Source: eastvalleytribune.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the last 10 years, incidents of skin cancer have gone up by more than 50 percent nationwide \u2013 which means Dr. David Kelly is a pretty busy physician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Gilbert resident is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who deals with the ravages of skin cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The job can be challenging for Kelly, one of the partners of the Center for Dermatology and Plastic Surgery \u2013 which has grown to nine clinics across the Valley, including Chandler and Gilbert, since he joined the practice in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI do a lot of skin cancer reconstruction on the head and neck, nose, eyelids, ears,\u201d he said, recalling how one of his more challenging surgeries involved the reconstruction of an ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt basically was the entire ear,\u201d he said. \u201cAll the earlobe was completely gone\u2026I had to replace the cartilage in the ear and then also the skin on the front and back of the ear. So that required about three different surgeries to reconstruct the ear, rebuild it and put new cartilage in the ear to help support the ear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He sees a lot of the damage that unprotected skin can suffer from exposure to the sun. And the age range of patients is virtually limitless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sun generally inflicts most of its damage on people before they turn 30, but skin cancer can take decades to develop. Moreover, when older patients were that young, sunscreen products were not nearly as effective as they are today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consequently, \u201cWe definitely have a lot of patients 60, 70, 80,\u201d Kelly said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut being in Arizona, we see a fair amount of younger people in their 30s and 40s with some pretty significant skin cancers,\u201d he added. \u201cI see a lot of pediatric patients that pediatricians and dermatologists send me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of the 19 different medical providers at the Center for Dermatology and Plastic Surgery, Kelly is one of three different types of physicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides dermatologists, the center also has Mohs micrographic surgeons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Named after Dr. Frederick Mohs, the founder of micrographic surgery, the procedure removes cancerous tissue while removing as little of the healthy tissue as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They usually are the physicians whom patients see before Kelly, who has two Mohs surgeons on his team, in the hope that radical reconstructive surgery might be averted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMost patients will come in and they have a spot that\u2019s not healing,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cSo we\u2019ll biopsy it and once we determine it actually is skin cancer, then I normally work with a Mohs surgeon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll look at the skin underneath the microscope immediately and make sure all the skin cancer is completely gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what happens if the Mohs surgeon removes enough tissue to create disfigurement? That\u2019s why Kelly and the Mohs surgeons coordinate their schedules with patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI work hand in hand with them,\u201d he said, explaining, \u201cNobody wants to have half their ear missing and wait a week or so to see another doctor. So, when that patient is done with having a skin cancer removed, I can do\u201d reconstructive surgery if needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s in my same office. I meet patients, evaluate them, talk about what we need to do, how we need to fix this, and then we try to do that the same day. That way it\u2019s just easier for the patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat makes a big difference, and that\u2019s one of the things that attracted me to this practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Utah native, Kelly did his post-graduate medical training in North Carolina and Kentucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He recalled how in North Carolina, \u201cmost patients have to wait one to two weeks to get to see a plastic surgeon, so they have a bandage on their nose or the ear for a week or so. That\u2019s just not the best way to handle things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt increases the risk of infection, doesn\u2019t have as good of an outcome. So, the way it is here, it\u2019s nicer for the patient. We can evaluate immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kelly, whose brother is an oral surgeon and a longtime Gilbert resident, had an lifelong ambition to become a doctor \u2013 partly because his father is a pediatrician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEver since I was a kid, I wanted to be a surgeon, but I didn\u2019t know what kind of surgeon,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But then he had the chance to go to Africa and Guatemala, where he helped doctors treat children and adults with significant burn injuries and birth deformities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And those transformations he helped work on led him to plastic and reconstructive surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI liked the concept of plastic surgery, that we basically operate on like the entire body,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe can operate on adults, children. We kind of run the gamut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I was a medical student and resident, I just loved the skin cancer aspect of it \u2013 taking care of patients with large skin cancers on their face and helping them. There\u2019s an immediate sense of satisfaction in reconstructing the nose or the ear or the eyelid or whatever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s what attracted me, the variety. Every day is something different\u2026.If the patient has a skin cancer on the nose, I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s going to be a small skin cancer or if it\u2019s their entire nose that I have to reconstruct. So, it\u2019s challenge. You kind of have to use your creative skills trying to figure out how to reconstruct and how to solve their problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the potential for challenges is always there, especially since post-cancer reconstructive surgery accounts for 60 percent of reconstructive and plastic surgery that the Center for Dermatology and Plastic Surgery handles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rest is cosmetic, such as face and neck lifts, eyelid and breast enhancements and what Kelly called \u201cmommy makeovers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kelly \u2013 who with his wife of 18 years, Ashley, has four children ranging in age between 3 and 12 \u2013 doesn\u2019t let the skin cancer part of his work dissuade him from hiking and running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of my favorite things about living here is being able to be outside most of the year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Kelly takes no chances and thinks everyone should follow suit \u2013 meaning a nearly slavish attention to wearing protective clothing and good sunscreen at virtually any time under the sun and getting a skin cancer checkup every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Center for Dermatology and Plastic Surgery has nine locations, including Chandler, Sun Lakes, Scottsdale and Glendale. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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