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Recently, Dr. Guo Shuzhong’s team of ear and nose cosmetic and reconstruction surgeons have joined Shenzhen United Family Hospital to provide patients from all over China with high-quality medical care. New Frontier board member and Honorary President of the hospital Edward Leong, Executive Director and GBA-region COO at New Frontier Brian Xiao, and Managing Director at UFH for the Beijing, Tianjin, and Shenzhen regions Pan Zhongying presented Dr. Guo with the plaque for the center.

Data from China’s National Center for Birth Defect Monitoring shows that over the past decade, the rate of defects at birth has not subsided. Congenital microtia is a common deformation (about one in every 7,000 births) in the region of the head second only to cleft lip/palate. The ear is not a regenerative organ, so surgery is the only way to remedy the problem. Dr. Guo stated that it is different from other deformations in that it is not only about appearance because it has a psychological impact on both the child and the parents.

To eliminate this psychological trauma, Dr. Guo has time and again held seminars and provided medical consultations for free at many places in China. Since joining Shenzhen United Family Hospital, his team has completed over 100 auricular reconstructions and held numerous seminars and medical consultations with over 100 attendees each. He stated, “Though microtia is not a matter of life and death and does not significantly limit the patient’s hearing ability, it is a great source of anxiety for parents. While I’m reconstructing a child’s ear, I’m also helping to heal psychological wounds and eliminate any regrets.” Auricular reconstruction requires two types of skills: exceptional cosmetic surgery, such as in the aspects of tissue expansion and flap transfer, and, more importantly, the ability to create scaffolds with the aesthetic standards of a professional sculptor. Using rib cartilage to construct the ear scaffold is a core and extremely challenging part of auricular reconstruction.

“About 2,500 children in China need auricular reconstruction annually, and I do 600 to 800 of them, about a quarter. There are auricular reconstruction surgeons in every province, but some of them only do a few to several dozen at the most each year.” As one of the physicians who do the greatest number of these surgeries, Dr. Guo is hailed “an artist with the scalpel.”

Dr. Shi Junli, who has worked under Dr. Guo for over ten years, is the creator of the mashengbi technique, a developer of the butterfly full auricular cartilage nasal tip shaping technique, and the first to propose the neo-natural aesthetic. As a physician who bills herself as “one who creates beauty,” she views good technique as the greatest virtue in her work and has thus never stopped working to hone her skills. While learning cosmetic surgery abroad, she saw many patients who had serious complications after rhinoplasty.“There is no way I’ll allow my patients to suffer such complications,” she has said, committing herself to diligent research, and this is precisely why she has an extremely low rate of revision rhinoplasty. She clearly understands what an underdeveloped nose or a congenital lip/palate cleft means to patients. She frequently participates in charity events to provide surgery for children with cleft lips/palates for free. Now, she and Dr. Guo are working together more frequently in their areas of expertise.

The hospital has always held to being patient-centered. By establishing an auricular surgery center and rhinoplasty center, we look forward to having these outstanding physicians serve the GBA area to bring more joy to more families.