Podcast transcription
Paul Bryson: Welcome to Head and Neck Innovations, a Cleveland Clinic podcast for medical professionals exploring the latest innovations, discoveries and surgical advances in otolaryngology – head and neck surgery.
Thanks for joining us for another episode of Head and Neck Innovations. I’m your host, Paul Bryson, Director of the Cleveland Clinic Voice Center. You can follow me on X, formerly Twitter, @PaulCBrysonand you can get the latest updates from Cleveland Clinic Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery by following @CleClinicHNI in X. That’s it @CleClinicHNI. You can also find us on LinkedIn at Cleveland Clinic Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgeryand Instagram at Cleveland Clinic Otolaryngology.
Today I am thrilled to be joined by Dr. Sara Liu, who recently joined the facial plastic and reconstructive surgery team at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Liu, welcome to Head and Neck Innovations.
Sarah Liu: Thank you for having me.
Paul Bryson: So let’s start by sharing some background about yourself, where you’re from, where you trained, and how you got back to the Cleveland Clinic. So remove it. Tell us a little about yourself.
Sarah Liu: Yes of course. So I grew up in Toronto, Canada and went to college at McGill in Montreal and then went to Boston University for medical school. And from there I came to Cleveland and did head and neck surgery here. I loved it so much, obviously. And then I left for a year. I went to the University of Minnesota to do my facial plastic surgery fellowship, and then I was fortunate enough to be able to come back and join the Cleveland Clinic, and I’m very glad I did. I’ve been back for about eight months now, and yes, it’s been really great.
Paul Bryson: Well, I mean, from remembering you during your residency and now having you back, I mean very well organized, extremely trained, you could have a lot of clinical interests, but I wanted to ask you what are some of the things that Are you particularly interested in your plastic and reconstructive practice as you begin your practice here?
Sarah Liu: Yes. Well, part of the reason I got into this subspecialty is that I really like the breadth of it. And right now I’m still early in my career, so I really want to do everything. And so I do, I would say that my practice consists of a lot of reconstructive and functional surgery, but also some aesthetic and cosmetic surgery. So much head and neck cancer reconstruction trauma, skin cancer reconstruction, functional nasal airway surgery, but also cosmetic rhinoplasty, facelift, aged face blepharoplasty and something that I’m very excited to bring back to the head and neck, which is something that we haven’t really offered, one service line that we haven’t really offered to patients, is facial feminization surgery for gender confirmation surgery for our transgender patients. So yeah, that’s the range of my practice right now.
Paul Bryson: So I understand that you are busy accepting new patients and developing things across the board.
Sarah Liu: Yes.
Paul Bryson: So, share with us a little bit, if you will, what your approach is to patient assessment and consultation? What can the patient expect as you develop a treatment plan?
Sarah Liu: Yeah, I think I usually start by asking patients what their goals and priorities are, what they’re really trying to get out of this. I think especially with cosmetic surgery, a lot of it is managing patient expectations, trying to make sure we’re on the same page about what they’re looking for, what they want to achieve, and hopefully we’re reaching a realistic goal that we can two to decide to meet. And then I think with any kind of surgery, obviously sometimes things can take several stages, quite a few revisions involved, especially with complicated, delicate reconstructions. And so I always try to reassure patients that I’m here with them every step of the way. I’m not done with it until they feel like they’re happy with it. But that, again, managing expectations I think is a really big part of it, that they know that sometimes these are long processes to get them to the final stage where they want to be.
Paul Bryson: Yes, it is very important. Like you said, you’re taking care of a lot of complex problems, and sometimes the solutions are multiple steps and stages, and that’s great. I wanted to ask you also part of caring for patients with complex needs, you are naturally very cooperative. Can you talk about how you work with some of our multidisciplinary teams? I mean, the reconstructive and just other aspects of your plastic and reconstructive practice.
Sarah Liu: Yes. In fact, I think that’s one of my favorite parts of this position that I have is that I get to work with so many different people in different subspecialties and also different specialties. And so within our head and neck, my work with the sinus surgeons, we do combination cases where I do functional rhinoplasty and they do sinus surgery on the same patient at the same time. Obviously I work with the head and neck team a lot doing head and neck removal reconstruction. And then, outside of the realm of head and neck surgery, I work with the neurosurgeons who do cranioplasty, the dermatologists who do skin cancer reconstruction.
And then with the gender confirmation surgeries, I work with the gender confirmation surgery team here. And so it includes members of the plastic surgery and OB-GYN and urology departments. And I think being able to have that multidisciplinary collaboration and approach to patient care is one of the big reasons I came back here. I think at the Cleveland Clinic, everyone has this really, really great nature and collaborative spirit, and you don’t always find that everywhere.
Paul Bryson: Yeah, no, it’s, I think it’s one of the special sauces for the Cleveland Clinic, and it’s really nice for the patients. We really try to put things together for people.
Sarah Liu: Yes, it’s nice.
Paul Bryson: Well, I also wanted to highlight, I understand that in August, there will be a new medical education program that you’re leading called Advances in Nasal Regeneration. Can you give our listeners a little preview of the meeting and what’s going to be covered?
Sarah Liu: Yes, we are very excited about it. It is a truly unique course. First of its kind, a course focused exclusively on nasal rehabilitation. And I think nasal reconstruction is an aspect of facial plastic surgery that I think a lot of us are very passionate about. It can be very challenging. Defects are all different, difficult to restore form and function for a patient, and ultimately very rewarding.
And so the course will take place in August. August 23rd-24u here in Cleveland. And we are very fortunate to be joined by several visiting guest speakers from around the country. And we’ve got people joining us from Hopkins and UCSF and Harvard and Jefferson and Minnesota, and there’s more that I’m probably forgetting, but so everybody’s kind of going to be on panels and giving talks. And then we have two featured guest speakers who are somehow world-renowned leading experts in nasal reconstruction.
So Dr. Fred Menick basically wrote the book on nasal reconstruction. He’s coming to give our keynote address. And then Dr. Robert Walton, based in Chicago, also comes and gives us some talks. And so I think it’s going to be this really great meeting of the minds. And as a person in the early stages of my career, I’m very excited to be a part of it and contribute to it. And obviously all of our talented people, my partners here, will also be part of the course. And so Dr. Byrne, Dr. Fritz, Dr. Siolek and Dr. Genther and I will all make speeches.
Paul Bryson: Yeah, sounds like it’s going to be great.
Sarah Liu: Yes, it will be awesome
Paul Bryson: Fearful. So if you’re interested in learning more or signing up, visit ccfcme.org/nasalrecon2024. This is ccfcme.org/nasalrecon2024.
So, as we wrap up the podcast today, can you share any final takeaways for our listeners?
Sarah Liu: I love my job so much and I love helping people the way I do. And I think for every patient that I see and every problem that I can help take care of, I think that remains true, is that I want to know what’s important to those patients and what they want out of the experience, and really try to tailor each surgical plan or treatment plan to each person’s individual needs and what they are looking for. I think every person is very different. Every problem, every reconstructive or aesthetic problem is very different. And really trying to find the balance between the reconstructive side and the aesthetic side I think is extremely important.
Paul Bryson: Well, for more information about facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, visit clevelandclinic.org/facialreconstruction. This is clevelandclinic.org/facialreconstruction. And to speak with one of our facial plastic and reconstructive surgeons or to submit a referral, call 216.444.8500, which is 216.444.8500.
And one last reminder, if you are interested in learning more or enrolling in the Advances in Nasal Reconstruction course, visit ccfcme.org/nasalrecon2024. This is ccfcme.org/nasalrecon2024.
Dr. Liu, thank you for joining Head and Neck Innovations.
Sarah Liu: Thanks for having me.
Paul Bryson: Thanks for listening to Head and Neck Innovations. Additional podcast episodes can be found on our website at clevelandclinic.org/podcasts. Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, BuzzSprout or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget, you can access real-time updates from Cleveland Clinic otolaryngology – head and neck surgery experts on the Consult QD website at consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/headandneck. Thank you for listening and join us again next time.
