Dr Martin Kessler has been practicing cosmetic surgery in Rockville Centre, NY, for more than 25 years, perhaps the leading and most experienced practitioner in the southern part of Long Island today. In early 2016 he founded with Dr. Ari S. Hoschander KH Plastic Surgery in new offices in Rockville Centre. For years Dr. Kessler had been a principal of The Plastic Surgery Group, based in Great Neck. Kessler - attentive, cheerful and a skilled surgeon - is, colleagues say, a physician of great personal warmth who takes a strong and ongoing interest in his patients and their well being. Moreover, Dr. Kessler maintains strong relationships with New York's academic medical community; for years he has served as an associate clinical professor at Weill Cornell Medical College in Manhattan, where he received his medical degree in 1980.

While his practice covers the spectrum of cosmetic surgery techniques and procedures -- reconstructive breast surgery, facial rejuvenation, body contouring - he is also nationally known as a leading specialist of hand surgeries. It is a field in which he has special certification.

Dr. Kessler grew up on the South Shore of Long Island, not far from his office today. His father was a businessman, diamond cutter and cantor at his Temple, who "took a very exacting approach to everything he did," Dr. Kessler says. "I certainly have my father's personality." Growing up he considered becoming an architect; as a 10-year-old he carved soap bars into little houses. As an undergraduate he majored in biology ("I always loved science"), graduating at the top of his class, and went straight on to Cornell medical school. He chose plastic surgery largely because of his own deeply held aesthetic sense, and during his plastic surgery residency "I saw the great impact I was having on people's lives." His expertise in hand surgery evolved from the Kentucky farm injuries he addressed during a one-year fellowship in hand and microsurgery at the Cleveland Clinic and University of Louisville Health Sciences Center.

Returning to take his medical boards, Dr. Kessler met Marc Silberman and Greg DeVita; they teamed up and practiced together for more than 25 years. Now, Kessler's new practice is experiencing steady growth; he remains Chief of Plastic Surgery at South Nassau Community Hospital, and performs many of his reconstructive surgeries at this South Shore institution. Widely respected, Dr. Kessler remains approachable and down-to-earth.

Away from his practice, Dr. Kessler enjoys bicycling and traveling. Dr. Kessler and his wife have three grown children; a daughter, Alana, owns a holistic nutrition and yoga practice in Williamsburg, Brooklyn; son Joshua is married and is an insurance broker; younger son Evan is currently a surgery resident at the University of Buffalo. Dr. Kessler's brother Leonard is a respected oncologist, his practice is located a short distance away.