a broader range of cases than the average plastic surgeon. I depict exciting trauma experiences from the emergency room and beyond. I document the unique role of plastic surgery in cleft lip and palate care and breast cancer care. I disclose the development of the modern breast implant by Dr. Thomas Cronin and Dr. Frank Gerow. I chronicle the origin of the Cronin and Brauer Cleft Palate Clinic and my thirty-year experience with Operation San Jose, a cleft lip and palate mission project to Latin America.

I share personal experiences covering functional, reconstructive, and aesthetic plastic surgery. I reveal the joys frustrations and disappointments of more than 38 years of practice. I put into modern perspective innovations, which came about during my career, such as microsurgery, myo-cutaneous flaps, liposuction, endoscopic surgery, and lasers. Included are stories of courageous patients benefiting from the modern wonders of the reconstructive possibilities in the ever-evolving world of plastic surgery today. I've written a book that I hope will appeal to the curious general public through the use of case studies and anecdotes.