Advancing the Specialty of Plastic Surgery While Helping and Supporting Other Surgical Services at an Academic Medical Center.

While helping and supporting other surgical services at our academic medical center, we noticed that many clinical problems presented to our plastic surgery team are truly unique and challenging. Many of the necessary reconstructive procedures, performed by the senior author, had never been published in plastic surgery textbooks or the literature before. Because of the plastic surgeon's creative problem-solving ability, we use reconstructive treatment plans that also innovate and advance the field of plastic surgery. In this case series, we share our experience with creative solutions for the management of novel and challenging clinical problems faced by our plastic surgery service. The resultant and effective solutions for each challenging case have all been published in reputable plastic surgery journals by the senior author. Once published, our inventive reconstructive solutions can be harnessed by other plastic surgeons and trainees and new standardized techniques or solutions for these unique and challenging clinical problems can be established. Ultimately, plastic surgeons can evolve their specialty through helping and supporting other surgical services at an academic medical center by establishing innovative solutions for ever arising challenging clinical problems. Once again, the plastic surgery team in a tertiary hospital supports many surgical services so that more complex surgical procedures can be performed safely and complications from other surgical services can be managed successfully. Therefore, adequate support for a plastic surgery service, by the hospital or department, is critical in developing a strong plastic surgery program at an academic medical center.