About Cain R. Linville, MD

My mom and grandmother would be the first to tell you that I always wanted to be a doctor. I would go around with a stethoscope listening to my family’s heart and lungs until they could not take it anymore. I of course had the game “Operation” which I played relentlessly. I was even a doctor for three Halloweens in a row! It’s all kind of embarrassing actually. After high school, I went to Lindenwood University on a basketball scholarship, which is just outside St. Louis, graduating magna cum laude before coming back closer to home for medical school at University of Missouri. It was there that I realized my passion for surgery, and late in my surgical experience, I got a glimpse at the surgical beauty and technical mastery of plastic surgery. I really wanted to learn the basics of surgery, but also to be the absolute best doctor possible, so I decided to go into the hardest General Surgery program I could find. Fate brought me to the University of Texas at Houston. It is a trauma-heavy, intense, fast-paced, old-school program with a lot of autonomy, in all the right ways. It was exactly what I wanted and needed. Those five years were a demanding but defining period for me. As all med students do, I went from being a wide-eyed novice, to a chief resident running the show. I had found my calling – there is nothing like performing surgery on someone and saving their life or ridding them of disease. Deep down though, I wanted more. I wanted to possess the skills and knowledge I had seen from the plastic surgeons I encountered along the way, so I kept on going. A Plastic Surgeon is an artist, a problem solver, and must think outside the box. We are who other surgeons call when they are in trouble or need help. I love being “a surgeon’s surgeon,” and this was one of the main reasons I chose to pursue Plastic Surgery. I just needed a program to choose me, and thankfully, I matched at The Ohio State University for my plastic surgery residency/fellowship. There I began a whole new process of learning and thinking about every aspect of surgery – it is truly so different and amazing. I was fortunate to train under some of the most respected plastic surgeons from around the world, and received extensive training in aesthetic surgery of the face, breast, and body, as well as microsurgical techniques and perforator flap reconstruction methods. I focused on advanced breast reconstruction techniques including microsurgery and even “super microsurgery” for the treatment of lymphedema, new ways of doing perforator flaps, advanced techniques for hernia repairs, and even how to do nerve decompression migraine surgery – all while enhancing my cosmetic skills and becoming an accomplished injector. I also was honored to received the Operation Smile Stryker fellowship during my final year of training and spent 10 days in Nicaragua serving the children suffering from cleft palate deformities. I can say that this was one of the most gratifying moments of my life and I cannot wait to go on another surgical mission trip with this esteemed organization.