Dr.\u00a0Banafsheh Sharif-Askary, MD, is the founder and only surgeon at BSA Plastic Surgery, a boutique practice in La Jolla, and she calls Coronado home. \u201cMy in-laws both grew up in Coronado and went to Coronado High. My father-in-law was raised in a Navy family, and his parents made Coronado home too. With roots that deep, my husband and I decided to make it home for ourselves as well,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
Originally\u00a0from Florida, Dr. Sharif\u2019s medical journey took her up and down the East Coast. \u201cI did undergrad and medical school at Duke, majoring in neuroscience and global health, then residency in plastic surgery at Georgetown. My last stop was New York, where I did an aesthetic surgery fellowship at Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital,\u201d she said. Her training also included experience in Korea at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, where she learned advanced techniques in facial and aesthetic surgery, as well as time at the National Institutes of Health.<\/p>\n
Early in her career, Dr. Sharif focused on trauma reconstruction, limb salvage, wound care, and working with children born with craniofacial differences. \u201cIt taught me to look past the procedure and think about how a physical change affects someone\u2019s confidence and daily life,\u201d she recalled. Over time, she was drawn to aesthetic surgery because \u201cit requires technical precision and artistry.\u201d She emphasized that the artistry is deeply personal. \u201cI have to understand how each patient sees herself and what she hopes will change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opening her own practice was both a professional and personal decision. \u201cI wanted to bring more of a woman\u2019s perspective to aesthetic surgery. San Diego has a lot of excellent plastic surgeons, but the field has been male-dominated for a long time. As a woman, I understand many of the changes my patients are going through, and how vulnerable it can feel to talk about them. I wanted a space where people feel heard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Running BSA Plastic Surgery means Dr. Sharif wears many hats. \u201cOn any given day I\u2019m the surgeon, HR, the lawyer, the accountant, and the creative director. It\u2019s a lot, but I get to decide everything from how the office feels when you walk in to how patients are looked after during recovery,\u201d she said. Her surgical focus includes deep-plane facelifts, complex neck contouring, eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty, fat grafting, and minimally invasive facial techniques, as well as breast surgery and mommy makeovers. She also offers nanofat grafting and other smaller procedures for patients seeking less downtime.<\/p>\n
Dr. Sharif knew she\u00a0wanted to pursue plastic surgery from\u00a0the very first day of her surgical rotation. \u201cI scrubbed into a complex leg revascularization at 7:30 a.m., and plastic surgery came in to cover the wound\u2026 I looked at the clock, and it was 3:30. Eight hours had gone by, and it felt like twenty minutes. I thought, okay, this is it.\u201d She embraces aesthetic surgery as a way to help patients feel like themselves again. \u201cA facelift can help a woman recognize the energetic person she still feels like inside. Surgery after pregnancy can help a mom feel at home in her body again. I never want anyone to feel she\u00a0needs to change. My job is to listen, explain, and, if surgery makes sense, do it as safely and naturally as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a female surgeon, representation in the field is deeply important to her.\u00a0\u201cA lot of our beauty standards were set in a field that has mostly been run by men\u2026 Lived experience changes how you listen. Women get mixed messages about appearance from a young age\u2026 Some women feel that pressure deeply and some reject it completely. Both are valid.\u201d She takes pride in offering patients direct, personal care. \u201cFrom the first conversation through recovery, you have direct access to me. My name is on the door, and I take that personally.\u201d She also serves as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Plastic Surgery at UC San Diego, mentoring residents and showing the next generation of surgeons that \u201cI can do this too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Life in Coronado is a welcome balance to her demanding career.\u00a0\u201cWe have a sweet little life here. Mornings start around 6:00, when our two-year-old announces that it\u2019s time for waffles. We eat on the deck and watch the first beachgoers head to the water,\u201d she shares. Family time includes trips to Dog Beach with Gus, their golden retriever, sidewalk chalk sessions at Spreckels Park, and visits to the library. When they get a date night, she and her husband\u2014a pediatric gastroenterologist at Rady Children\u2019s\u2014 enjoy Yummy Sushi or dinner on their deck.<\/p>\n
Dr. Sharif is also active in the community. She recently joined the Coronado Junior Woman\u2019s Club and volunteered at this year\u2019s A Taste of Coronado alongside her father-in-law, a Coronado Rotary member. \u201cAs a small-business owner, I think you don\u2019t really call a place home until you give something back. That\u2019s my favorite thing about Coronado. People celebrate each other, watch each other\u2019s kids grow up, and show up when someone needs them. It feels warm and real, and we feel lucky to be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
VOL. 116, NO. 42 – Oct. 21, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr.\u00a0Banafsheh Sharif-Askary, MD, is the founder and only surgeon at BSA Plastic Surgery, a boutique practice in La…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[3810,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-508800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-coronado_home_and_business","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}