Alan Billig: The plastic surgeon back in Israel for good

A more precise recording of Allan Billig’s aliyah journey would entail: from Atlantic City to Caesarea (1986) to Jerusalem (1994) to the US to Jerusalem to Toronto and back to Jerusalem (2021).

Dr. Billig, a plastic surgeon at Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem, was awarded the prestigious 2024 Best Paper Award for his recent manuscript published by the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery journal, which is the highest-ranked journal in plastic surgery. He accepted this honor at an awards ceremony in San Diego, California, in September 2024.

Sign up for our newsletter to learn more >>

Originally from Atlantic City, New Jersey, Billig moved to Caesarea with his family in 1986 at the age of 10. After high school, he served as a medic in the IDF’s Paratroopers Brigade before relocating to the United States.

There, he attended Rutgers University for two years before earning a BS from Columbia University in New York. He went on to obtain his MD from the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University (since renamed the Tel Aviv University School of Medicine). Following medical school, he completed a plastic surgery residency at Hadassah-University Medical Center, Ein Kerem, and later specialized in adult craniofacial surgery through a fellowship with Dr. Jeffrey Fialkov at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, Canada.

Currently, Billig treats patients at Hadassah’s two medical campuses in Jerusalem and at its facility in Beit Shemesh, focusing on facial reconstructive surgery.

The Magazine recently spoke with him at a restaurant in Jerusalem.

For starters, why are you called a plastic surgeon?

The term ‘plastic’ originates from the Greek word plasticos, meaning ‘to mold or shape.’ That’s essentially what we do – molding and shaping – in both reconstructive and cosmetic/aesthetic procedures.

From your experience in Israel, what are women generally looking for when they come for cosmetic surgery?

Basically, they want to look better and are often unhappy with aspects of their face. My oldest patient, an 80-year-old woman, came in for a facelift. Other common requests include nose jobs, tummy tucks, and breast augmentation. Popular nonsurgical treatments include facial injectables (such as Botox/fillers/biostimulators), which are interventions that can be done in the physician’s office, sometimes even without anesthetic cream. A patient can be in and out within 30 minutes.

In recent years, we’re seeing younger and younger women – sometimes even teenagers – come in for facial injectables. They seem to desire more voluminous lips and better-looking noses.

Since October 7, Hadassah Medical Center has played a huge role in treating wounded soldiers. Can you give me an example?

Working with the ‘tool set’ I acquired from Dr. Fialkov in Toronto, we had to reconstruct the skull and scalp of a soldier whose ear was cut off when a bullet damaged the bony skull of his head. After we completed the procedure, the soldier thanked us and said: ‘Now I can get back to the battlefield.’

What’s the connection between Dr. Fialkov and Hadassah Medical Center?

On a personal level, Dr. Fialkov is my mentor. Everything I do today in the operating room and everything I’ll do in the future is thanks to Dr. Fialkov. He directed my fellowship training in Toronto, and he continues to work with me and our Hadassah staff today.

Since 2022 and into the Gaza war, he’s come to our hospital four times to help out wherever needed, as many of our doctors have been called to military service. His guidance in complex surgeries involving the head, orbit, and jaw have been invaluable.

The title of your award-winning manuscript is ‘Are we overoperating on isolated orbital floor fractures?’ In simple terms, what are orbital floor fractures? And what’s the answer to your question? Are surgeons overoperating?

The eyeball sits in a cavity of the skull called the orbit, with walls, a ceiling, and a floor. Until recently, the surgical guidelines suggested that if the floor was broken, you should go into surgery to fix the problem. If you don’t, the eyeball will likely sink into the broken floor.

Our data showed that the likelihood of that happening [sinking eyeball] is extremely low, and some routine surgeries might be completely unnecessary.

Is there a moral aspect to some decisions made in the hospital?

Yes. For instance, if a wounded terrorist is brought in for surgery, is a surgeon obligated to operate? And in triage – when medical professionals determine the order of priority for providing treatment – should it matter if one of the patients in line is a terrorist?

Can any skills from the operating room spill over into your daily life?

Sewing. Whether in surgery or in sewing my own pants, it’s about bringing things together as they should be and making sure they stay as long as they need to.

Your father was a doctor. Did you start thinking about being a doctor when you were a child?

No. When I finished the army, I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to be. At Rutgers, I thought about becoming an architect. It was only after graduating from Columbia that I decided on medicine.

You could be making a lot more money in the US. What keeps you here?

I feel a sense of purpose here. I feel that I’m part of a greater plan, even though I don’t know the exact nature of this plan. I feel that I’m doing the right thing by being here, working here, and helping here. I think it’s a great place to be.

Surgeons are sometimes seen as cold. Yet in the recommendations from your patients, they give you the highest marks for your surgical expertise and repeatedly mention your empathy – specifically, that you are kind, caring, patient, gentle, and attentive. Also, that you’re funny. Are these qualities that you learned, or are they in your genes?

As we say in Hebrew: Gam v’gam. Both.

I’ve never asked this question in 17 years of interviews, but here it is: Are you open to the idea of being fixed up?

Yes. ■

Allan Billig, 48 From Toronto to Jerusalem, 2021

Learn how to buy your home in Israel with confidence >>