29-year-old Dr. El Hativ is Israel’s first female plastic surgeon. She was recently featured Jewish Journal, speaking about the rewards of performing reconstructive surgery.
El Hativ says the challenge of repairing traumas like burns, tumors and cleft palates, among others, is inspiring to her. As an artist, El Hativ says she is able to combine the medical with the aesthetic to help her reconstructive patients.
One such patient was a child who was born with a cleft palate. Three months after El Hativ performed the surgery, the child returned for a check up and El Hativ said there was no evidence of the cleft palate.
“I suddenly understood what I had done for her and how her life was transformed by this surgery,” El Hativ said.
For now, as El Hativ focuses her attention on helping reconstructive patients regain something they once thought was lost, she also works to educate her community about plastic surgery.
“They don’t know that there are so many other things we can do to help change people’s lives,” El Hativ said.
Read her story from Jewish Journal