John Cassel, MD, FACS - South Miami, FL

John Cassel, MD, FACS
6141 Sunset Drive
Suite 100
South Miami, FL 33143

(305) 596-1010

Plastic Surgeon, Artisan

My interest in art preceded my knowledge of plastic surgery by many years. As a boy, I thought a plastic surgeon simply put plastic in people, like Bondo in a fender dent. At the same time, I was well acquainted with gems, minerals, precious metals and how to shape and form them. Ironically, the term, plastikos, from the Greek means to shape or form, yet I still had no inkling of my double destiny with the word.

I was sixteen, and already had seven years experience in gem cutting and jewelry making garnered from a burning curiosity and a Museum of Science in bike riding distance. I took every course I could and fell in love with gem cutting, both en cabochon and faceting. I ended up teaching the gem cutting course on weekends, at a time when there was no such thing as Community Service Hours. I did it for the love of the Art.

While in college, I owned a jewelry store in down town Miami where I converted my avocation into a vocation. I eagerly learned from the industrious Cuban craftsmen who filled the buildings of the jewelry trade district, and added many skills to my arsenal. I began to perfect my work in brass. copper, gold, silver, clay, amalgam, enamel, wood, and even vegetables. Still, though, the elusive climax to my journey of artistic fulfillment remained out of reach until I began to consider the ultimate medium, the human body. Thus began my commitment to enter medical school and pursue the long hard road to plastic surgery.

Copyright John Cassel MD 2009