Samuel L Oyer, MD
Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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Bio & Overview
Sam Oyer, MD, FACS, is board certified by the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon and is a diplomat of the American Board of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.
Dr. Oyer grew up in Indiana and completed undergraduate and medical school training at Indiana University. He received residency training in otolaryngology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and completed a fellowship in facial plastic and reconstructive Surgery at Johns Hopkins University.
Before joining UVA in 2020, Dr. Oyer practiced at MUSC for 5 years. Since arriving at UVA, he has been promoted to a tenured position and serves as the director of the Division of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery. He also directs the Facial Plastic Surgery Fellowship and has helped train the next generation of facial plastic surgeons who have gone on to successful careers in academic and private practice across the country.
His practice approach is to learn each patient’s unique circumstances and goals for treatment to develop an individualized treatment plan for each person.
Dr. Oyer treats patients of all ages with specific interest and expertise in:
Facial reanimation
- Smile surgery including nerve transfer, nerve graft, free muscle transfer (gracilis flap), and temporalis tendon transfer
- Selective facial neurectomy or myectomy to treat facial twitching and synkinesis
- Chemodenervation (Botox injections) to treat synkinesis
- Corneal neurotization (restoring sensation to the cornea)
- Eye function restoration (brow lift, eyelid weight, lower eyelid repair)
- Static facial suspension and face lift to help with facial drooping
- Fat grafting to restore facial symmetry and function
Facial reconstruction
- Mohs reconstruction surgery of the face
- Nasal reconstruction including forehead flap
- Reconstruction of the lips, ears, eyelids and all parts of the face
- Facial trauma repair including bony fractures and soft tissue trauma
- Repair after dog bites or other accidents
- Gender affirming facial surgery
Nasal surgery
- Rhinoplasty (nose job)
- Septoplasty
- Nasal valve repair
- Revision rhinoplasty
- Rib graft
Facial rejuvenation
- Facelift (rhytidectomy) including deep plane
- Neck lift
- Brow lift including temporal brow lift, and endoscopic brow lift
- Upper and Lower blepharoplasty
- Lip lift
- Fat transposition
- Fat transfer and lipoinjection
- Botox and facial filler injection
- Laser resurfacing
- PRP injections for hair loss and skin rejuvenation
Congenital issues
- Facial paralysis
- Vascular lesions (hemangiomas and vascular malformations)
- Otoplasty (ear pinning)
- Ear molding
- Skin tag or pits around the ears
Outside of work Dr. Oyer and his wife, Mary, enjoy hiking, mountain biking, and kayaking. He also plays piano and guitar.
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
- Infants (0-2)
Children (2-12)
Adolescents (12-21)
Adults (21-65)
Older Adults (65+)
- Primary Education
- Indiana University School of Medicine
- Residency
- Medical University of South Carolina
- Fellowships
- Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
- 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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