A teenage girl riding alone on a school bus once caught the attention of a young medical student. Classmates had isolated her because of a cleft lip and palate, and that isolation left its mark on him. When reconstructive surgery later changed her face and her place among her peers, the transformation revealed something he never forgot: a scalpel could rebuild more than tissue, it could rebuild a person’s standing in the world. That memory became the root of a career now spanning two continents and two very different groups of patients.
A Career Built on That Memory
Dr. Andrew Jacono, now a dual board-certified facial plastic surgeon practicing in New York, shaped his humanitarian work around that formative encounter. One branch of his work reaches survivors of domestic violence in the United States, where facial scars often carry trauma long after wounds close. The other branch sends him overseas, where children born with cleft lip and palate, microtia, facial tumors or burn scars face stigma that can keep them from school and community life. Dr. Andrew Jacono treats both groups with the same surgical care he brings to his Park Avenue practice.
Reach Beyond the Operating Room
His domestic and international efforts now total more than 850 patients combined, reconstructive work performed regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. Organizations including Healing the Children, the HUGS Foundation and THAI Children have carried his skills to Colombia, Ecuador, Thailand and Vietnam, while the FACE TO FACE project has connected him with domestic violence survivors closer to home. His academic posts at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and North Shore University Hospital give him a platform to pass that ethic on to younger surgeons.
What began with one girl on a school bus has grown into a career defined by a simple belief: surgical skill creates an obligation to serve people who could never afford it otherwise. Dr. Andrew Jacono continues to split his time between an elite cosmetic practice and volunteer missions that ask nothing of the families he treats. Refer to this article for more information.
Find more information about Dr. Andrew Jacono on Facebook: https://goodmenproject.com/everyday-life-2/dr-andrew-jacono-on-the-rising-demand-of-male-facelifts/