Meet Dr. Michael Alperovich

Transcript

• 00:00My name is Michael Alperovich.
• 00:02I'm an assistant professor of
• 00:04surgery at Yale. I specialize in
• 00:06plastic and aesthetic surgery.
• 00:08My reconstructive practice is
• 00:09centered on caring for patients with
• 00:11pediatric craniofacial conditions.
• 00:12My aesthetic practices centered
• 00:13on patients related to the face,
• 00:16breast, and abdomen,
• 00:17restoring a patient's appearance and
• 00:18ultimately confidence never gets old.
• 00:20I'm lucky that by improving
• 00:22the patient's quality of life,
• 00:23it has a ripple effect on every
• 00:26part of their day to day lives.
• 00:29As a father of four my children,
• 00:30the most important people in the world to me.
• 00:33I understand what it means when a
• 00:35parent places their trust in me
• 00:37and I don't take that privilege
• 00:38for granted in my early 20s.
• 00:40I was very fortunate to be able
• 00:42to travel to southern India to
• 00:43remote village where we performed
• 00:45cleft lip and palate surgeries.
• 00:47Our team work 12 to 15 hours a
• 00:49day taking care of patients who
• 00:51couldn't get care anywhere else.
• 00:52Entire families traveled hundreds
• 00:54of miles in order to be able
• 00:56to receive this care.
• 00:57Patient slept and fold out,
• 00:58beds their parents and their siblings
• 01:00slept on the floor next to them.
• 01:02These children's.
• 01:03Got a chance at a normal life
• 01:06their parents had hope and I
• 01:08discovered my life's calling.
• 01:10My research focus goes hand in
• 01:12hand with my clinical practice.
• 01:14I studied the same areas that
• 01:17I'm clinically productive in.
• 01:19More specifically, I evaluate the functional,
• 01:21the morphologic, the psychosocial,
• 01:23neurocognitive impact of the
• 01:24cranial facial conditions.
• 01:26I treat including craniosynostosis cleft
• 01:28lip and palate, mandibular distraction,
• 01:30and ear deformities.
• 01:31When I advise a patient.
• 01:33My recommendations are grounded
• 01:35in the best available evidence.
• 01:36I really hope that in 20 years
• 01:38I'm not doing the same thing in
• 01:41the same way as we are doing now.
• 01:43For instance,
• 01:44when we advise parents on
• 01:45craniosynostosis surgery or researchers,
• 01:47Yale has shown that there is
• 01:49improved cognitive function.
• 01:50If you operate at a younger age.
• 01:53Surgery at closer to five months
• 01:55as opposed to 8 to 10 months,
• 01:57which is what I trained to do.
• 01:59I led the first study in the world
• 02:01to compare the multiple comparisons
• 02:03of different surgical techniques
• 02:04to repair sagittal sinus ptosis.
• 02:06I compared spring assisted surgery to
• 02:08cranial vault remodeling and because
• 02:10of the evidence that we showed,
• 02:11we were able to find that there's
• 02:14an improved outcome.
• 02:14If you perform surgery using
• 02:16cranial vault remodeling.
• 02:17For that reason,
• 02:18Ioffer cranial vault remodeling for
• 02:19my patients with sagittal sinus
• 02:21ptosis as a cranial facial surgeon.
• 02:23I operate on the skull.
• 02:24The face and the draw where the
• 02:26difference of a couple of millimeters
• 02:28can make the difference between
• 02:30a good result and a great result.
• 02:33I leverage technology, computer modeling,
• 02:343D planning to get the best possible
• 02:37result for my patients,
• 02:38whether I'm trying to land a plate
• 02:40and screws on a two week old baby
• 02:43who needs jaw distraction for
• 02:45trouble breathing or plan the cuts
• 02:47for a frontal sinus
• 02:48set back for a facial feminization surgery.
• 02:51I leverage cutting edge technology to provide
• 02:53the best possible outcomes for my patients.