Plastic Surgeon San Diego, CA
Dr. Charleston Chua
Charleston Chua was born in Daly City, California and moved to Las Vegas at an early age. He did his undergraduate work in biology with a minor in chemistry and graduated in curso honorum. In 2013, he graduated from a highly selective class in which the University of Nevada School of Medicine only graduated 50 medical doctorate candidates that year. He went on to complete his five-year General Surgery residency at Eastern Virginia School of Medicine in 2018. He returned to the West Coast and completed his training in 2021, where he served as Chief Resident in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of California, Davis. During his time at the University of California Davis Medical Center, Dr. Chua’s leadership skills were employed when he was elected to serve as the Chair of the Resident Medical Staff as well as the Chair of the Resident COVID Task Force.
Dr. Chua is an accomplished surgeon with numerous awards, publications, and presentations. He was the University of Nevada Presidential Scholar during his undergraduate studies while on the College of Science Dean’s List. His research on diminishing infection rates in the Trauma Intensive Care Unit at the University Medical Center Southern Nevada during medical school was awarded first place in the UMCSN Quality Improvement Competition. During residency, he was awarded the two most prestigious awards from the Eastern Virginia Medical School Department of Surgery: the L.D. Britt Surgical Society Award for Commitment to Teaching and Mentorship and the John Baker Award for Outstanding Senior Surgical Resident; each is awarded to one resident per year. His commitment to quality improvement and innovation has led to numerous publications and presentations to spread safety and efficiency to many facets of medicine.
Dr. Chua was drawn to plastic surgery through his work in general surgery. Although he found satisfaction in removing tumors and treating traumatic injuries, he noticed patients would feel embarrassed by the disfiguring scars and deformities left from their lifesaving surgeries. He wondered, “Is a saved life that’s too afraid to return to the world a life worth living?” It was then that Dr. Chua realized he could help patients regain their confidence through plastic surgery. Dr. Chua loves the creativity that comes with this specialty and enjoys finding solutions to help patients feel comfortable in their bodies again.
Dr. Chua specializes in facial aesthetics, breast surgery, and body contouring procedures. He is especially renowned by his peers for his clean and barely visible suture lines. While in training, he developed the “Cali-tuck” with a fellow resident, a safe method in which to perform a tummy tuck without the use of painful drains.
“Since opening my practice in Las Vegas, I have striven to deliver the best the power of plastic surgery can offer. Furthermore, my staff is dedicated to doing the same. I realize that aesthetic surgery is a tool by which people seek to customize their appearance in accordance with their subjective sense of self. It is my duty to you, as your plastic surgeon, to guide you in using that tool as reliably, safely, and individualized as possible.”
