Long before he became one of New York’s most recognized facial plastic surgeons, Andrew Jacono witnessed a moment that reshaped his understanding of medicine’s purpose. A young girl sat alone on a school bus, isolated by classmates who mocked her cleft lip and palate. After reconstructive surgery transformed her face, her social standing changed with it. For a medical student watching that shift unfold, the lesson stuck: surgery could restore more than tissue. It could restore belonging.
That early observation became the foundation of a career spanning two decades of humanitarian work alongside a thriving Park Avenue practice. Dr. Andrew Jacono, dual board-certified in facial plastic surgery, built his professional life around the belief that technical skill carries an obligation to those who cannot pay for it. He has repeated that founding story often enough that colleagues and patients alike now associate it directly with his charitable focus.
A Career Built on Two Tracks
His humanitarian efforts split into two main streams. Domestically, Dr. Andrew Jacono has provided facial reconstruction for more than 100 survivors of domestic violence through the FACE TO FACE project, a program run by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, where he serves as senior advisor. Internationally, he has treated more than 750 children born with facial deformities including cleft lip and palate, microtia, and burn scars, traveling to countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, Thailand, and Vietnam.
From Observation to Obligation
The throughline across both efforts traces back to that early memory. He has framed the encounter as proof that a changed face can alter a person’s entire social path, whether the disfigurement stems from violence or birth. He now trains fellows through the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, passing along surgical technique alongside the ethical framework that shaped his own path early in his career. Posts at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and North Shore University Hospital give him additional platforms to model that outlook for surgeons just entering the field, ensuring the lesson from that school bus continues informing how younger doctors think about their own obligations. Visit this page, for related information.
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