Today we have for you our most recent "Get to Know" session with VisionAmerica's Dr. Darrell Wolfley. We would recommend you get out a map of the United States for this one. Dr. Wolfley has MOVED around a bit in his time. Even though we work side-by-side with one another on a daily basis, we still learn interesting facts about each other through these interviews. Here's the latest "Get to Know Dr. _____" featuring VisionAmerica's Dr. Wolfley. We hope you enjoy it! Where did you grow up and attend medical school? Utah. I lived there through undergrad at the University of Utah. I moved from Utah and went to medical school at Northwestern. I was going to focus on internal medicine so I went to the University of Washington. After one year of internal medicine, I decided I needed a change so I transferred to Vanderbilt and studied ophthalmology there for one year. In those days, all doctors ended up in the military. I was drafted and spent three years at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii and practiced ophthalmology there. After my time in the Army, I finished my residency and then went to fellowship in New York City at New York Medical College. Then I came back to Utah and joined the faculty at Utah and was there for seven years. In 1984, I joined the faculty at Louisiana State University (LSU) and was there until 1990. I left LSU and went to Georgetown University where I stayed for two years. I left Georgetown and went to Yale where I stayed seven years. At that point, I decided I had had enough of academic medicine so I came here to Birmingham and joined a group of plastic surgeons where I stayed a year-and-a-half before joining VisionAmerica. I've been here for 21 years. Dr. Darrell Wolfley Why did you choose ophthalmic plastics? I really chose ophthalmology and that was almost a flip of the coin. I didn't want to be involved in a field of medicine where people didn't get well. Because of my time in the military and the Vietnam War, Tripler was the busiest hospital in the country. We were inundated with facial injuries and that's why I got interested in plastics. What is the most interesting thing that most people don't know about you? (Laughs.) Ask Ashlee and Marilyn. (His team members at VisionAmerica.) They will probably tell you that I am the worst secret keeper. I just can't do it. I like to spread information. Rumor has it that you just got a cell phone in the last five years. (Laughs.) Yes, that's true. It has been great. I really love texting. It is a wonderful new technology that has truly changed things. People don't want to talk on the phone these days. We text instead. What are your five favorite apps?
My first wife of 21 years passed away and we had adopted two sons. I remarried 21 years ago and my current wife has three children and we have six grandkids. What is one of the most interesting cases you've seen lately? In my whole career, until 6 months ago, I had only seen one case of Merkel Cell Carcinoma. We have had two in the last six months. (Side note: Click here for more information on Merkel Cell Carcinoma from the NIH) What kind of plastics cases do you really enjoy seeing? Probably the most fun are eyelid reconstructions. Typically what we do with eyelid cancer is send a patient to a mohs surgeon who removes the tumor and that leaves a hole. They come back to us and we fix the hole. It is very challenging and you have to have had a lot of experience to do it well. I also really enjoy the cosmetic aspect as well. We are basically undoing the aging changes that occur around the eyes and forehead. Favorite book you've recently read? They Must Be Stopped Brigitte Gabriel and Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. What do you enjoy doing in your leisure time? I just picked golf back up and I hunt and fish. What is something interesting you have noticed in the field of plastics? The field of cosmetic surgery had changed a lot. It used to be all eyelids and facelifts, but about 20 years ago the middle of the face became a focus, which is really exciting. We hope you have enjoyed getting to know Dr. Wolfley a little better. We will have more "Get to Know" emails coming out in the upcoming months.
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August 2019
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