Mimis Cohen has lived a life dedicated to knowledge and science. "I was born and raised in Athens, immediately after the Second World War, immediately after the Holocaust, in which my parents were saved hiding in Christian houses, but too many relatives, acquaintances and friends were lost forever" recalls himself, a descendant of Romaniot families Jews with a centuries-long presence in Greece.
His father was the eminent surgeon Nissim Cohen, and the young boy who grew up in his clinic never wanted anything more than to follow in his footsteps. In 1970 he graduated from the School of Medicine of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, completed his residency as a general surgeon at the University Clinic of Aretaio Hospital in 1976 and received his doctorate in 1977.
In the meantime he had served as an assistant/reserve ensign doctor in the Navy and had done his rural (field service obligation we would call it more formally) at Skylitsios Hospital in Chios.
That year he moved to the United States, where he completed his mandatory training in General Surgery at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Dr. Cohen went to America with the prospect of returning to Greece in a short time, but in his case the phrase "nothing is more permanent than temporary" was verified.
After all, his interest had already turned to plastic surgery: "Although I loved surgery as a career, I always liked art, beauty and aesthetics. Plastic surgery combines all of these." Predictably, then, he was then selected as a trainee in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery program at the same university, under Professor Richard Schultz.
In 1982 he trained in Head and Neck Surgery at the renowned Roswell Park Memorial Institute cancer center in Buffalo, New York. He returned to the University of Illinois Department of Plastic Surgery in 1983, where he successively rose through all academic ranks.
From 1989 until 2019 he was professor and director of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery. At the same time, he reorganized the Craniofacial Surgery center of the University of Illinois, which is one of the largest in the world, and served as its director from 2010 to 2019.
However, he would like to make a distinction: "As we know, plastic surgery emerged as a branch of science as a result of the First World War, when it was necessary to treat the amputations and disfigurements of soldiers.
Cosmetic surgery is something very interesting, which I have been very involved with, but the subject of plastic surgery has a much wider scope: it includes the repair of all kinds of injuries and burns, and it also includes a field of my own - the children who are born with congenital craniofacial anomalies. And here, of course, we have functional as well as aesthetic restoration."
Dr. Cohen has received multiple awards and distinctions, in Greece he has been recognized as an honorary doctorate at the University of Ioannina (2016) and at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2019), where he is also a visiting professor. He is also noted for his extensive humanitarian work (such as – among others – creating the Face the Future Foundation in Chicago for the long-term treatment of the needy).
With his extensive experience he described pioneering surgical protocols that were presented in many publications and books, making them universally accepted. Along with his clinical, educational and administrative work, Dr. Cohen has demonstrated a rich research and writing work, which he has presented in more than 170 publications, as well as in important books, such as the three-volume "Mastery of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery" ( 1994) and the two-volume "Unfavorable results in Plastic Surgery: Avoidance and treatment" (2018). A few months ago, "A Comprehensive Guide to Male Aesthetic and Reconstructive Plastic Surgery" was published in collaboration with Seth R. Thaler.
We may have the impression that until a few years ago cosmetic surgery on men was a taboo subject. “It wasn't exactly taboo. It was happening, but somewhat secretly. Men didn't talk about it publicly like women did.
Several years ago I had noticed something that had piqued my interest. Middle-aged men would come and not necessarily from high society, and they would ask me to fix their eyes a little, to make their face more youthful.
The reason? They were trying to find work and they didn't hire them when they looked a bit old. Even though they were very experienced, employers were looking for someone who looked younger. Our society is built like this, it favors the young.
And not only does it favor the young, it draws attention to the one who is somehow more beautiful. You know, men - especially young men - now look a lot in the mirror, and social media has played a big role in all this, and even if they have some fat, they want to get rid of it and get abs, the so-called six-pack . I'm fine with everything, as long as what someone asks for I understand that I can give it.
Because the problem of body dysmorphic disorder is huge. There are people who might come in every week like they're shopping for clothes, and they usually end up going from one plastic surgeon to another.
They will never be happy with anything. Care and control is required. I tell young and young surgeons that there is no excuse, even if the phone hasn't rang for a month, you have to learn to say no to clients like that.''
Dr. Cohen – whom the Athens Academy recently elected as its corresponding member, from among Greek scientists abroad, in "Medicine-Surgery", in the First Class of the Positive Sciences – obviously knows what he is talking about.
SOURCE: THE STEP, 13.11.24
