Last week, I completed the 4th and 5th videotaped surgical procedures for Volume 3 of my DVD series.  Live surgery is always an experience.  I have performed live surgery at many symposia and watched many other surgeons do the same, and it is uniquely taxing because the surgeon wants to do just as good a job as if the videographer and the “audience” were not present.  For me, an additional element is that I must narrate everything I am doing, when I ordinarily do not talk much during surgery.

But the surgeries went well, as did the 3 previous ones that we taped this summer.  I demonstrated all types of reconstructive techniques in primary, secondary, and post-traumatic noses.  I will edit them this month and they will be available to surgeons in September.  This will make a total of 14 available videotaped nasal operations.

The reach of the written and videotaped surgical experience is broader than ever.  It has amazed me throughout my writing career of over 40 years that, though I sit at my desk in New Hampshire writing, before the Internet I received reprint requests from Cuba, Russia, and elsewhere.  The spread of knowledge is like a flame that gets passed, increasing the light while never dimming the original flame.  That’s what is so wonderful.

With the Internet and the availability of excellent, sharp digital videography, my ability to teach what I do has spread even further.  I have received letters from young surgeons who have learned from my textbook, book chapters, journal articles and videos and are showing results far better than I could have produced at their ages.  The biggest beneficiaries, of course, are the patients.

In December, I will lead a one-day seminar in New York City on closed rhinoplasty and I am including four of these surgeons, who will show their beautiful results.  Their patients heal quickly, breathe well, and they look normal, natural, and unoperated.

This is the real thrill of teaching through videos.