Meet Dr Damian Marucci
Meet Dr Damian Marucci, an outgoing happy, family guy who loves the outdoors and more importantly loves his job. Growing up in Sydney, he spends his time running and ocean swimming, when he’s not working or working out you will often find him scootering to the beach with his kids.
Dr. Marucci studied at the University of Sydney to complete his medical degree and by night he would complete his Bachelor of Arts (majoring in philosophy). During his medical training he received a Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) Surgeon Scientist scholarship with which he completed his PhD in surgery through the University of Sydney. Part of his research for his PhD resulted in a U.S patent on a new design for minimally invasive surgical instruments. During this time Dr. Marucci was also awarded the Noel Newton Medal from the RACS and the Investigator award from the Surgical Research Society. Dr Marucci has over 20 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals on everything from facelift surgery to breast reconstruction.
Are you impressed yet? We sure are. Dr. Marucci showed a vast interest in surgery and the profession from a young age. He says he always knew he wanted to be a surgeon but was never quite sure of what flavour.
“I started my training in general surgery, which gave me a good overview of all the different surgical specialties” explains Dr. Marucci.
“One night, I had to help a plastic surgeon with some microsurgery. A patient had cut both the tiny arteries to one of his fingers. The finger was completely white, as there was no blood getting into it. Blood flow had to be re-established quickly; otherwise the patient would have lost the finger. The arteries were less than a millimeter in diameter. The plastic surgeon repaired the arteries with me on the other side of the microscope. When the surgeon released the small clamps, you could see the blood pulsing through the repair and the finger pinked up. It was the coolest thing ever. At that point, I thought that is pretty amazing.”
It wasn’t until he had started his PhD that Dr. Marucci was 100% certain that plastic surgery was something that he wanted to dedicate his life to. “When I started my PhD in Surgery, I got involved in a project looking at ways of lengthening bone to help little children born with deformities of their jaw bones. Basically, you can cut the bone and then slowly stretch it to the length you want. After these experiences, I started assisting more plastic surgeons and I was always in awe of the precision, skill and artistry of what I was seeing. It was a specialty I wanted to be a part of, and now I am just incredibly honoured that I am doing it” explains Dr. Marucci.
But, his merits don’t stop there. After he finished his plastic surgery training in NSW, he was awarded the Hugh Johnston travel grant to spend a year of advanced plastic surgery training in Oxford, England. “The surgeons there are amazing – as you’d expect!” explains Dr. Marucci.
From there on he spent a year doing advanced craniofacial surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, which led him to be awarded the Mentor Aesthetic Surgery Fellowship to work with his hero and inspiration who Dr. Marucci claims to be ‘the best surgeon in the world’ – Mr. Barry Jones at the King Edward VII hospital in London.
Just to keep the massive list of achievements going Dr. Marucci is also one of the medical directors of the Aesthetic Day Surgery in Sydney. Dr. Marucci says, “It’s a fantastic facility designed and built specifically with plastic surgery patients and their needs in mind. It’s a world-class state-of-the-art day surgery and we perform the full spectrum of plastic, reconstructive and cosmetic surgery procedures – from mole removal to Rhinoplasty.”
On top of this Dr. Marucci works at his own private clinics in Kogarah and Caringbah in Sydney performing both cosmetic and plastic surgery procedures, you can also find Dr. Marucci in two public hospitals. At St George Hospital (Sydney) he does a lot of work on skin cancer surgery, as well as reconstructive surgery after breast cancer or head and neck cancer. And he also works as a Paediatric Craniofacial Surgeon at Westmead Children’s Hospital (Sydney), treating patients who have abnormalities in the way their face and skull bones have formed.
“This is a particularly challenging form of surgery which is performed in a team of highly skilled nurses, neurosurgeons, ENT surgeons, speech pathologists, orthodontists and geneticists. Again, paediatric craniofacial surgery combines functional surgery (to treat a specific medical condition) with a cosmetic improvement in the appearance of these children. It is both challenging and rewarding” explains Dr. Marucci.
Now if you would like Dr. Marucci’s expertise skills you can find him at his private clinics in Kogarah and Caringbah in Sydney where he offers both cosmetic and reconstructive procedures. Dr. Marucci explains that practicing both cosmetic surgery and reconstructive surgery is beneficial to his skills as a surgeon.
“I see both sides of my practice as complimentary – the techniques I use as a reconstructive surgeon improve my ability to perform cosmetic operations. Similarly, my training in cosmetics improves the results I can provide to my reconstructive patients. For example, when I am performing a breast reconstruction, I am mindful of the aesthetics of what makes an attractive breast – so that improves my reconstruction. When I am doing a rhinoplasty, the new improved nose shape should be coupled with an improvement in functional breathing” explained Dr. Marucci.
In terms of life and work balance Dr. Marucci admits he is pretty busy. But he tells us that he loves his job. Finding the balance between work, play and giving back seem to be the key. Dr. Marucci is also a surgeon for Interplast which you may remember is an organization that we often feature on our website.
“As plastic surgeons, we have the opportunity to help people – whether it is a cosmetic or a reconstructive issue. Meeting the patient, making the plan with the patient, operating and then seeing the result is a cycle that I never get tired of. Happy patient equals happy surgeon.”
Dr. Marucci is passionate about furthering the medical profession. Once a month he holds a journal club at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney where he meets with other plastic surgeons and trainees to discuss the latest published research and ideas in the ever-expanding plastic surgery literature.
“Keeping up to date is important in providing patients with the latest scientifically validated treatments and techniques. We actually put all our plastic surgery journal club video blogs on a YouTube channel so plastic surgeons and trainees from around the world can hopefully get something out of them as well. I am also involved in research – currently I am involved with a project looking at minimising scarring after burns. This project, I hope, will also have major implications for minimising scarring in non-burn scars as well” explains Dr. Marucci.
Is there anything this man can’t do? It seems as though he must have more hours in a day than any of us, but don’t worry he still has the time to give his patients at his private clinics in Kogarah and Caringbah in Sydney, the best treatment possible.
“The decision to have surgery is a major one. As with everything, it’s important to do your research. Make sure your surgeon is fully qualified and properly credentialed. Make sure you’ve had everything explained to you to YOUR satisfaction – what’s going to be done, what are the risks, what can you expect after the surgery, what your recovery will be like. If not, go back and ask more questions. Obviously, you should feel safe and comfortable with your surgeon” said Dr. Marucci.
Dr. Marucci offers an invaluable service at his own clinic. He specialises in all forms of facial surgery from rhinoplasty, facelifts and eyelid surgery to body surgery procedures such as breast augmentation, breast reduction and tummy tucks. A nurse from day surgery calls each patient after they have been discharged to keep up with their recovery and answer any questions they may have. And Dr. Marucci is always available to his patients; all his patients are given his phone number to call if they have any problems at any time.
So it may seem that Dr. Damian Marucci is capable of anything. With high ambitions, drive and good intentions it seems Dr. Marucci is one we can trust with small procedures to major operations. Isn’t it nice to know we can trust someone with taking care of our body when we are making life-changing decisions? If you would like any further information or would like to contact Dr. Damian Marucci you can do so by clicking here.