Plastic surgeon to help vets injured or deformed on active duty

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - As a tribute timed with Veteran's Day, a West Michigan plastic surgeon is reaching out to veterans injured or deformed on active duty. Dr. Steven Ringler, with the Center for Aesthetics and Plastic Surgery in Grand Rapids, says this is a way he can give back.

"With recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, there are a lot of facial injuries with explosives," Dr. Ringler explains, "It just seemed like this was a good opportunity where I could use my skills, experience and offer my services. This is something I can do, it's easy for me to do surgery, this is what I do everyday."

Dr. Ringler has been practicing for 25 years, but volunteer work has been a part of his career for 20 years. He's been on 13 missions to seven different countries as part of Operation Smile, where he mostly repaired cleft lips on hundreds of children. He started the Michigan chapter of Operation Smile with his wife 13 years ago. So this effort is a way to expand his charitable giving.

"They have a lot of scars from wartime that don't show," says Dr. Ringler, "And if we can help them with the things that do show, that may make their return to civilian life a little easier."

Dr. Ringler is partnering with Spectrum Hospital to perform the surgeries. Spectrum is donating the supplies and space, surgeries will be done at the Blodgett Campus in East Grand Rapids in January. Nurses and anesthesiologists from Spectrum are donating their time to help with the surgeries. Volunteers have not been difficult to find.

"I think a lot of people want to do something to show their gratitude and appreciation to the troops and everybody I've talked to says 'what can I do?'," says Dr. Ringler.

He's looking for Michigan veterans injured or deformed on active duty. He will conduct complimentary screenings at his office, and schedule the outpatient surgery if one can be done. Right now, he doesn't have a limit on how many surgeries will be performed, he isn't sure what kind of response there will be.

"If it's one or 50, it doesn't matter to me," says Dr. Ringler, "If I can help one soldier, I'm happy to do that."

The consultations will take place throughout the month of November. To make an appointment, call the Center for Aesthetics and Plastic Surgery at 616-588-0888 or 616-588-2277 to make an appointment or email vets@capsmi.com. You can also visit www.capsmi.com <http://www.capsmi.com> for more information.