Cut-Injury Prone Professional Fighters Seek Plastic Surgery

In 16 years as a professional boxer and mixed martial arts fighter, Marcus Davis has received stitches above his eyes 77 times. The cuts have affected him: doctors have stopped fights, and his battered face, he says, has influenced judges' decisions against his favor. Last summer, Davis, 35, contacted a plastic surgeon in Las Vegas. He wanted to make his skin less prone to cutting, according to The New York Times reports.

The surgeon, Dr. Frank Stile, burred down the bones around Davis's eye sockets. He also removed scar tissue around his eyes and replaced it with collagen made from the skin of cadavers. Now, at least in theory a top Manhattan plastic surgeon explains, when Davis takes a blow to the face, he will be less likely to bleed.
Medical researchers have not analyzed the procedure, and until they do, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons will not comment on its efficacy. But Davis and several others swear by it. "Before Dr. Stile, someone like Marcus Davis would have had to retire," Mark DellaGrotte, Davis's trainer, said.

Since at least the 1970s, boxers have had plastic surgeries performed by Phoenix plastic surgeons to repair scar tissue and prevent excessive bleeding. But mixed martial arts, which combines wrestling, kickboxing and grappling, has a higher incidence of deep, potentially fight-ending lacerations, according to doctors who are familiar with both sports.

If Davis's surgery proves effective, New York city plastic surgeons and fighters said, plastic surgery will probably become the norm for cut-prone fighters who are trying to prolong their brief and potentially lucrative careers.
For some doctors, that prospect has prompted ethical questions about the potential advantages of plastic surgery. For others, it has served as a call to address the reasons fighters developed unstable scar tissue in the first place.

The issue, Stile said, "is not the fact that they cut; it's that after they cut, their wounds are not treated appropriately." Once banned in numerous states — and still banned in New York — mixed martial arts is now a mainstream sport, thanks to the success of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which will present its 100th pay-per-view show Saturday night. Recent studies have shown that mixed martial arts fighters have lower knockout rates than boxers. But as with athletes in other combat sports, their careers tend to be plagued by injuries.
As in boxing, a loss or an injury before a bout can be a major setback, dropping a fighter's ranking or his chances for a title shot.

"Surgery isn't for everyone, but if it helps them, more power to them," said Marc Ratner, the U.F.C.'s vice president for regulatory affairs and a former executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Tampa plastic surgeons familiar with the sport said they expected mixed martial arts fighters to continue to develop unstable scar tissue.
"These M.M.A. guys get such deep lacerations," said Dr. Margaret Goodman, a former chief ringside physician for the Nevada athletic commission.

Cutting alone does not produce the type of scarring that plagued Diaz and Davis, doctors said. A contributing factor, doctors and mixed martial arts fighters said, is that the fighters sometimes receive suturing that is not suitable for athletes in a combat sport.
Another problem is that fighters tend to return to competition and practice too soon after injuries. Davis said money was a driving force. "This is my job," he said. "I have four kids. I don't have a choice." Contact your local plastic surgery experts for more information on facial cosmetic procedures as well as traditional body contouring operations such as a New York City tummy tuck.

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