While Dr Brigid Corrigan’s specialty might be breast surgery, her plastic surgery skills are also in demand for skin cancer removal and hand reconstruction.
By Ara Jansen
Despite having a dad and grandparents who were doctors, plastic surgeon Dr Brigid Corrigan says there was never any pressure on her to become one.
Her family moved from the UK when she was nine and her dad became a country GP in Narrogin.
“I don’t really know why, but I know in high school it was what I thought about and kept coming back to,” says Brigid, who from a very young age had a strong feeling this was the direction she was headed.
“I did a year of science and then went into medicine as I didn’t get into medicine first. It wasn’t until my fourth year that I became attracted to the practical stuff and knew I wanted to be hands-on in medicine.”
Throughout medical school at UWA Brigid thought she would become a general surgeon and didn’t get much exposure to plastics.
As a second-year resident at Royal Perth Hospital she did a rotation through plastic surgery which piqued her interest and, like many other doctors, was encouraged by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable group of people already working in the specialty.
“That made a big difference,” she says. “They seemed to love it and really encouraged my exploring it. As residents we rotated through a number of specialties and sometimes it really is the people you work with who help you enjoy it rather than the subject.
“Following three years as an intern and resident at RPH, I became a service surgical registrar and subsequently applied for plastic surgery training.”
Awarded a fellowship of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons in plastic and reconstructive surgery in 2008, Brigid did post-fellowship training in Ireland, England and Melbourne.
At Oxford her fellowship focussed on breast reconstruction, sarcoma, hand and microvascular surgery. She did further study during a six-month advanced aesthetic surgery fellowship at the Melbourne Institute of Plastic Surgery before returning to Perth in 2010.
As a specialist plastic surgeon, Brigid does a lot of emergency hand surgery and reconstructive hand surgery. This injury makes up a significant part of her work at Royal Perth, where she works a day and a half a week.
She enjoys the benefits of being able to teach and train registrars and the variety of cases tends to be wider. She likes having the freedom to be able to work in both the public and private space.
“At my RPH clinic I see a lot of complex patients, many of whom would not be able to access treatment privately. I get great satisfaction looking after these patients.”
You’ll also find her amidst a busy list at St John of God in Subiaco and the Wexford Medical Clinic in Murdoch. Along with six colleagues she owns Handoc, which treats hand injuries. Their Handoc app is a practical hand injury management guide.
“Hands are one of the most commonly injured parts of the body because they are in harm’s way. There are lots of work injuries on places like mining sites – crush injuries or loss of fingertips and sewing on fingers. Half of workplace accidents I see are hand injuries.”
Breast surgery remains a major subspecialty interest – reconstruction, particularly for cancer patients, alongside augmentation, reduction and revision surgery.
Working almost always with adults, sometimes she might consult with a young girl with developmental breast issues.
Her most common procedures on the cosmetic side are breast procedures, especially breast reductions. She also does a range of reconstructive procedures including skin cancer management.
When asked whether she finds any conflict between cosmetic surgery versus emergency or necessary surgeries, she says it’s often not as black and white as people think.
For example, for someone with very big breasts, a reduction surgery might be considered cosmetic yet there are many functional benefits, as well as psychological benefits.
“With a breast reduction, it can make a huge difference to quality of life, including relief from neck, back and shoulder pain. In some patient reported outcome studies, breast reduction has been shown to improve quality of life to the same extent as a hip or knee replacement can.
“When procedures are purely cosmetic, expectation management and educating patients on realistic outcomes is paramount. You tend to go a bit more slowly in terms of assessing the patient generally, just to be sure they are going to be happy with the outcome and satisfied with their surgery.
“Everyone has their own definition of what is beautiful. With aesthetic practices we are always trying to ascertain what our patients want to achieve and being honest about what is feasible.
“We have become a lot more aware of patients who have other mental health issues and work to address those first, referring on to psychologists where appropriate.”
One of the aspects of her work she enjoys is the problem-solving, particularly in reconstructive work, like during microvascular surgery to join and repair damaged blood vessels.
“My favourite type of surgery changes but I do love the variety. Some operations are lengthy, like using the patient’s own tissue in autologous breast reconstruction. That takes about 10 hours for bilateral DIEP flaps.
“I would not like to be doing that one every day but it’s very rewarding surgery and most of these patients get good outcomes and are very grateful patients. On other days you could do six skin cancer operations in a morning which is a less taxing, but still important surgery.
“Outside of work I try and stay reasonably fit and like being active outdoors. I’m mostly a walker and often walk with a group of girlfriends. Two female doctor friends and I walk every Saturday morning, have breakfast and often it becomes a debrief of our week.”
For relaxation she sings in a community choir which puts on public concerts a few times a year. She finds it a fun and good way to meet different people. Plus, it doesn’t require her hands.
Brigid is a volunteer and a board director with Rafiki, a Perth-based not-for-profit which supports health and education services in Tanzania.
Among other initiatives, the group teaches and trains local surgeons at the Plastic and Reconstructive unit at the Muhimbili National Hospital, which is now part of a pathway training the country’s first in-country plastic and reconstructive surgeons.
Most of Brigid’s surgery for Rafiki has been for cleft lip and palate operations and burns releases.
She’s also an active member of the Australian Access to Breast Reconstruction Collaborative Group. Formed in 2020, it’s an Australian group comprising clinicians and consumer advocates which believes that “all women in Australia requiring mastectomy for the management of their breast cancer have timely access to breast reconstruction regardless of geographical location or financial circumstance”.
Brigid says this is important because women in both cities and regional areas need to be aware of what their reconstruction options are and to be able to access them if they choose to.
Brigid is currently vice president of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons and is on the AMA(WA) Council and chair of its private specialist practice group. She enjoys the advocacy work involved in both of roles and the chance to have some involvement in influencing health policy.
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