In this exclusive interview, she talks about choices, careers, and the current scenario of surgeries in the country
Born in São Paulo (Brazil), the daughter of Archimedes and Vera Lúcia maintains a strong family connection with her parents and siblings to this day because, according to her, this is the foundation of everything. “My father always said that we are only happy when we are free, and for that to happen, we need to be independent. So, that’s what I carry. I seek my independence in every sense, not just financially, emotionally, professionally, and that’s my goal,” says Dr. Tatiana de Moura, graduated and Master in Plastic Surgery from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of São Paulo.
Medicine was not a childhood dream, but it was in high school that the student had this passion awakened. “When I was little, I wanted to be a dancer and also a veterinarian. But, in high school, I decided to take a vocational test. I remember exactly that the counselor asked me if I wanted to work with people or things, and I answered with people. During the analysis, I discovered that I was looking for a profession to work in a closed environment, with different people, without having an exact routine every day. In Medicine, at least in the area I chose, we have that,” emphasizes Moura.
According to the doctor, one of the interesting aspects of the field is working with people of all types, from newborns to the elderly, men and women, cis patients, trans patients, reconstructive and aesthetic, healthy and sick people. “Every day I deal with a different story, and that fascinates me a lot. In the vocational test, I also answered what the final goal of my work was, and I decided that I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. The result revealed that I should work in the health field, and I chose medicine.”
After choosing the profession, the doctor chose plastic surgery right away. “When I took the entrance exam, I already knew I wanted to do plastic surgery because I always set clear goals in my head. I started to imagine how I could take care of others and I imagined myself taking care of burn victims. I knew I wanted to do something that people can’t stand to see, something that people have a certain aversion to, and I discovered other aspects in the field. Today, I treat burn victims, but I don’t work only with that. I chose to transform people’s lives through plastic surgery, and I do that every day.”
Current scenario of plastic surgery in Brazil
According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Brazil is the second country that performs the most plastic surgeries, behind only the United States. The doctor argues that we are a country of international prominence not only for having a large demand market but also for having professionals with excellent training. “Brazilian plastic surgeons, starting with Ivo Pitanguy, are highly respected worldwide, so I think that’s a big difference. Plastic surgery has indeed become more accessible in the last 20 years, and it has become more popular, and access to this type of treatment is beneficial if people seek change in a coherent and healthy way. Unfortunately, the ‘boom’ of social media has somewhat affected the patient’s relationship with what the procedure can offer,” she emphasizes.
For her, there is a misrepresentation of images, a distortion of the patient’s self-image in photographs, something that did not happen in the past. “For example, people come and say, ‘I don’t like myself in this photo,’ ‘I don’t like this side of my face,’ and this is clearly a pressure from social media, in addition to being very sad. I even tell patients like this, ‘but this person you don’t like from this angle is the same person you like from another angle.’ Anyway, surgery won’t operate on your photo. Surgery changes you from all angles. Is that what you’re looking for?” And she continues: “When a patient comes with a discourse that she wanted to improve this in the photo, we have to be very careful because the chance of this patient being frustrated with the result of the surgery, because it will not look like what she imagined in the photo, is very high. So, I think that social media not only affected the doctor-patient relationship, but also confused the patient’s perception of what is possible in a surgical intervention or aesthetic procedure. I think that perception has worsened, right? We spend more time in consultations trying to dissuade patients from this type of argument.”
Regarding her professional dreams, Moura reveals that she has a strong desire to develop a new technique. “I think that’s very important for a surgeon. For 16 years, I had the opportunity to participate in a volunteer work as a pediatric plastic surgeon at the “Hospital das Clínicas” (São Paulo). There, I had the opportunity to apply new known techniques in children with malformations, such as Bladder Exstrophy, which is an abdominal wall malformation, and this technique was published and has a second publication in sight,” she exclaims. “Another striking technique relates to Giant Congenital Nevus on the face, with total skin grafting. I haven’t been able to publish this one yet, but they are techniques for aesthetic improvement that remove these moles to lower the chance of melanoma. In this way, we can reduce the number of surgeries for these children, and that is simply sensational.” And she concludes: “I think every surgical doctor’s dream is for these ideas to be replicated for other children, and that is possible through publications. In that sense, I feel fulfilled and intend to continue expanding information that changes people’s lives for the better, always.”