stáhnout ve formátu PDF - My Companion, sro

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The World through the Eyes
of a Plastic Surgeon
Doc. MUDr. Jan Mû‰Èák, CSc. is the head physician at
the Esthé Clinic, the chief physician of the Plastic Surgery
Clinic at the 1st Medical Faculty of Charles University
at the Na Bulovce Faculty Hospital in Prague, the head
of the Centre for Comprehensive Surgical Care for
Women with Breast Disease at the same hospital, the
head of the Sub-Department of Plastic Surgery at the
Institute of Post-Graduate Health Care Education, a
member of the committee of the Plastic Surgery Association
of the Jan Evangelista Purkynû Czech Medical Association,
the vice-chairman of the Aesthetic Surgery Association,
a member of the International Association of Plastic and
Reconstructive Surgery and the Association for the Use
of Lasers in Medicine, a member of the scientific council
working group for the Czech Ministry of Health, a
member of the testing commission for certification in
the field of plastic surgery at the Czech Ministry of Health,
the author of numerous professional studies, and a man
whose application to hotel school was fortunately rejected.
How does a person decide to become a plastic surgeon? What brought
you to this profession?
In my youth I was a trouble-maker, but athletically gifted. I played on the
national volleyball team and was involved in track and field. My parents
wanted me to go to hotel school, but I had two or three Cs for grades
and there were so many applications for hotel school at the time that in
the end I went to the Physical Institute of the Academy of Sciences. I
studied fine mechanics, which turned out to be quite useful. Among the
craftsmen, plumbers, and electricians I met a great number of people
who were better educated and more literate than I am now. Being a
doctor doesn’t make you a god. Often there are more intelligent people
wearing overalls. After military service I was deciding between medicine
and the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, but only a straight physical
education program was offered. So, I applied for medical school, but
wasn’t accepted because I didn’t have enough chemistry coursework. I
went to work in the hospital as a maintenance worker instead. I fixed
locks, handles, whatever was necessary. I would also go to the plastic
surgery clinic. There were children there, too – seriously handicapped
and with cleft palates. I would talk to them when I fixed something there.
And from time to time I would look into medical books, so maybe my
interest in plastic surgery has its roots there. I took the entrance exams
again and was accepted to medical school. On summer holidays I would
always grab my tool bag and go back to work as a maintenance worker.
In the 3rd year of medical school we had an internship in plastic surgery.
I was lucky that Professor Fára and Associate Professor Hrivnáková chose
me as an assistant. I helped out with various scientific works and treated
injuries. When I finished medical school after six years Professor Pe‰ková,
the head of plastic surgery at the time, told me that if I wanted to be a
good plastic surgeon I would have to go out and work in the field. So I
moved to the city of Most, where I did general surgery, a great number
of injuries, various emergency conditions, and serious accidents. I learned
a lot about surgery there. After two years Professor Pe‰ková called to
see if I would be interested in applying for the position of assistant because
a surgeon with nearly 40 years of experience was on long-term leave
after cutting his fingers on a circular saw. I got the job, and that was the
start of my career as a plastic surgeon at the hospital in Vinohrady. I
focused on cleft palates, which is a problem that very few plastic surgeons
dedicate themselves to.
On wisdom
Man is never so intelligent that he can afford to reject the wisdom of others.
If you fight with someone you love, let them sometimes come out ahead.
Generosity is the expression of a noble soul; pettiness betrays a certain void.
On love
Giving or receiving love is not nearly as difficult as the act of reciprocating.
We are only deceiving ourselves if we speak of a love that does not embrace
freedom.
On life and strength
If you are convinced that you can’t go on, you’ll never discover that it simply isn’t true.
If just once you manage the unmanageable, you will grasp the fleetingness of the
fear of difficult things.
On doing good
It’s difficult for certain people to stop doing good things; for others it’s much simpler
to be on the receiving end of generosity.
What is your working day like? How do you manage everything and when
do you actually sleep?
I am known for not being able to sleep much. It’s one of those things
where you realize that you don’t actually need to sleep as much as you
think you do – that you can do with less. I am absolutely convinced of
this. When there’s something you need to do, whatever it might be, and
not even necessarily work related, you can manage a lot, even in the late
hours. Five years ago I was sleeping about three and a half hours a night
and that was fine. Now I’m a little bit older, four and a half hours of sleep
a night is sufficient. When I finish my working day around one or onethirty
in the morning, I turn on Nova TV. They broadcast such strange
shows that within a short time I am completely relaxed; I turn myself and
the television off, and drop off into a wonderful sleep. People who go
to sleep around nine in the evening then wonder why they wake up
around one in the morning. Maybe it would be better if they went to
sleep past midnight, after a little glass of beer, perhaps. But we’re all a
little bit different. It’s possible that I annoy the people around me a bit
with my energy. When people ask me how I can operate fourteen or
sixteen hours a day I tell them it’s probably because I was a top athlete
before and recognized the limits of exhaustion. I’ve never missed my
morning exercises over the past ten years, even when I didn’t feel like it
because I go to bed late and wake up early. But then I shower and I feel
great. I like conditions that are demanding for athletes – tropical heat, for
instance. I think it’s funny when I hear on the radio that people over sixty
shouldn’t go outside in these conditions, not even to shop. But I go out
and play doubles volleyball in this heat and I am in seventh heaven. So
operating doesn’t seem to me to be a situation that I can’t handle. And
there’s one more thing: my wife is always telling me not to operate so
much and to give my patients to someone else. But there are simply
people who insist that I do their operations. How can I refuse them after
they’ve waited maybe half a year for this operation and want only me?
How does your perception of aesthetic plastic operations differ from those
that are, let’s say, “more important” or necessary?
I would say that plastic surgery is a craft and that man is the material. It’s
logical that there is no room for error. I have grey hair; I have many
operations under my belt and have tried many procedures. When I am
operating I have nearly absolute certainty and I operate quickly. But then
again, sometimes I work slowly and very carefully. I can compare this with
driving fast. Before the point system came into effect I was able to get
to Brno in 55 minutes. Naturally I was careful. When it was snowing I let
all the other cars pass me. I knew that driving fast in those conditions was
highly risky. It’s all about experience. It’s beautiful work because you help
people so much. Amazing things happen. People wake up at night and
look into the mirror to make sure it isn’t just a dream. It’s a fantastic,
uplifting feeling. Aesthetic surgery wasn’t created simply as a way to make
a lot of money. There are things that have a huge impact on a person’s
mental state, be they small breasts or a big nose. Even a small operation
helps people change the way they view the surrounding world. I make
money by helping people, but that isn’t the purpose of my life. I never
recommend an operation at any cost; I refuse about sixty percent of the
people that come for consultations. When I see breasts that are sufficiently
beautiful, I won’t operate. Why would I create a new face when this one
On character and foolishness
What a man does is not as important as who he is. But it’s rare for a person
not to have some influence on another.
He who overlooks his own shortcomings often demands perfection from others.
The easier we find the bad in others, the more difficulty we have reconciling
ourselves with that which surpasses us.
Only for a rare few is money a tool for providing happiness for others.
The long battle with human foolishness often ends with absolute exhaustion.
is lovely? I don’t even have a house – I still live in a pre-fab housing estate.
It’s hard for me to find the time when I need to write some study or
book. I’m looking forward to building a house some day. If I didn’t do
university work with doctors – education, training, instruction, leading a
whole team of doctors, scientific research work, if I didn’t treat people
with injuries, amputations, cleft palates, then the reason I studied medicine
in the first place would be lost. And I should add one more thing. I wrote
an article entitled Contemplating Plastic Surgery. After acquiring accreditation
many plastic surgeons leave for private practice to make a lot of money.
They forget about real medicine. On one hand they reduce the base of
plastic surgeons working at individual hospitals, and on the other hand
the number of disputed operations rises because these doctors lack the
experience and skill to operate in private practice. I have a lot of young
people around me and I would like to instill in them the joy of practicing
real medicine. This is fulfillment. If I was to spend two days doing aesthetic
surgery instead of working at the hospital I could make a lot more money.
But I feel much better doing what I do now. Aesthetic surgery is just a
small part of plastic surgery.
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