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Meet Dr. Michael Alperovich

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Meet Dr. Michael Alperovich

June 14, 2021

Learn more about Dr. Michael Alperovich and his care of patients with Cosmetic, Plastic, and Reconstructive Surgery, to provide a surgery that will maximize the patient’s quality of life by restoring or recreating appearance and function to the best possible state.

ID
6710

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.