My Philosophy

The pursuit of harmony, visual pleasure, and the kind of beauty that evokes a soothing sense of fulfillment is a defining characteristic of humanity. It is also at the heart of the aesthetic quest found throughout reconstructive surgery. For Immanuel Kant ( Critique of Judgment , 1790), beauty is a universal emotion: “Beautiful is that which pleases universally without a concept.”

The word plastic derives from the Greek Plastikos (Πλαστιϰὸς), meaning “to shape” or “to form.” It was the term used by the Greeks to describe sculptures and representations of the human body. Plastic surgery is therefore the surgery of form and bodily transformation, encompassing all procedures intended to improve human appearance, regardless of the technique employed.

Although it has existed in various forms throughout history, plastic surgery truly developed worldwide at the beginning of the 20th century thanks to advances in anesthesia and aseptic techniques. Surgical procedures became painless and postoperative complications were minimized.

Both of my specialties, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery emerged during the First World War with the reconstruction of severely injured soldiers referred to as the “gueules cassées”, or “broken faces”, followed by the social and cultural changes of the Roaring Twenties. Surgeons of that era developed the foundations of the techniques we still use today to reconstruct faces, hands, and breasts, while also improving their appearance.

Initially performed to save lives, surgery gradually expanded its purpose to restoring function and, in doing so, restoring form and beauty.

This principle of restoration is at the heart of what we do when correcting a cleft lip and palate or repairing a broken and deviated nose.

The aging of tissues is itself a form of degeneration that physicians naturally seek to treat. For example, heart failure can be managed with cardiac stimulants, and degeneration of the aortic valve can now be treated with valve replacement procedures, often performed without opening the chest, in order to prolong life.

Cataract surgery, performed since antiquity to treat age-related clouding of the lens, now involves replacing the natural lens with an implant to restore vision.

In reconstructive and aesthetic surgery, we repair skin defects caused by skin cancers, reposition tissues stretched by time, and transfer tissues to reconstruct a breast.

While the need for reconstruction after an accident or illness is generally understood, restoring an aging face or correcting a naturally disproportionate body is often criticized.

Deep down, we sense that operating on a healthy body opens the door to questions that go beyond simple medicine. It may be seen either as a challenge to mortality, through the treatment of aging, or as a challenge to creation itself, through the correction of a non-pathological physical disharmony.

These challenges are reflected in countless stories, myths, and cultural taboos throughout both Western and Eastern civilizations. In Asia and Latin America, cultural narratives and beliefs differ significantly, and aesthetic surgery is often approached with less guilt or hesitation.

Does this mean that there should be no limits to the transformation of human appearance, other than technical ones?

My Duty : to master every technique in order to recommend the best one

The role of a surgeon is to establish a diagnosis and understand the available treatments, performing an intervention only when the expected benefit clearly outweighs the risks. Hippocrates showed us the way, and we have sworn an oath: Primum non nocere — First, do no harm.

Medicine is an art, and surgery is the practice of that art through medical and surgical knowledge acquired over more than fifteen years of study and training. Yet learning never truly ends. We must constantly deepen our knowledge, refine our techniques, and improve through experience.

The aesthetic surgeon also studies beauty throughout art and history: Albrecht Dürer’s Four Books on Human Proportion , Leonardo da Vinci’s principles of proportion, facial harmony, and the functional balance of the human body.

As a physician and surgeon, my work is to understand each request through attentive listening, thoughtful questioning, and careful observation. It is to analyze the tissues and structures that shape the body and face, and to master the medical, surgical, mechanical, and regenerative techniques that have demonstrated their effectiveness.

The purpose of my specialty is to help each individual bring their body into greater harmony with their mind through thoughtful work on the body. Most often, this work provides genuine peace of mind, a sign that body and mind have become more closely aligned.

In many ways, the patient is then freed from the physical concern that once occupied their thoughts and can devote themselves more fully to all the other dimensions of life.