Dr Stefan Gonschior

At a glance: blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery), rhinoplasty (nose job), chin augmentation, chin reduction, ear correction (otoplasty), ear lobe repair and shortening, facial implants of the cheek and jaw, face-lifts, neck-lifts, brow-lifts, fillers and botulinumtoxin, dental implant surgery.

I was born and grew up in Western-Germany. My father was a Professor of Art at the University of Arts in Berlin and my mother was a Teacher. If I had to sum up people of great importance in my life I would need to mention my mentors, to whom I feel indebted. I am particularly grateful for them teaching me to see, and get a feel of proportions, texture, colour and shape. These abilities are very useful to me in my everyday life and particularly in my job. Nothing succeeds, of course, without friends, love and people who you meet.

Dr Gonschior's philosophy

My philosophy is very simple: I treat patients the way I want to be treated myself, just like I would treat my friends and family. The way I do my consultations is very thorough and comprehensive. I give my patients all the information they need to give an informed consent, or to say it`s not for me. The goal is a happy patient.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and therefore I try to come as close to what the patient wants, as technically (or anatomically) possible. Although I try to not influence the patient’s vision of beauty, I permit myself to mention potential impacts on proportion, which the patient might not be able to picture in his mind.

Of course there are sometimes unrealistic or extreme wishes which I choose not to fulfil. My aim is to give the best advice to a patient, not to sell them dreams that will never come true.

Things to be considered

During many years of being a Surgeon I can point a few things out to you, which might be helpful: When patients address me I always tell them that I can neither create perfection, nor guarantee a good result. I can only aim for it.

Statistically most patients are very happy with their surgery. Still, a few things must be considered when looking at these statistics:

• Educated view: some people believe everything they see in the media, such as air brushed photos, comments from non professionals, or people who just want to sell lies. Some patients expect perfection, which is unrealistic to start with because surgery is an approximation.
• Genetics: even the best operation and the patient who follows all advice by the book do not guarantee a perfect result. Why? Healing is individually very different and to a great extent based on the genetic profile. Hence, it is important for me to know of any lesions you might have had in the past and how the healing process developed. It is a very important aspect in predicting how the wounds from a cosmetic procedure will heal.
• Surgical technique: There are hundreds of different techniques, and all of them work slightly differently in different hands, and again on different anatomies. It is important to really understand that you will never have the same result as someone else because you are unique.
• Motivation and mindset: it should be about you. Your wish to amend the appearance should not have sprung up over night. It should have been your wish for some time. For some patients it is more about self-confidence, some just want to look as youthful, as they really feel. Others want to look a certain way. Every year I have hundreds of happy patients and this can only be my main goal.
• Because i am often asked, BAAPS surgeons are not Maxillo-Facial Surgeons as they took a shorter training route which does not include an additional 5 years of dental training and also has not the intention to generate facial surgery specialists, but more general plastic surgeons who deal with many different parts of the body. The idea of creating the longest and most profound training pathway for facial surgery of the soft and hard tissues, led to the Maxillo-Facial Specialty. It was found to be reasonable to demand more profound training in this area with its complex anatomy and highly specialised treatment and diagnostic. Prestigious organisations for specialists in facial surgery are IAOMFS, EAFPS, DGMKG. Due to the higher degree of specialisation, fully trained maxillo-facial surgeons will be more drawn to these societies rather than the more general ones which general plastic surgeons may prefer.

My education

Like many people in the western world my school education ended with the higher A-level equivalent. Thereafter an odyssey of education followed which brought me through quite a few countries (Togo, France (Paris), Scotland (Dundee), Germany (Berlin, Bochum, Essen), England (London, Cambridge), and rewarded me with vast knowledge.

After 6 years of medicine I qualified as a doctor, after 5 years of dentistry I took a dental degree, another five years of plastic and cranio-maxillo-facial surgical training allowed me to qualify as a Specialist Maxillo-Facial Surgeon (Consultant), and a further three years of training, including a full cosmetic surgery fellowship in Cambridge, granted me the right to bear the additional title "Plastische Operationen" (a title unique to Germany which proves that a surgeon has, in spite of having qualified as a specialist beforehand, undergone further rigorous training in Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery).

Parallel to this 18-year long education I spent every free minute on research which finalized with two doctoral theses (PhD's). The first PhD researched the viability of pancreatic organs for transplantation in order to maximise cold storage ischemia time using different storage solutions. The results permitted an increase of organ availability by defining an extended safe storage time. The second PhD researched different approaches to frontal sinus surgery after various levels of trauma which were treated in large numbers at our department. It was found that the so often used techniques which were developed to treat chronic or acute sinus disease were not as successful as reconstructive techniques stemming from facial trauma repair and, depending on the severity of the trauma to the ostium naturale sometimes conservative treatment seemed superior to complex reconstruction.

After many years of working as a reconstructive surgeon my main work load has shifted dramatically over the last 19 years so that now over 90% of my surgery is cosmetic and the remainder surgery for functional problems.

Within the past 10 years my main focus has been cosmetic surgery of the face, especially lid surgery, nose surgery, ear set back, ear lobe reduction-repair, facelift, brow lift, cheek-chin-angle of jaw implants, chin reduction and augmentation, and orthognathic surgery (moving of jaws). The number of facial surgeries, which I have performed for pure cosmetic reason, has surpassed 4000. Non-surgical facial rejuvenation or volume replacement and augmentation with injectables (botox and fillers) is a popular part of my private practice. The most often asked for areas are treatment of dynamic lines of the forehead and the glabella, the crows feet area, cheek augmentation, lip augmentation and of course reduction of the nasolabial folds and marionettes lines.

Due to my dual qualification i am obviously also fully trained in of oral surgery (dental implants, including the latest bone grafting techniques, wisdom teeth removal, apicectomy...). During my cosmetic surgery training I have also been trained in breast augmentation, spot fat reduction, fat transfer, threading techniques, peels. This means, I have learned a large spectrum of operations however with a clear emphasis in facial surgery.

I believe in continuous professional development. I believe that one reason and a great opportunity in life is to learn. And I also believe that health is the biggest gift.

On the website you will find a lot of information and advice. Meet me in my office, I will talk you through it.

Sincerely yours,

Mr. Stefan Gonschior

CCST OMFS MD PhD DMD PhD

Consultant Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgeon

Plastische Operationen

Prof. Organisations: EAFPS - DGMKG - EACS - IAOMS - ESAS

Training and Conference attendace certificates

Further information

This web site has been prepared to give a basic understanding of the procedure before a consultation takes place, and to cover many of the questions frequently asked about this type of cosmetic surgery. Final decisions should not be made until an individual assessment has taken place with the surgeon.

There is no obligation on the part of the patient to undergo surgery by attending for consultation.

If you have any further questions or would like to arrange a consultation please fill in the online form or call us on 07590 666 302. All enquiries are always treated confidentially.