Samuel Luke Oyer, MD
Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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Bio & Overview
Sam Oyer, MD, FACS is a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon. He provides cosmetic and reconstructive treatments of the face and neck in all age groups ranging from minimally invasive, in-office treatments to extensive reconstructive surgery. Cosmetic treatments Dr. Oyer offers office-based cosmetic treatments including Botox and dermal filler injections along with laser skin resurfacing to treat issues with skin pigment and aging. He also performs surgical cosmetic procedures focusing on the face including face and neck lift, brow lift, lip lift, blepharoplasty, fat transfer, and nose reshaping (rhinoplasty). The reconstructive treatments he performs include repair after skin cancer removal, scar revision, surgery to improve nasal breathing, facial repair after trauma and treatment for facial paralysis.
Dr. Oyer has a particular interest in facial paralysis treatment, including options for partial and complete paralysis. For some people, treatment may include minimially invasive in-office procedures or injections such as Botox to help with facial spasm. More significant spasm may be addressed with surgical procedures, such as selective facial neurectomy or myectomy. Others may need more involved surgical reconstruction to help with eye closure, nasal breathing and smile. Dr. Oyer performs nerve grafting, nerve transfer, temporalis tendon transfer and gracilis-free muscle transfer to restore dynamic smile function and improve symmetry whenever possible. Additionally, Dr. Oyer performs corneal neurotization procedures along with colleagues in Ophthalmology to help restore sensation to the eye for those who have injury related to facial paralysis or infection.
Dr. Oyer serves as the fellowship director for the Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship at UVA. Through this role, he helps train future facial plastic surgeons and prior fellows have gone on to practice academic and private practice facial plastic surgery across the country.
Dr. Oyer grew up in Indiana and completed undergraduate and medical school training at Indiana University. He received residency training in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). He completed a fellowship in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at Johns Hopkins University. Before joining UVA in 2020, Dr. Oyer practiced at MUSC for five years. His practice approach is to learn each patient’s unique circumstances and goals for treatment to develop an individualized treatment plan for each person.
Outside of work Dr. Oyer and his wife, Mary, enjoy hiking, cycling and kayaking. Dr. Oyer also plays piano and guitar.
Dr. Oyer shares his thoughts on facial paralysis in a Daily Progress article.
Academic Information
- Department
- Otolaryngology
- Academic Role
- Associate Professor
- Division
- General Otolaryngology
- Research Interests
- Patient outcomes in facial paralysis, facial reconstruction, and rhinoplasty
- Gender
- Male
- Languages
- English
- Age Groups Seen
- Adults (21-65)
Older Adults (65+)
- Primary Education
- Indiana University School of Medicine
- Residency
- Medical University of South Carolina
- Fellowships
- Johns Hopkins Hospital
- Certification
- American Board of Otolaryngology (Otolaryngology)
- Additional Specialties
- Facial Plastic Surgery, Head and Neck Surgery, Otolaryngology
Highlights
Meet Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon Sam Oyer, MD
My name is Sam Oyer. I'm a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon here at UVA Health, and my practice focuses exclusively on cosmetic and reconstructive surgery of the face and the neck. One of my main focuses is facial paralysis treatment or something we call facial reanimation. And this is just to really bring back as much motion as we can to a face that's affected by paralysis. But I also treat a wide variety of other disorders of the face, particularly rhinoplasty for breathing, facial reconstruction after trauma, or skin cancers, and then also facial aesthetics to help with facial aging. The face is really our identity and it's kind of fascinating to get to work with that on a daily basis. That's how we see each other, how we identify and recognize each other. So when conditions affect people's faces, it really makes a big impact. So for me, to be able to help people in that situation is just a huge plus and an honor for me to be able to kind of treat those patients. When a patient comes to see me, the first thing that they will do is do an in-office consultation and my first goal in that is just to listen and figure out what their goals are, why they're here, and how I can help them. And then I do a careful analysis of whichever part of the face they're concerned about. And then we can come up with a treatment plan, which involves either some in-office treatments for some, or surgical intervention for others. Here at UVA, we have a great team of doctors. It's not just one individual person. And everyone is here for the same goal, that's to help individual patients get better. I think that really improves the patient quality and patient care that we can deliver.
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