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Shirley A. Anain, MDRead the entire Top Docs List
 Sisters of Charity Hospital, Buffalo
2121 Main St., Ste. 316
Buffalo, NY 14214
838-1333
Pediatric Plastic Surgery

By Catherine Berlin

 From kids to grownups, this plastic surgeon pays attention to the whole body.

Shirley Anain, MD
Shirley A. Anain, MD.
Photo by Jim Bush.
At twelve, Shirley Anain wanted to be a surgeon. While the girls on my block were learning to roll waistbands so our skirts would be a little shorter, Dr. Anain was doing that and wondering what type of doctor she would be. She chose vascular surgery, as had her dad, Dr. Joseph Anain, Sr. She stayed on that track until years six and seven of her graduate education. Suddenly “Plastics,” as she shorthands it, grabbed her. “It uses the same set of skills in execution as with vascular surgery, but in plastic surgery I found that each patient presented me with a new combination to address: function and form. Things had to work on the inside and look as good as possible on the outside.”

I get stuck on the concept of “years six and seven of postgraduate studies.” So, you complete your residency and retire?

“It can be done in six now, but it takes longer than many other fields,” explains the doctor, who is one of only eighteen plastic surgeons in the area and the only woman. Anain earned degrees from Mount St. Joe’s, Colgate, and UB before spending seven years at the Cleveland Clinic, and wrapping with a fellowship in pediatric craniofacial/microvascular plastic surgery at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children; her clients insist it was time well spent. One former patient posting on a website for individuals who have lost large amounts of weight wrote, “She is absolutely amazing! When you first meet her, it is very obvious that she loves what she does, and she makes herself totally available, both pre- and post-surgery. And me? I feel like Ms. Freakin’ America! She did a beautiful job of clearing away the very large belly, repairing the muscles, and making my belly button look normal.”

Anain blushes when I show her this. Her modesty becomes even more evident when she reports on a patient whose abdominal wall had hung down to his ankles. He weighed 450 pounds, she explains. He had been disabled from work and was too large to scan for complications. She told him that he had to lose weight before she could help him. Her inspired patient returned a few years later, 130 pounds lighter. Dr. Anain gathered a surgical team at Sisters Hospital that included a urologist, a cardiologist and ICU personnel, and performed a panniculectomy, removing an eighty-three-pound “apron” of skin and flesh. (A typical tummy tuck results in the removal of two or three pounds of excess tissue; this piece was the size of a sixth grader.) The patient learned to walk again and returned to work, maintaining his weight at 250 pounds. In providing this history, the doctor seems proudest not of the surgery, but of her patient’s determination. “What I found so remarkable,” Dr. Anain beams, “was that he lost the weight all on his own. Pills or by-pass surgery weren’t an option, but he lost it.”

Shirley Anain, MD
Shirley A. Anain, MD.
Photo by Jim Bush.
She sets aside time for Children’s Hospital, where she performs cleft lip and craniofacial surgeries. “I have been called in to consult with expectant parents when an ultrasound suggests there is a problem. It’s better if the parents understand the situation before the birth and learn of the tremendous treatment options.” She also performs the types of surgeries more commonly associated with plastics, including breasts, liposuctions, tummy tucks, and eyes. She credits her success to artistic sensibilities and a good eye for symmetry, insisting on meeting with her clients more than once before surgery. The body, she explains, looks different standing up than it does lying on a hospital table.

She opened her own practice in Buffalo in 1993, and has held presidencies in several medical associations. In 2003 she was named a Woman of Accomplishment, and her face was splashed across the area during National Women’s History Month. “Yes, for thirty days I got to be a billboard doctor!” she laughs. However, she is most proud of her children, Kristin, David, and Jenna, whose photos grace her office. They look as full of energy as their mother is. I am not sure if any of them have chosen a career yet—but I have one word for you, Kristin. Just one word: Plastics.


Catherine Berlin is an attorney, writer, and photographer living in Buffalo.


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