Plastic Surgery Changes Lives
In 2015, Dr. Toshiya Yokoyama published Keiseigeka wa Kando Geka (形成外科は感動外科), a book written to introduce the general public to the true scope and meaning of plastic and reconstructive surgery.
Drawing on patients and experiences from his career as a plastic surgeon, Dr. Yokoyama explores a remarkably broad range of medicine—from reconstruction following serious accidents and burns to cancer reconstruction, pediatric care, ptosis, aesthetic surgery, and complications caused by foreign materials.
Yet the book is ultimately about more than surgical procedures.
Its Japanese title, Keiseigeka wa Kando Geka, expresses Dr. Yokoyama’s belief that plastic surgery can be “surgery that moves the heart.” Restoring a part of the body damaged by injury or disease, improving function, or resolving a concern that has burdened someone for years can bring changes that extend far beyond physical appearance. Such moments can deeply affect not only patients and their families, but also the physicians who care for them.
For the English title, we express this idea as Plastic Surgery Changes Lives.
Throughout the book, Dr. Yokoyama also reflects on the responsibilities of being a physician and on what it means to care for the patient as a whole person. This philosophy—technical precision combined with careful judgment, humility, and sincerity toward every patient—continues to guide the medical care at Ginza Sumire no Hana Clinic today.