“I love traveling the world on medical missions to help children,” says Dr. Scottsdale

There have been considerable breakthroughs in plastic surgery procedures. It has become more commonplace than ever before. However, going under the surgeon’s knife to alter or enhance something about your appearance is often considered an act driven by vanity. Celebrated plastic surgeon, Dr. Scottsdale would beg to differ. He knows from extensive personal experience that plastic surgery can and has improved the lives of millions of people worldwide, particularly children.

Ensuring children’s lives are untroubled and carefree as possible is something that Dr. Scottsdale believes in. He helps by going regularly on mission trips. He travels to third world countries on medical missions to help children who need cleft lip palate reconstruction work, or who have suffered from other traumatic injuries. Helping children and families that can’t afford basic medical care is one of the main reasons why Dr. Scottsdale became a plastic surgeon in the first place. He explained, “I love to help people feel better about themselves, regardless of the cause. My philosophy is, ‘Be your own kind of beautiful.’ My goal has always been to help people who need it the most, especially children.”

Not long ago, if you didn’t feel comfortable in your skin and found some aspect of your appearance unsightly or unsettling, you had to learn to live with it. This issue was particularly hard on children, who for example, were born with a cleft lip or palate. Fortunately, the growth of plastic surgeons who specialize in cleft lip reconstruction work and similar procedures allows children to have a better quality of life and to not feel anxious about their appearance. 

Raised in El Paso, Texas, Dr. Scottsdale felt the urge to help people from an early age. After graduating from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, he opted to specialize in plastic surgery. He explained, “When I was in medical school, I was awed by the range of life-changing expertise a plastic surgeon had at his/her disposal. This included cleft lip procedures, cancer reconstruction, traumatic injury surgery, and aesthetic (cosmetic) makeovers.” Dr. Scottsdale believes that a plastic surgeon is a “surgeon’s surgeon”. From head to toe, there is no part of the body that cannot be operated on. If another surgeon has an issue they cannot fix, they’ll call for a plastic and reconstructive surgeon.

After becoming a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Scottsdale found a job in an environment where he believed his skills would be in high demand – the U.S. Army. Being in the military allowed Dr. Scottsdale to learn much more about the human body and how he could use his particular skill-set to help. The discipline and structure of army life also taught him how to be more focused, organized, and more detail-oriented. These were all lessons that served him well years later when he moved to AZ in 2015 and set up his practice, Natural Results Plastic Surgery.

Specializing in a range of cosmetic treatments and “always doing what’s right for the patient,” Dr. Scottsdale still ensures he takes time out at least once a year to go on mission trips in countries such as Guatemala, Laos, Mexico, Ecuador and many more, to operate on both adults and children in need of medical attention. Dr. Scottsdale explained, “I love helping people feel better about themselves and learning to love themselves again. Yet I feel my skill-set would be wasted if I didn’t take the time to travel to these countries and help people who wouldn’t necessarily be able to afford plastic surgery procedures. After all, helping others is why I became a doctor in the first place.”