Dr.
Wahl at his offices, showing the marriage of his talents—fine art
and surgery.
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MD
Thinks of Creating Art 'As Breathing' |
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"Art
is so much a part
of my life, I don't think of it as a hobby," says Keith J. Wahl, M.D. Flunking the chalk-carving portion of the dental aptitude exam, Keith J. Wahl, MD, went on to attend medical school and perhaps partially in defiance, specialize in facial and reconstructive surgery. His heart, however, always has been in art. "Art," he says, "is so much a part of my life I don't think of it as a hobby. I think of it as breathing." Dr. Wahl, 37, squeezes much into each day. In addition to being chief of otolaryngology at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, maintaining a practice in head, neck, and facial cosmetic surgery, and parenting two small boys, Dr. Wahl also sculpts, etches, paints, casts, engraves, and carves — in glass, not chalk. PLASTIC
SURGERY and art go beyond mere compatibility. They are married, Dr.
Wahl says, and he thinks his art is as important to his patients as his
medical acumen. "My
artistry is honestly
a big factor in communication." "My artistry is honestly a big factor in communication. My patients understand there is some sensitivity—aesthetic sensitivity—and that's important." Dr. Wahl insists he heard his artistic calling in early childhood, predating by years his decision to enter medicine. "I have been an artist since I've been able to hold something in my hands, since I was about 3. I've just always done it in high school, there was printing and mechanical drawing—which was never that great because I can't draw a straight line. I even restored old cars. I've always had a hand hobby." A CLOSE RELATIVE influenced him to apply to dental school, and he also applied to medial school as a backup. Both of these professional programs interested him more than a fine arts program because he thought that art would not offer him any guarantees. "I've
always had
a hand hobby." "My father was an artist . . . a musician. He trained at Juliard. While growing up in that environment, I saw a lot of insecurity." To keep his two lives married. Dr. Wahl continued taking art courses throughout his medical school and specialty training. (He took a general surgery residency at UCLA and an otolarngology residency at Stanford U.) "I'm a very unusual person. I can work everything into my life. Sometimes I just don't get much sleep," Dr. Wahl explains.
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His art and medicine are mutually beneficial, he says. "If I'm doing a reconstructive procedure on a face, "Ill do a cast of the person's face first and fill in the defects. This technique is called moulage." Moulage is used often by sculptors and always by maxillofacial surgeons influenced by the French physicians specializing in craniofacial anomalies. The procedure is not used often by plastic surgeons, Dr. Wahl says. The technique is useful particularly in patients with cancer or trauma in which major bone and soft-tissue repairs are needed, he adds. Attention to form and to protocol, disciplines learned in fine arts classes, also applies to facial cosmetic work, Dr. Wahl says. Besides being familiar with the gross anatomy of the face, "you really need to know the artistic anatomy, the expression, the emotion, the importance of the line that accompanies a frown." Dr. Wahl derives satisfaction from cases requiring unusual treatment and artistic forethought—although he admits there is not a plastic surgeon "in the world who will master the common rhinoplasty" because every procedure produces different results and healing processes. Still the challenge to him is in the unique. "I had one patient who had cancer and years ago had a metal jaw bone implanted, but he couldn't wear dentures. Recently I used skin for the reconstruction of the inside of his mouth and for gums and took bone from his ribs and hip for his chin and jaw. Now he can wear dentures." "I
have been an artist since
I've been able to hold something in my hands . . ." "I also had a bright engineer, an avid bicyclist, who fell from a path onto railroad tracks and drove his skull into his brain. I reconstructed his skull. Just last Saturday, a young girl went through a windshield. That kind of thing always taxes the ingenuity—to figure out where the pieces go. The anesthetics are of supreme importance in these case." DR. WAHL grows more personal, almost possessive, when speaking of the artwork that gives him satisfaction. He has decorated his office with his favorite paintings and his home with hand-carved glass pieces. He is proud of a design he created for an album produced by his synagogue, and he daily studies his latest work in glass. It is a 6-foot-tall, 3.5 foot wide rose carved in glass, which with its oak frame constitutes a door to his office. "I did it all without breaking the glass. It's beautiful to look at, but extremely fragile," he says. It's a good thing that Dr. Wahl receives so much satisfaction from his art. Medicine has to pay the rent in this marriage. The art is all donated. • —Judy Alsofrom, AMA News |
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 Etched glass panel |
