Tell us a little about yourself!

I’m Dr. Daniel Martin, and I have been a Plastic Surgeon at Humber River Hospital since 2010. In 2017 I became the Division Head of Plastic Surgery.

How would you explain your job to a friend?

There are so many different areas of specialty within Plastic Surgery! At Humber we have surgeons who perform breast reconstruction, lymphedema microsurgery, hand and upper extremity surgery, surgeries that help treat cancer, skin reduction surgeries for bariatric patients, aesthetic surgeries, and more.

“I’m proud that the Plastic Surgery Program provides some pretty exceptional care,” says Dr. Martin. “We have an incredible team in the Clinic and in the Operating Room (OR) working tirelessly every day to provide high-quality care to our patients, as well as a number of extremely talented surgeons!”

I do a little bit of everything, including some breast reduction, skin cancer surgeries, aesthetic surgeries, and some hand surgeries.

What makes you proud of the Plastic Surgery Program at Humber River Hospital?

We provide some pretty exceptional care. We have an incredible team in the Clinic and in the Operating Room (OR) working tirelessly every day to provide high-quality care to our patients, as well as a number of extremely talented surgeons!

How is Humber River Hospital lighting new ways in Plastic Surgery?

We work with several new technologies, like specialized microscopes for microsurgery, and donor-funded ICG technology that helps us identify healthy tissue. A number of innovations that we have at Humber River Hospital are improving patient outcomes and shortening their length of stay at the Hospital. Many of what used to be inpatient surgeries, requiring an OR and stay at the Hospital, are now day-surgeries that we can perform in the Clinic under local anaesthetic.

How has COVID-19 affected the Program?

Our techniques have continued to evolve and improve so that we can continue to provide great care. For example, for some procedures we switched from removable stitches to dissolvable stitches so that patients wouldn’t need to return to the Hospital. That was a small change where we ended up seeing a lot of benefits for our patients.

Also, thanks to our increasing ability to perform procedures as day-surgeries now, we have been able to keep seeing patients without requiring additional hospital beds.

The Hospital has done a great job overall of implementing measures to keep everyone safe.

What do you love about your job?

A lot of our procedures improve how patients feel and improve how they feel about themselves. The best part about my job is when patients come back and are thrilled with their results.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by the people I work with: the teams we have in the OR and in the Clinic. We are really fortunate to have such dedicated people working tirelessly to provide a really good patient experience.