Plastic surgery is all about proportions. When skin is tightened, will it match adjacent areas that haven't been tightened? When one area is enlarged or reduced, will it match body proportions that are kept the same size? Working knowledge of proportion and balance are essential to every artist, plastic surgery being no exception.
Many plastic surgeons have a strong art background. I have extensive training in art which included a portion of my college years in which I initially planned to become a medical illustrator and investigated postgraduate studies in this field. When I decided to become premed instead, an art professor told me that I was going to become a plastic surgeon. This was during the 1970s when plastic surgery was not as publicized and popular as it is today. Back then, plastic surgery was reconstructive and the cosmetic surgery was popular among the hollywood movie set crowd.
My art professor's prediction turned out to be correct. An art background blends perfectly with a plastic surgery practice. Every patient that I encounter utilizes some form of my art training. Three dimensional evaluation, marking the patient prior to surgery, sculpting tissue and creating balance and surgical harmony all relates to artistic asthetics.
Art is so essential to my practice that I could not imagine doing surgery or planning procedures without this background.
