Sherman

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Plastic Surgery

Randy Sherman

USC University Hospital

Dr. Randy Sherman thinks getting banged up while playing high school football was one of the best things that ever happened to him.

While on the mend, he was counseled and inspired by the team doctor, prompting him to pursue a career in medicine and become one of L.A.’s most prominent plastic and reconstructive surgeons.

“I was fatherless and he really became a source of guidance and direction for me,” Sherman says. “Once he asked me if I wanted to observe him in the emergency room, and the experience was like a magical kingdom for me. It’s an atmosphere that some people love and makes others throw up like a horror movie but I was hooked.”

Sherman, now 48, specializes in microvascular surgery (which often involves nerve and skin transfers), while overseeing 22 faculty members as chief of the plastic and reconstructive surgery unit at USC School of Medicine.

For Sherman, the goal is to repair and heal wounds that can be emotional as well as physical. He performs from two to five surgeries a day, four days a week, with the intent of returning dignity and hope to those who may have lost a breast to cancer or fingers to an accident.

One notable case involved operating on 12-year-old Mallory Wofford. An extremely rare congenital condition known as Mobius syndrome left Wofford without the muscular ability to smile.

Two years ago, Sherman conducted two, 10-hour surgical procedures on her, removing muscles from her inner thighs and transplanting them into her face. Today, Wofford says she has mastered the technique of grinning, thanks to Sherman’s bedside manner and surgical skill.

“Usually, doctors freak me out, but Dr. Sherman made me feel comfortable and would talk to me and tell me everything was OK,” says the West Covina resident. “He made me feel good, and now I look good.”

For the past few years, Sherman has taken his talent on the road by providing pro bono care to children in less-privileged countries. He has traveled from Ghana to Jerusalem with Operation Smile, a group based in Norfolk, Va., that sends teams of physicians and nurses around the world to treat everything from cleft lips to massive burn deformities.

“It’s the neatest thing in the world to do this. I get paid, just not financially,” Sherman says.

Nola L. Sarkisian

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