Patient Stories

• Gustavo Cabrera

  Microvascular Surgery Key to Recovery of San Francisco Giants' Top Prospect Gustavo Cabrera

  UCSF Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Richard Barg March 31, 2016

  

  The San Jose Mercury News reports on the remarkable recovery of Gustavo Cabrera from a potentially catastrophic injury to his right hand in 2013 sustained while at home in the Dominican Republic. Cabrera's injury threatened not only his baseball career, but the loss of function, if not the loss of the hand itself. A team comprised of Scott L. Hansen, M.D. (pictured right), Chief of Hand and Microvascular Surgery at UCSF,  Charles Lee, M.D., Director of Microsurgery at St. Mary's Medical Center, and San Francisco Giants' chief surgeon Dr. Robert Murray, repaired the damage to Cabrera's hand [...]

  Story Tags: Microvascular Surgery
• Douglas Weil

  Neck-Lift Success Story Highlighted in NY Times

  UCSF Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery December 22, 2010

  

  The New York Times reports on the use of neck-lifts, a plastic surgery procedure to improve sagging necks and double chins. The Times interviewed William Y. Hoffman, M.D. (pictured right), Professor and Chief of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at UCSF for the story.   NECKS don't lie. Sagging there betrays age like the rings on a tree, and now-common Botox and fillers in the face make neck imperfections stand out in stark relief. In her 2006 best-seller, "I Feel Bad About My Neck," Nora Ephron, by then 65 and a resolved turtleneck wearer, raged against the injustice of [...]

  Story Tags: Cosmetic Surgery
• Garrett La Fever

  Man Replaces Severed Thumb With Toe

  UCSF Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery -  by Sarah Krumholz - June 05, 2009

  

  The Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at UCSF provides service to patients from literally head to toe. Surgeons have the technical expertise to perform a wide array of cosmetic procedures and also provide highly specialized surgical procedures for a host of other problems including craniofacial and cleft lip surgery, microvascular reconstruction, and treatment of complex wounds. For patients like Garrett La Fever, who lost his thumb in a woodworking accident, this expertise can mean all the difference. Using a novel technique, Dr. Scott Hansen collaborated with Dr. Charles Lee[...]

  Story Tags: Microvascular Surgery
• Garrett Lafever

  Toe to Thumb Surgery Heals Beautifully

  UCSF Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery April 30, 2009

  

  ABC7News.com in San Francisco reports in on a follow up on a story in which a patient underwent a  toe-to-thumb transplant, a complex microsurgery, to restore function in his hand. The team peforming the surgery included Scott L. Hansen, M.D. (pictured right), Chief of Hand and Microvascular Surgery at UCSF and Charles Lee, M.D, St. Mary's Microsurgery Director: A follow up on a story we first brought you a year ago. Garret Lafever lost his thumb in a woodworking accident. It was a devastating loss since the thumb is responsible for 40 percent of function of the hand. But a team of doctors [...]

  Story Tags: Microvascular Surgery
• Ashlee Harris

  Cranial Re-animation Surgery

  UCSF Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery January 22, 2008

  

  The Wittgenstein Forum blog  reports on a Nevada Appeal article highlighting the benfits of using cranial re-animation surgery to treat Mobius Syndrome, a rare birth defect caused by the absence or underdevelopment of cranial nerves that control eye movement and facial expression. The surgery is performed at UCSF by Dr. William Hoffman. Miracles happen every day. So they say. But what if you're a family in need of multiple miracles? Such is the case with the Harris clan in Carson City. Their problem was simple – and yet seemingly unsolvable. Their daughter Ashlee, 7, a first-grader at Mark [...]

  Story Tags: Moebius Syndrome