Dr. John M. Hilinski, MD

Dr. John M. Hilinski, MD, is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon, double board certified in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and in Head and Neck Surgery, whose work is limited to the face and neck. He owns and directs his private practice, which he has run since 2005. He founded The Hilinski Ambulatory Surgery Center, where he serves as medical director, and he has owned the center since 2010. In 2010 he co-founded The Hilinski Foundation for Surgery, and since 2015 he has been co-founder and chief medical officer of SurgLogs, Inc. He has more than 30 years of surgical experience and has worked as a retained medical-legal expert since 2003.

He holds a Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School. He completed a general surgery internship at UCSD Medical Center and the VA Medical Center, then a head and neck surgery residency and chief residency at UCSD Medical Center. After that he finished a facial plastic and reconstructive surgery fellowship at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine under Dean M. Toriumi. From 2002 to 2013 he held a staff surgeon role at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, and from 2005 to 2008 at Sharp Memorial Hospital. He currently serves as a staff surgeon at Scripps Clinic. From 2002 to 2010 he was a clinical instructor in surgery at UCSD and the VA Medical Center in La Jolla, and he has served as a grand rounds instructor in plastic surgery at UCSD School of Medicine. He has also been the facial plastic surgeon for the San Diego Chargers NFL team.

His publications include journal articles and book chapters on facial plastic surgery, among them rhinoplasty chapters co-authored for the Plastic Surgery textbook in the Emedicine World Medical Library. He wrote an online Rhinoplasty Tutorial, lectures at national surgical conferences, and has given more than 50 presentations at academic centers, conferences and workshops. He has been a member of the Medical Board of California's Expert Reviewer Program in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery since 2010. He belongs to the AAFPRS, the AAO-HNS and The Rhinoplasty Society. From 2008 to 2009 he was an FDA clinical trial investigator for the FulFil Lip EIFFEL Study by Evera Medical. The practice says he has performed thousands of surgeries, that he is a Castle Connolly Top Doctor, and that he is a recognized authority on rhinoplasty.

His work centers on rhinoplasty, including primary and revision procedures, ethnic rhinoplasty and nasal tip refinement. He also performs facelifts, eyelid surgery, facial rejuvenation, and otoplasty and ear reduction for prominent or oversized ears. Facial reconstruction after trauma, cancer removal or congenital deformity is part of his practice, along with scar revision, soft tissue grafting and nasal reconstruction for cutaneous malignancies. Non-surgical options include long-lasting fillers such as Sculptra, Bellafill and polymethylmethacrylate, and plasma energy treatment for the face and neck. He supervises each procedure at Hilinski Medspa and performs surgery in the on-site operating room at The Hilinski Ambulatory Surgery Center.