Why I Started a Plastic Surgery Practice in Raleigh, North Carolina
It is great to be back in the triangle and starting my plastic surgery practice, Tannan Plastic Surgery. My husband and I met not far from here at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. We both spent nearly a decade at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for my undergraduate and medical studies, and for his undergraduate and doctoral studies. Yes, we are a family of proud Tarheels, and our blood runs Carolina blue!
Plastic surgery training led our family on a tour of the south. I did my plastic surgery residency at the University of Virginia, followed by fellowship training in hand surgery and microsurgery at the Hand Center of San Antonio, in Texas. I returned to North Carolina to Wake Forest University of School of Medicine. Here I joined plastic and orthopaedic surgery as the first faculty member jointly appointed to both departments. I was active in academic pursuits training the next generation of plastic surgeons, while maintaining a busy practice collaborating with some of the nation’s finest physicians and staff.
The pull of my family in the triangle was strong, and we are happy to be back home in the Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Durham area. We are proud parents of a bright young girl and look forward to putting down roots where this journey originally began!
Plastic surgery procedures are the quintessence of creative problem solving in situations where no two patients are treated the exact same way. Every person is unique, presenting with different concerns, and no two surgeries are exactly alike! I love being able to listen to my patients — each individual story — and identify and carry out the solution that best meets his or her needs.
The ability to literally shape a woman’s confidence when she feels like she cannot recognize herself after childbirth is empowering and inspiring. The ability to restore function to the same hands that care for an ailing, loving grandmother humbles me. The practice of plastic surgery is a privilege and a passion.
