Dr. Christopher Marek |
Dr. Christopher Marek quietly defies the stereotypes of plastic surgeons.
He doesn’t assume his vision of beauty is best or feel comfortable when patients ask him “What do I need to have done?” He’s taken his medical and surgical training to Ecuador on mission trips.
And perhaps most perplexing of all, Dr. Marek is not in Hollywood or Las Vegas. His office is in Danville.
Marek grew up in Petersburg, Va., attended the University of Virginia medical school and trained in plastic surgery at the University of Kentucky. His wife is from Berea.
The idea that it’s odd for a plastic surgeon to set up a practice is a small central Kentucky city is one of the many misconceptions Marek hopes to change.
“There is always a need for a plastic surgeon somewhere,” Marek said. “Like if a cancer doctor removed a breast and that person wanted to have reconstruction, well they just didn’t have it or went to Lexington or Louisville to have it done.”
While rotating through various specialities during his medical training, he became interested in plastic surgery. During a rotation in head surgery, he watched plastic surgeons repair a patient’s face, and that is what led to his interest in the field.
The idea that plastic surgery is all about tummy tucks and facelifts is a common misconception, Marek said. Most of the surgeries he performs are facial reconstructions for car accident victims, skin grafts for cancer patients, or repairs on damages from injuries or invasive surgeries.
“Somebody that has a big cancer or a small cancer that they take off and ends up leaving a big hole somewhere, or a kid that has a cleft pallet that can't eat, drink or speak the way they need to,” Marek explained. “You can go and fix those things and change that to help that person.”
Cosmetic surgery still constitutes a large part of Marek's business, though. Almost half of the operations he performs are cosmetic. But even if they aren't physically necessary, they still benefit recipients in more ways than people realize.
“You might look at someone, and not see what they're seeing,” he said.
In spite of benefits, he doesn't think plastic surgery can solve a person’s underlying problems. Marek always tells people to weigh the costs and risks of surgery against whatever benefits there might be for them.
Sometimes his recommendation is even to do nothing at all.
“Some of the people that come in think they need a certain surgery or think they have a problem where they probably don’t,” he said. “You have to watch out for that kind of thing.”
There is little, if any, plastic involved in plastic surgery. Instead the name is derived from the Greek word for shaping and molding, Marek said.
Most reconstruction is done by taking tissue or bone from one part of the body and repurposing it, such as bones from the leg replacing bones in the face or skin being transferred from one place to another.
Repairing the body with the body is better than trying to make synthetic replacements, he said.
Marek’s primary concern is helping people, and for plastic surgeons to do their job, they have to spend a lot of time talking and working with patients to know what they want.
“We tend to get close to them, get to know them and talk about all kinds of things with them,” he said. “I think because of that, patients generally feel comfortable with us.”
