Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Kristy Hamilton.
Dr. Hamilton, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Plastic surgery. Two words backed by endless possibility and innovation. Plastic surgery is derived from the Greek “plastikos” meaning “to shape” or “to mold”. In a sense, I feel like life took an unusual path one day and began to “mold” me in a similar fashion after a middle school sports accident. I, by chance, ended up with a laceration on my face and landed shortly thereafter in the office of a plastic surgeon when I was 12 years old. In the moment, I was scared about being disfigured or ever looking the same – my mom had kindly told me we could always “cut bangs” on the way to the emergency room. However, thanks to the help of this Houston plastic surgeon, I was not only fixed up and looking back to normal once I had healed – I had also been introduced to this mesmerizing world of plastic surgery that set me on the professional path I am on today.
Seeing my interest, the same surgeon, Dr. Tue Dinh, now at Houston Methodist Hospital, gave me the opportunity to shadow him as a high school student, solidifying my passion for plastic surgery. Every day was a new adventure – a chance to peek into the operating room, to watch cancer patients being made whole again, to listen to heartfelt, excruciating conversations between patients and their doctors when nothing more could be done for them. The humanism of it, the rawness of the experience, and that sacred connection between the surgeon and his patient were palpable to me. This plastic surgeon was making a huge difference in the lives of others, and I knew in that moment that I also wanted to make my mark on the world that way.
Fast forward a decade, I began my plastic surgery residency at Baylor College of Medicine, where I am now currently Chief Resident with plans to graduate this summer and enter private practice beginning in August 2020 in Houston, Texas. It has been the ride of a lifetime – endless nights on call that transitioned to long days in the operating room. It has been exhausting at times but simultaneously exhilarating. I am passionate about my patients –passionate about achieving the best possible result for them – and that is what gets me to spring out of bed each morning, excited to see what the day will hold.
Has it been a smooth road?
True plastic surgery training is intense! To get to this moment, it took ten years of post-collegiate training – four years of medical school and almost six years of plastic surgery residency training, eighty-hour weeks, countless nights on call, endless pages, and emergencies. Accomplishing all of that was not easy, yet it has been an incredibly rewarding journey. Now that I am wrapping up my final year as a Chief Resident in plastic surgery, I can confidently say that I am prepared for the road ahead. The Texas Medical Center sees an incredible number of patients each year – 10 million annual patient visits and 180,000 surgeries a year. To have been molded into a plastic surgeon in this environment has been a great privilege! My patients inspire me on a daily basis, and it is an honor to take care of them and help them achieve their goals – whether aesthetic or reconstructive.
To other women interested in a career in medicine or surgery specifically, I would say that this is our time to shine! While there are more women in medical school than men nowadays, we are lagging behind in surgery in terms of representation; however, times are changing. If anything, I think a woman’s intuition, attention to detail, compassion and ability to connect to other people are all huge strengths in a surgical career, and they can set you apart. The world is your oyster – with dedication, determination and thick skin, you can accomplish anything.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with your work – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
I am a plastic surgeon in Houston, Texas. I did my entire medical school and residency training in the Texas Medical Center at Baylor College of Medicine. I am starting my private practice August 1st, 2020 in the museum district in Houston after completing my chief residency year in June 2020. I have a special interest in aesthetic surgery of the face, breast and body. My reconstructive interests include breast reconstruction (following a mastectomy or lumpectomy, or for women with a genetic predisposition to breast cancer) and facial reconstruction (for skin cancer defects or traumatic injuries).
Plastic surgery is my passion, and I love getting to share what exactly it is with the world – there are so many components of it! One part of plastic surgery that sets it apart from everything else in surgery is its creative and artistic element. As an artist myself, the ability to visualize and create a beautiful aesthetic outcome is part of what excites and challenges me in performing aesthetic plastic surgery. Discovering this qualitative part of what it means to be beautiful has been a pursuit of artists over centuries – seeking out that line, angle or feature that draws the human eye for reasons that are sometimes intangible. I aspire to seek out that beauty in patients, and thereby bring it to life through surgery. There is also a distinct mathematical component of classic beauty, often based on the golden ratio. As a mathematics major in college, I have always been intrigued by the quantitative nature of beauty. In fact, using mathematical modeling to create a holistic approach to analysis of the breast shape is the subject of one of my research projects.
Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
Truly, in 2020, I think being a woman in plastic surgery is an asset. There are fewer of us than there are men. Some patients connect to female physicians differently than they do to male physicians, so it is good to have that kind of variety in our field. Gone are the days of male-only training environments. If you are the kind of woman who pays close attention to detail, is excellent at multi-tasking, problem-solving and fine motor skills, and connects well with human beings by practicing compassion and understanding, plastic surgery could be the right field for you. You can make a dramatic and positive personal impact on someone and change the course of his or her life forever. It is a tremendous responsibility, yet it reaps great personal rewards as well when you note how many people you can help and how profoundly you can do so. Use your femininity to your benefit, and always look forward.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2132 Bissonnet St Suite 200, Houston, TX 77005
- Phone: (281) 203-0600
- Email: klhamiltonmd@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drkristyhamilton/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drkristyhamilton/
Image Credit:
Judy I. Francis
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