Plastic surgeon joins Palmetto Health USC-Medical Group on Palmetto Health Tuomey campus

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Palmetto Health-USC Medical Group is pleased to welcome Emily G. Clark, M.D., to the Palmetto Health Tuomey campus.

Clark is a plastic surgeon who specializes in breast reconstruction and body contouring for patients who have experienced massive weight loss after a gastric bypass. Her new Sumter practice, which opens later this month, also will offer breast reduction surgery, skin care and preventives and classic "Mommy Makeovers."

The Charleston native attended Tulane University for her undergraduate degrees (double-majoring in cell and molecular biology and French) and completed medical school there. She recently finished a six-year residency in plastic surgery at the University of California, Irvine. She's completed numerous presentations, book chapters and medical journal publications.

Clark is passionate about breast reconstruction.

"Doing breast reconstructions is the most emotionally fulfilling surgery. It's great to go through that journey with someone, to help restore them so that they feel whole again," she said.

"I didn't know I wanted to go into surgery when I started med school," she said. "As a student, I was in a general surgery rotation and was able to participate in a mastectomy. They got all the cancer out and then handed the case over to the plastic surgery team, who came in and were able to actually rebuild a breast! I thought, I want to do that!"

She is expected to work closely with Henry Moses, M.D., of Sumter Surgical.

"He is one of the biggest reasons I wanted to come to Sumter," she said. "He does really modern, advanced techniques for mastectomies. He told me that he doesn't believe that just because you live in a small town that you have to have an inferior result. That had an impact on me."

She had an impact on the long-time surgeon as well.

"She has a real heart for serving," Moses said. "With her training and abilities, she could have gone anywhere she wanted to practice. She wants to be somewhere she can make a difference, have an impact on patients' lives and provide services not often available in such a small community. So many of our folks won't leave town for health care; the fact that she's here and can walk them through it will open the door for a lot more women to have reconstruction."

Clark also plans to do more cosmetic surgeries. "I call them the 'surgery of the soul'," she said.

Patients often ask her, "Should I have cosmetic surgery?" but she tells them that this is a question only they can answer. "I can help guide them; I can give them all the information they need and what options are available to help them determine the right choice for them, but it's their decision."

She won't conduct cosmetic surgery on just anyone, however. "It's just as important to know when not to operate with cosmetic surgery," she said. "If I identify patients with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), I point them in the direction of a counselor." BDD is a body-image disorder characterized by persistent and intrusive preoccupations with an imagined or slight defect in one's appearance.

"It's important to feel like the change is something the patient has really thought about, something to enhance the way they feel. If they think it will completely change their life, that's a red flag. But form and function are so closely related; restoring form can restore function and improve a person's quality of life."

Clark also will be doing some trauma work in the Palmetto Health Tuomey ER: facial fractures, hand injuries, broken jaws. She trained at a Level I Trauma Center, so she's performed many emergency reconstructive surgeries, such as one to avoid an amputation after a motorcycle accident.

For more information about Palmetto Health-USC Plastic Surgery-Sumter, call (803) 774-7546.