Hi, I'm Doctor James Fernau, First and foremost, I'm a father of six beautiful children and I am a board certified plastic surgeon.
A little bit about my upbringing. I was born in Wyoming. I went to the University of Wyoming undergraduate and I graduated summa cum laude. Then went to the University of Utah Medical School and graduated at the top of my class.
I then went to Colombo, Ohio and did one year of general surgery. After that I did a four year residency in otolaryngology and head and neck cancer surgery. Became board certified in that field.
I received further training and went back to the University of Utah. I became board certified in plastic and reconstructive surgery, after a two year residency. I performed a cosmetic surgery fellowship in Virginia Beach, Virginia with Doctor Richard Mladick.
I then settled in the Pittsburgh area. I've been practicing here over 21 years. During my 21 years I have practiced plastic and reconstructive surgery. The second half of my career I have focused on cosmetic surgery, primarily.
I perform forehead lifts, face lifts, upper and lower eyelid lifts, neck lifts, breast augmentations, breast lifts, breast reductions, tummy tucks, liposuction of all areas. One of the thing, that separates me from other plastic surgeons, is I stay on the cutting edge of plastic surgery and I acquire much of the high tech equipment, such as the Fraxel Laser, the erbium Sciton laser, the vein wave laser for small vessels, the Isolaz laser for acne and intense pulse light treatment therapy. Recently we have acquired the NeoGraft hair transplantation unit which performs hair transplantation without any incision.
Another advantage is that I have trained internationally. I have trained with Dr. Raul Gonzalez in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil and have perfected the fine art of body contouring, including the Brazilian buttock lift, the PAM periareolar mastopexy or breast lift. Most recently the XYZ technique for buttock implants.
I have been very fortunate in my career to become a member of The American Society of Plastic Surgeons, and The American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, and The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. That is where I was able to meet Dr. Raul Gonzalez and many of my international colleagues and learn their specific techniques which have greatly enhanced the techniques that I have learned in America.
Some of the very specialized techniques, which I have perfected, include the XYZ Brazilian buttock implant. Which is placed within the musculature of the gluteus muscle giving a near perfect result in every case. The Brazilian buttock fat grafting, to enhance the buttock by liposuctioning the abdomen, and hip rolls, and using this fat in a closed, and sterile, fashion to enhance the contour of the abdomen, hip rolls, and the buttock. In many cases, we use that fat to augment the breasts.
One of the important concepts of the gluteal augmentation is, women obtain breast implants frequently. In many cases, the buttock is neglected. If you study Greek mythology, and look at many of the statues and sculptures, you see beautiful breast contour and a beautiful buttock contour. In today's society we see that this image is starting to come back. The very thin female model image is starting to fade out. I believe that this is very important to balance the breast with the buttocks, therefore we see a great emphasis on buttock implantation. Which typically is preformed in women with very little fat. In women with a moderate amount of fat, the fat can be liposuctioned from the hip rolls, and the abdomen, and placed in the buttock without problems. Giving very nice contours.
Other specific techniques, which I specialize in, are body implants. This includes deltoid implants, bicep and tricep implants, pectoral implants for males, calf implants using an anatomical calf augmentation. Placing the implant over the medial gastrocnemius muscle and the lateral gastrocnemius muscle, giving a very pure and natural contour to the calf muscles.
Throughout the years I have perfected the use of many fillers. Including the use of Restylane, JUVEDERM, Voluma, or RADIESSE, Sculptra, and Artefill. Even permanent lip implants to enhance the lips on a permanent basis. Also we use BOTOX, and Dysport, and Xeomin.
We typically form a very precise and detailed treatment plan for each patient, which would include where and what type of filler will be placed. At which time these fillers will be placed. Typically we also perform Fraxel and erbium laser resurfacing to eradicate fine wrinkles. Where our patients are losing volume in their face, in their lips, we place the aforementioned fillers.
We take a very personalized approach to our patients. We treat them as if they were our family. We like to roll out the red carpet and pamper our patients. For example, patients that fly in from the west coast, or from overseas, we put them up at a 5-star hotel and we provide transportation back and forth from our facility. We are very proud to do this and honored to have patients to fly, from great distances, to have us perform our specialized procedures on them.
One of the very important aspects of my practice is patient safety. For The American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, I am on the Patient Safety Committee. This is of paramount importance for every patient, for every procedure that we perform.
In addition to many of the cosmetic procedures, which I have talked about, I do perform reconstructive surgery for patients that have been devastated by cancer. Reconstructing their face, parts of their body, breast reconstruction for those women that have had mastectomies. This is a very gratifying aspect of my practice.
I thoroughly enjoy taking care of my patients. I have a close relationship with all of them. I listen to their needs and try and make them happy. My staff is wonderful. I have a wonderful office manager in Mary, marketing manager in Brittany, wonderful registered nurse in Sheila. My surgical technician, which has worked with me over 15 years and actually performed my NeoGraft hair transplant, in Sherry. I have an outstanding aesthetician, Cindy, who is also laser certified. I couldn't be any more proud of my staff at the present moment. They are very loyal. They treat my patients like I treat them. It is a family type of atmosphere that we are very proud of.
I'm Dr. James Fernau, a board certified plastic surgeon. We welcome you to our practice. We would love to have you come in for a consult. I think you'll be very satisfied with the knowledge that we will give you and with the time we will spend with you as well-
