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GLASS CREATIONS BY KEITH WAHL, MD
By Steven L. Neal, MD
Keith Jay Wahl, MD of La Jolla,
Calif., and a fellow of the AAFPRS, studied art long before he studied medicine.
From age nine, he began taking drawing lessons at art school. He made time
to continue his art lessons through medical school and residency, studying
at Samsels Art School in North Hollywood.
"A background in art helps you pay more attention to detail, precision,
and planning--all qualities equally important in facial plastic surgery,"
says Dr. Wahl.
In art school, Dr. Wahl studied intaglio,
lithography, printmaking, and embossing. "This helped me visualize
what would happen to a complex shape (Like a lower cartilage or a facial
defect) when it was cut from different angles," says Dr. Wahl.
As seen in these reproductions, Dr. Wahl
finally settled on glass as his main art medium (as well as flesh and
bone). "In
my view as a surgeon-artist, the "A" in art represents aesthetics,
the "R" is relationships, and "T" is techniques.
Aesthetically, we surgeons
bring our personal taste to what we believe will fit the patient within
the basic precepts of beauty--symmetry and balance," philosophizes
Dr. Wahl. "In terms of relationships, we learn to identify facial
proportion and the qualities of the beautiful face as it fits the ethnicity
of the individual.
Techniques are
those which are accepted as standard, those we develop, and those we attempt
to perfect. While an artist attempts to achieve perfection in his mind's
eye, perfection can be the "enemy of good" for a surgeon. A
surgeon must know when to stop, what is realistic, and what is now attainable.
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DANCING FIGURE IN GOLD LEAF AND
NEON 
EXOTIC BIRD IN GREEN AND
BLUE GLASS WITH MIRROR
ETCHED GLASS
(CLICK FOR FULL SIZE)
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