Prof. Dr. Ethem Güneren

Prof. Dr. Ethem Güneren is a member of the Board of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (EBOPRAS), since 2003, of the Plastic Surgery Association since 2017, and one of the most reputed specialists in Turkey, author of 6 books, including a poetry collection, and more than 130 academic articles, 100 of them in English.Prof. Dr. Ethem completed his plastic surgery specialization and medical residence in 1998 after graduating from Istanbul University's Medical Department in 1987. He became an associate professor in 2004 and one of the first Turkish surgeons to complete the highly selective EBOPRAS examination in 2003.

Dr. Ethem is a regular speaker at medical conferences organized all over the world, in the US, Europe, Dubai and Turkey. With more than 25 years of experience, he is hosted as an authority figure in the latest plastic and reconstructive surgery topics.

Professor Güneren works as Head of Plastic Surgery for Care in Turkey as a practicing plastic surgeon.

Interview with:

Prof. Dr. Ethem Güneren

(Plastic Surgery in Care in Turkey)

Hello doctor and thank you very much for having me. Could you start by giving us a brief overview of your accomplishments?

Hello, my pleasure. Sure. In my 25 years of experience as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, I have operated a total of around 2000 patients. I have been 34 times to Africa as a volunteer plastic surgeon, to rural areas in impossible cities, impossible countries to treat impossible patients for free: gratis, volunteer, no profit. 6 times to the West Bank, 5 times to Gaza, 5 times to Yemen, 7 times to Sudan. I was sent by the Ministry of Health or by a Plastic Surgery Association, the Doctors Worldwide Association. That’s the reconstructive surgery part of my life. For the past 13 years I have lived in Istanbul, where I have worked as a full professor and practician of plastic surgery.

Amazing. Why did you decide to become a plastic surgeon?

I have always been a curious person, eager to learn, and specifically interested in medicine. I followed that path, and after completing my studies I had a 5-year hesitation, many years ago. I completed my military service and the reconstructive side called me. That’s when I began my specialization and my travels to Africa.

What is the best and worst experience you’ve had as a surgeon?

My best experience was in Africa, in Sudan. In the 3rd or 4th day of medical camp, the director of the hospital came to me and told me this story. The father of one of the children operated was crying. The director asked him: ‘Why are you crying? we bring doctors form Turkey, your baby was operated yesterday for free, why are you crying?’ The father replied: ‘If I am not crying, who should be crying? My son was 4 years old, he was operated by Dr. Ethem yesterday, and I have heard his voice for the first time in my life.

He was crying of joy.

My worst experience was a 4-year-old boy, victim of a fire accident. He died on my arms. In Samsun, 20 years ago. It was a very serious case. I tried to resuscitate him, defibrillated him, I tried to graft his skin, but 25 days after the incident, he died on my arms. Burning is a very devastating injury you know… especially in children.

I can imagine… I suppose you have a family. How do you find the life-work balance?

During my residence period it was catastrophic. During my assistant professorship period it was too, but when I became an associate professor and full professor, in the last 20 years of my practice, I transferred my responsibility and did 50-50 teaching and practicing. Before that it was very bad, very confusing. Night shifts, long operations, duties, reconstructions, that’s the fate of the surgeon.

What is the most rewarding thing you have heard from a patient?

Dr. Ethem takes a deep breath and keeps a long silence before answering.

Some patients have thanked me for saving their lives. Gangrene, diabetes, or saving them from a low knee amputation. Or cancer patients. Of course, you get very rewarding sentences with plastic surgery, but not of such kind. The most rewarding sentences come from life-saving operations.

What do you like the most about your job? And the least?

What I like the most is the contact with the patient, literally anyone can be a patient, at any age. The oldest patient I treated was a 104-year-old man with a lower lip carcinoma. The youngest patient was a few months old.

It was a baby with a clef palate malformation. If left untreated, such children develop speaking problems and refuse to speak while growing up to avoid other kids’ laughter and adults looking at them weirdly. Surgery is necessary for them to reach their full potential in life.

So, what I like about my profession is that there is no age limitation. No gender differences. Plastic surgery is a technical area. There is an artistic side too, and it targets all parts of the body. Being a plastic surgeon, in a way, is like being a semi-god, because you can manipulate the body. Maybe it’s a superiority complex. But it makes me happy.

What I like the least… there’s a subject that is complicated for me: gender transition. It is very difficult to know if it’s a final decision. Changes are irreversible. I prefer to avoid that. Am I wrong? I don’t know. But it’s a huge responsibility. It can have many psychological consequences. I don’t want to get into such issues.

While you’re operating, aren’t you afraid of making a wrong incision, a mistake?

Are you joking? It’s not an ability, it’s training. I have trained since 1992, I have always been practicing. It’s not magic. It’s scientific. It’s a good question, thank you for this question, Antonio. For example, at first, we train by doing tests with plaster, dead animals, dead bodies, there’s very little difference with a real person. According to me, it’s not magic, we are not artists, we are not special people, we train for many, many years, until it becomes a normal action.

But take musicians. Musicians are people who, as a job, often several times a week, go in front of an audience and play music. That’s their job. Some of them have been doing it for 30 years. And yet they are afraid. They are afraid because there is a big responsibility.

Ah, you ask about the difficulty and responsibility. That is OK. A little stress is a good motivation for action. Everybody has to have a little of stress to successfully complete what they do. Without stress, we are too relaxed. We become too lax. You don’t need anxiety, you need motivation. I prefer to call this stress a motivation. Concentration and motivation.