Donald R. Nunn, M.D. - Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery

Articles

The Art of Transformation

Two established surgeons talk about trends in plastic surgery

By Donna Soper; Photography by David Schilling

Transforming an individual through plastic surgery is as much an art as it is a science. "This is a very creative specialty," Dr. Gregory Mackay explains. "Every case is customized. While you learn basic principles that you have to apply to every patient, each anatomy is different. You don't know how soft tissues will respond or heal."

"You could almost never conquer this field," adds Dr. Donald Nunn.

Humble words for two of Atlanta's most prestigious plastic surgeons.

The partners, who joined forces only a year ago, brought together two prominent careers marked by years of extensive training and experience to form a new practice that offers a full range of cosmetic surgery procedures and several non-surgical ones as well. For patients, the partnership of Doctors Nunn and Mackay means they get the bonus of having two surgeons with two perspectives consulting on a host of different procedures.

"Dr. Nunn and I are unique," Dr. Mackay says. "We really enjoy working together. Most plastic surgeons have big egos, so there are very few group practices.

Experience matters

After eight years of practicing as an oral surgeon, Dr. Nunn decided to broaden his expertise and went back to medical school where he completed two residencies as well as a fellowship in aesthetic surgery. Today he is triple-board certified in plastic surgery, otolaryngology/head ad neck surgery and oral and maxillofacial surgery and has over 21 years of medical experience.

Before starting a private practice, Dr. Mackay, who completed his plastic surgery residence at Emory University, held teaching appointments as an assistant professor in the division of plastic surgery at both Emory and the Mayo Clinic. He also served as the director of the craniofacial program and chief of plastic surgery at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.

The physicians came together when they both were looking for office space.

Ironically, Dr. Mackay says, his father, an orthopaedic surgeon, had known Dr. Nunn.

"We teamed up and were a right personality match," Dr. Nunn says.

Beyond the partners' team approach, the practice sets itself apart from other local practices in other ways as well.

The physicians' office, located off Peachtree Dunwoody Road in a building that is situated on the campus of Saint Joseph's Hospital, is one of the only cosmetic surgery practices in Atlanta to offer its own operating suite.

The fully accredited operating suite features a pre-op room, an operating room and a full recovery room, where patients can stay up to 23 hours under the supervision of a private nurse.

There, the doctors perform five to six surgeries a week, including breast reductions, augmentations, lifts and reconstructions; tummy tucks; liposuction; buttock and thigh lifts; face lifts; lip and chin augmentations; rhinoplasty; eyelid surgery; and neck lifts, among a host of other procedures.

Having the on-site operating room, they reason, is very appealing to patients who consider privacy a priority.

"We were lucky to get this building with a private OR suite on a hospital campus," Dr. Nunn said. "Privacy his huge, especially with male patients, who would prefer that people not know they are here."

Furthermore, he said, in the event of a rare emergency that would necessitate a trip to a hospital ER, the doctors have direct access to Saint Joseph's Hospital via an underground tunnel that connects the buildings.

"Patients like having that security," he says.

"Our OR is far nicer than the operating room in any hospital," Dr. Mackay adds. "We have quality control here."

The office, which is elegantly decorated with soothing colors, offers a photo room, examining rooms and a minor procedure room with a special chair for injection procedures such as Botox.

The 12-person staff includes two estheticians who offer a range of skin care, including microdermabrasions and skin peels.

What's more, the practice is growing so quickly that the partners have decided to bring on a third plastic surgeon. Dr. Susann Bedford, a specialist in breast cancer reconstruction, will join the practice in August.

"We're just trying to assemble a team here," Dr. Mackay says.

Growing a specialty

It's a great time to be a cosmetic surgeon, the physicians say, as procedures are becoming more and more common among women and men alike.

"People are more comfortable spending dollars on cosmetic surgery than they used to be," Dr. Mackay says. "Prices are more under control as more people have entered the field."

They [sic] physicians agree that shows like Extreme Makeover have certainly generated a more widespread acceptance of cosmetic surgery. However, Dr. Nunn cautions that unintended side effects have resulted from the popularity of these shows.

The partners' approach tends to be selective and conservative in terms of whom they will accept as patients.

While they generally adhere to guidelines set forth by the American Society of Plastic Surgery, particularly regarding age, the physicians say they look at each case individually.

"We definitely turn some people away," Dr. Mackay says.

For example, before they would agree to perform an abdominal surgery on an individual who is overweight, they will often recommend that the patient attempt to lose weight first.

They also say they won't operate on individuals who have been recently divorced or who have experienced a significant loss.

"Some people think plastic surgery will make them happy," Dr. ∕ackay says.

As such, they say they might also suggest an individual seek therapy first, particularly if the patient presents symptoms of body dismorphic disorder, whereby a person has a drastically distorted self image.

Such cases, however, are few and far between, the partners say, and they find it extremely rewarding to transform a person's life through one or more cosmetic procedures.

For example, a breast reduction on a teenager already wearing a size DD or a breast augmentation on a young woman getting ready to start college can e life changing, they say.

"Sometimes, when you take a young woman whose breasts are not very well developed," Dr. Mackay explains, "she will go from a very closed down and very withdrawn woman to having a whole new perspective on life after surgery."

Yet, they find it equally gratifying to operate on older patients who are still living very active lives.

"People are living longer and healthier now," Dr. Mackay says. "We see some young patients that aren't even as healthy as the older ones."

About 15 percent of the physicians' patients are men, who commonly choose to undergo liposuction, rhinoplasty, eyelid surgery and neck lifts, Dr. Nunn estimates.

"These are guys who are moving up in the corporate world, and they want to still look young," he says.

In addition to their busy cosmetic surgery practice, the doctors, who have affiliations with several Atlanta hospitals, find time to perform reconstructive plastic surgery on adults and children who have been injured in accidents, for example. They also donate their services, from time to time, to non-profit groups like Childspring International, which brings disadvantaged children from all over the world to the United States to receive life-changing surgical procedures.

"By and large, plastic surgery is a very rewarding specialty," Mackay says. "It's hard because we tend to be perfectionists. But we wouldn't be busy if our patients weren't happy."

Donna Soper is a freelance writer living in Peachtree City, GA.