Life surprises us in many ways. Likewise, it brings us gifts sometimes in totally unexpected patterns. Ross Blagg was born with a cardiac defect that required open heart surgery. This traumatic event was obviously hard for his parents but ultimately led him into the medical field and seems to have had a large influence on his current amazing life.
Growing up on a farm in Arkansas, young Ross felt a calling to enter the medical field. “Well, I have a big scar down my chest that is a reminder that life was a little touch and go at one point, and others were able to help save my life,” Dr. Ross recalls. “So, something like that is bound to influence your decisions.” He was also an artist at a young age and has been creating mixed-media art for over two decades. He found that plastic surgery was the perfect fusion of art and science–two things that have always enthralled him.
Just as life surprised Ross’s family, Dr. Ross is surprising and inspiring those around him. His most recent project, Plastic Surgery Road Trip (PSRT) does just that. It allows Dr. Blagg to use plastic surgery to accomplish his philanthropic ambitions, which started during residency. As a surgical resident, he created the Humanitarian Plastic Surgery organization, dedicated to coordinating surgeries in countries with lesser resources for surgical operations.
When COVID-19 closed borders, Dr. Blagg’s usual international surgical missions were halted, and so he created Plastic Surgery Road Trip as a result. PSRT is airing as a docu series on YouTube, and it follows Dr. Blagg as he and friends travel the US looking for people with amazing stories who need plastic surgery to help complete their journeys. Dr. Blagg is an avid global explorer and has been SCUBA diving since childhood, and so he aims to make the trip to give someone a plastic surgery makeover as adventurous as possible.
The project is filmed by Lyfe in Plastic, Dr. Ross’s own production house, and is available to watch on YouTube. You can also follow the daily adventures of Dr. Ross on Instagram: @dr.rossblagg.
Dr. Ross has had a number of accomplishments in his academic and professional life for such a young person. And with PSRT, he just keeps adding to the list. He currently practices in Austin, TX full-time, but has shown us that he refuses to limit his work to one geographical area. He is a man of many talents. He is an artist, adventurer, philanthropist, plastic surgeon, shark conservationist, and whatnot?! And, that’s not all. The astonishing fact is that he manages to do all these things in his already hectic life. But his secret is he loves what he does, and he’s an example of someone always letting his life passions shine through, no matter what he is doing. And that is an adventure worth following.
