Overview

History:

Plastic surgery is a specialized branch of surgery concerned with the repair of deformities and the correction of functional deficits. It is also the most amazing and fast progressing field in surgery. In 1980, when the surgical service was organized at Kaohsiung, Jyh-Horng Yinn, M.D. was appointed as the first Chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery. We provided the best quality of service for the patients, and kept in close contact with the new trends of surgical techniques, tough and trained the residents for further researches since then. We pioneered the plastic and reconstructive surgery in southern Taiwan such as breast reconstruction and head & neck reconstructive surgery, etc. In 1993, Jin-Shyr Chen M.D. took place as chief of plastic surgery. He lead the whole team to an even higher level and made a great progress in both aesthetic and plastic surgery. In November 2004,  Lee-Wei Chen PhD leads the whole team to start a brand new era of Plastic and Rconstructive Surgery in Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital. The division of plastic surgery has six full-time faculty, six residents, and three technicians. The Division performs approximately 4,000 in operative cases each year involving every aspect of plastic surgery.

Faculty:
The most important asset of the division is its distinguished faculty. We have such a collection of well-trained and certified faculty in so many areas: aesthetic (Drs. Jin-Shyr Chen, Lee-Wei Chen, Yang, and Hsu), head and neck (Drs. Yang and Liu), cancer reconstruction, breast (Drs. Jin-Shyr Chen, Liu and Lee), hand and microsurgery (Drs Lee-Wei Chen, Hsu) and burns (Drs. Lee-Wei Chen and Liu). Several members of the clinical faculty are internationally known for their work in breast reconstruction and head & neck reconstruction. Our faculty offer excellent educational service on all fields of aesthetic and plastic surgery and serve as clinical tutors for students from National Yang-Ming University and National Defense Medical Center. Dr. Lee-Wei Chen serves as assistant professor in National Yang-Ming University, National Sun Yat-Sen University and clinical professor in National Defense Medical Center. 

Practice:

The Division of Plastic Surgery offers all varieties of aesthetic and plastic surgery. The area of microvascular free flaps with a particular emphasis on head and neck reconstruction, now under the direction of Kao-Chang Yang, M.D.  has been the best team of reconstruction in southern Taiwan. More than 100 free flaps are performed each year with a 99.5% success rate, among the best results for free flap survival anywhere in the world. In conjunction with the breast surgeon, any woman requiring a mastectomy is offered immediate reconstruction as patient request. In addition, Dr. Lee-Wei Chen has championed the fields of hand, microsurgery, shock mechanism and treatment. Skin care, peels, LASER treatment, Botox and Collagen injections are offered in our newly founded cosmetic center.  This center offers all varieties of facial and body cosmetic procedures, which can be performed under general or local anesthesia with intravenous sedation. Facelift, eyelid and breast surgery as well as liposuction are regularly performed in cosmetic center.