About Providence Plastic Surgery
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery located in Charlotte, NC
Heritage
For better and for worse, family molds who we are. Dr. Gear comes from a long lineage of professors and physicians. Medicine is literally in his blood. His great, great grandfather was an Obstetrician in Scotland. His great grandfather, Sir William Leishman, a Scottish infectious disease doctor, discovered (and named) a tropical, parasitic disease transmitted by sandflies, Leishmaniasis. His grandfather, Dr. Harry Gear, co-founded the World Health Organization. His own father, educated at Oxford University, emigrated to the United States in 1965 for a professorship in Biochemistry at the University of Virginia. Dr. Gear was born and raised just up the road from Charlotte in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Professional
From kindergarten through medical school, Dr. Gear was educated in Charlottesville, including undergraduate studies and medical school at the prestigious University of Virginia. While a medical student, Dr. Gear spent an extra year in a coveted research fellowship under the tutelage of Dr. Richard Edlich, Md/PhD. During that year, he was involved in the basic science of burns and wounds, including the synthesis of a new formulation of Silvadene cream for burn care. Based on Dr. Edlich’s suggestions, he journeyed to the University of Minnesota for initial training in General Surgery followed by a three-year plastic surgery research fellowship where he studied among other things the genetics of familial keloids. He then underwent a three-year plastic surgery residency at the University of Minnesota (most plastics programs are only two years). This was followed by 6 months fellowship in Craniofacial/pediatric plastic surgery and a 6-month cosmetic fellowship in Los Angeles, California.
Dr. Gear’s practice philosophy focuses on artistic, tasteful changes in a patient’s body that create a greater sense of well-being, wholeness and joy. The body and soul are an integrated whole, and when someone looks better, they invariably feel better. Like his own father, Dr. Gear remains an inquisitive scientist and is actively involved in clinical studies and writing including the testing and development of an alternative pocket irrigation solution for breast implants. He was the first plastic surgeon in North Carolina to adopt Enhanced recovery protocols to improve patient safety and outcomes in the outpatient setting. He was the first surgeon in the greater Charlotte area to use the IDEAL IMPLANT® for breast augmentation. Dr. Gear never stays still when it comes to learning new techniques in Plastic Surgery. All the techniques he currently uses are NOT what he learned during training if that says anything! His whole practice is born out of a constant pursuit of innovation and excellence.
Aesthetic Values
Dr. Gear’s practice philosophy focuses on artistic, tasteful changes in a patient’s body that create a greater sense of well-being, wholeness and joy. The body and soul are an integrated whole, and when someone looks better, they invariably feel better. Like his own father, Dr. Gear remains an inquisitive scientist and is actively involved in clinical studies and writing including the testing and development of an alternative pocket irrigation solution for breast implants. He was the first plastic surgeon in North Carolina to adopt Enhanced recovery protocols to improve patient safety and outcomes in the outpatient setting. He was the first surgeon in the greater Charlotte area to use the IDEAL IMPLANT® for breast augmentation. Dr. Gear never stays still when it comes to learning new techniques in Plastic Surgery. All the techniques he currently uses are NOT what he learned during training if that says anything! His whole practice is born out of a constant pursuit of innovation and excellence.
Dr. Gear has been married to his wife Heather since 2004, and they have three beautiful children, Hannah, Julia and Daniel. They have co-labored at Providence Plastic Surgery since its inception. Dr. Gear had a Damascus Road experience in 1991 and gave his life to Christ with African American Pentecostals as his chaperones. He has been following Him ever since and is the foundation of all that he is and does. Dr. Gear has a passion for medical missions and has been to Kenya, Guatemala, Peru, and China. He also enjoys having church at home with Heather and the kids.
Dr. Gear has a long list of hobbies and passions, including coffee, wine tasting, the outdoors and gardening, tennis, music (in the form of audiophilia or stereo equipment), reading, writing, thinking, philosophizing, and debating. Dr. Gear has been an active hobbyist photographer since the 1980s, an art form he learned from his father. It is a beautiful way of “seeing” that dovetails nicely with plastic surgery. Like his father, Dr. Gear has a photographic memory and is left-handed, both strong traits for the visual and tactile science of plastic surgery. He has the ability to measure things with his eyes and to “know” if a piece of clothing will fit his wife while still in the box (which drives Heather CRAZY).