It's a good way to describe what Plastic Surgeons do " mold and give form to the human body". was born April 10,1955 to Gimel Ortega, M.D. and Claire Betters in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Subsequent to his father’s honorable discharge from the U.S. Army, the family was moved to Miami Florida where he grew up and now resides. During his youth, he spent many summer vacations in Mexico with his close relatives and his mother Claire, nurtured his love for the arts and music. By the time he was in his early teens, he was taking trumpet lessons and perfoming recitals at University of Miami venues. He participated in high school team sports such as JV football, track, baseball and wrestling. Although he scholastically excelled, he had inclinations to pursue studies in the arts; however, his father prevailed in influencing him to pursue a career in the healing arts. On a chance vacation between his first and second college years, he decided to undertake his medical education abroad and was admitted to LaSalle University Mexican Medical School in Mexico City. By the time he finished his medical studies, he had decided to follow in his father’s footsteps by doing his internship in Pediatrics at what is now known as Miami Children’s’ Hospital (then Variety Children’s’ Hospital). However, the call of the surgical arts was too strong and he chose to pursue his interest by completing a General Surgery Residency at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in the Bronx, New York. He acquired extensive experience in Trauma while training there and at the same time had significant exposure to Plastic Surgery while in New York. Due to that experience, he felt drawn to what has now become his way of expressing his true vision of art by transforming peoples’ bodies into works of art. He completed his Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery training in University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. For three years he practiced solo in Findlay, Ohio obtaining his Board Certification in Plastic Surgery and then felt the calling back to the tropics. He returned to Miami in 1993 and has been here ever since. He has built up a reputation particularly in body sculpting and contouring with emphasis of breast and body procedures such as Tummy tucks, breast augmentation/lifts and more notably, the increasingly popular Brazilian Butt Lift (Fat Transfer to the Buttocks). Although well versed in other aesthetic procedures such as facial/nasal/ear surgeries, his main practice focuses on the body. He currently practices out of his office in Miami. In his spare time, which there isn’t particularly much of, he spends it dedicated to the care of his children, his fiancé and if any time remains, to playing the electric guitar. If there were only one way to describe Dr. Ortega in regards to his philosophical approach to cosmetic plastic surgery it would have to be the following:
“The ultimate goal in achieving an ideal aesthetic outcome is to obtain a result that is remarkably natural and does not appear to have been touched by human hands”. His desire for his legacy would be that people remember him as having always been a kind and compassionate physician who cared and respected his patients’ needs and welfare foremost above all else.
