We were delighted to chat to Mr Marc Pacifico, BAAPS Council Member, about his career in plastic surgery and plans for this year’s Annual Meeting.
You are internationally recognised in the field of aesthetic plastic surgery – can you tell us a little bit about your background?
After completing my plastic surgery training in London and East Grinstead, I had the opportunity to undertake an Advanced Aesthetic Fellowship in Melbourne that really honed my aesthetic experience in all areas. It also helped broaden my horizons regarding approaches to the aesthetic patient (surgical and non-surgical) which I feel has really helped develop my aesthetic surgery practice.
I am now in full-time private practice, based at Purity Bridge, the clinic in Tunbridge Wells I opened in 2013, and my main interests are in facial and breast procedures.
What has been the best piece of advice that you have received in your career and what advice would you offer to those following in your footsteps?
Don’t be afraid to challenge received wisdom and stick your head above the parapet! For example, I was one of the first surgeons in the UK to use smooth breast implants (for evidence-based reasons) – when I spoke about it at the BAAPS conference in 2016 and predicted that many colleagues would be using them in a few years, the majority of the audience strongly disagreed . . . fast forward to 2019 and many of the same colleagues have started incorporating smooth implants into their practices!
Plastic surgery is evolving all the time; what do you think have been the most exciting developments in recent years?
I think the understanding of how we can use fat to our advantage has been a real game-changer. Whether it is advanced high definition liposuction techniques, or using fat grafting to the face or breast, fat has become part of most plastic surgeons’ armamentarium. Coupled with this is our increased understanding of how fat changes with age, particularly in the face, so the two developments have gone hand in hand.
Why do you think it is important for trainee and even senior surgeons to pursue continuing medical education throughout their careers and what is the best way to go about this?
Like all areas of medicine, plastic surgery is continually evolving in all aspects. From technique development, management of problems and complications, scientific understanding and observations of long-term effects of procedures – we all need to be up to date in order to do the best we can for our patients.
You are, of course, heavily involved in BAAPS – do you enjoy this aspect of your work and would you encourage other surgeons to get involved?
I thoroughly enjoy my BAAPS work – it has been a real privilege to have been voted to be part of the BAAPS Council, and to be able to contribute to the specialty. The more of us who are involved, the better for the speciality – there is a lot of work that always needs to be done, much of which is behind the scenes. This ranges from the conference organisation and other educational work, through to political representation and lobbying, educating those involved in regulation about the nuances of what we do, and much more!
We understand that you have organised the programme for the BAAPS Annual Meeting, which takes place next month; can you tell us a bit more about the speakers and what the meeting will focus on?
This is the third annual conference I have organised and I am very excited about the incredible speakers who have given up their time to join us. We have a number of areas we are focusing on, including fat manipulation to sculpt and contour various areas of the body, we will be debating the controversies in Brazilian buttock lifting (BBL) with some of the best known proponents from around the world. The breast plastic surgery session will focus on the complex areas of developmental breast issues and the challenging revision surgery. We will also cover areas including practice management, female genital surgery and have a whole session specifically on male plastic surgery for the first time.
Our speakers include Alfredo Hoyos (Colombia), Daniel Del Vecchio (USA), Anand Deva (Australia), Heather Furnas (USA), Doug Steinbrech (USA), Dennis von Heimburg (Germany) and Alexander Aslani (Spain) . . . not to mention our homegrown UK speakers!
Many thanks for your time!
