Robert Whitfield MDAmerica's Breast Implant Illness Expert™

Plastic Surgeon's Inspiring Cancer Reconstruction Journey & Insights #shorts

20 Feb 2026 · 1 min

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1:23

In this brief talk, board‑certified plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Whitfield from Austin, Texas, outlines his professional focus on complex cancer reconstruction—including head and neck, sarcoma, and breast reconstruction—and shares the personal impact of his sister’s recent death from breast cancer. He explains how this personal loss reinforced his dedication to cancer‑related reconstructive work. Dr. Whitfield then describes a notable 2016 case where a breast cancer patient requested a "go flat" mastectomy, prompting his team to review over 690 consecutive explant specimens to assess outcomes and inform practice.

Chapters

For those of you who don't know or are just learning about some of the types of things we've done at our clinic and in my career. So I'm Dr. Whitfield. I'm in Austin, Texas, a board certified plastic surgeon. And the majority of my career was spent really training to carry out complex reconstructive surgery for cancer. And that was a ton of meaningful work to me, and I was very passionate about that. My sister passed away recently of breast cancer, and the large majority of my career was devoted just to cancer reconstruction for head and neck cancer, sarcoma reconstruction, and breast reconstruction. And those were some of the most meaningful experiences I ever had. So that led us in 2016, to be approached by a breast cancer patient who wanted to go flat. So In September of 24, basically, we looked at a series of our clients of over 690 consecutive explant specimens.