Dr. Puya Davoodi

Dr. Davoodi grew up in Marietta, Georgia, not far from where he practices today. After graduating from Georgia Tech, he earned his medical degree at Emory University School of Medicine, then traveled to Charleston to complete his general surgery residency. From there, he headed to the University of Florida for a fellowship in plastic and reconstructive surgery. The program suited him well enough that he stayed on as faculty for two years before Georgia called him back.

“My goal was always to come back home and be close to family,” he reflects.

For Dr. Davoodi, coming home meant being near the people who helped shape him and building a life with his family. He and his wife have two daughters, now 11 and 13. He is, by his own proud description, a girl dad, and that identity shapes his approach to patient care in ways that go beyond the obvious. He also grew up surrounded by women, including a sister who also became a doctor and cousins who felt more like sisters. That background gave him an ease with female patients and a genuine understanding of the experiences they carry into his office.

Dr. Davoodi didn’t always plan on specializing in plastic surgery. He came into medicine with general surgery in mind, and even considered cardiac surgery at one time. His “aha!” moment came when he got the opportunity to be on the plastic surgery rotation during his training at the Medical University of South Carolina.

“I got to see the effect plastic surgeons had,” he recalls. “They did so much reconstruction. People went from being distressed about something that affected their emotional well-being to feeling like themselves again. I realized they heal not just the body, but the mind.”

That observation stuck. Plastic surgery is one of the few medical specialties where physical transformation and emotional well-being are closely connected. Patients dealing with a traumatic injury, cancer, or even post-pregnancy changes aren’t just navigating something physical. Their sense of self has been disrupted, and they’re working to regain a sense of comfort and confidence in their own bodies. For Dr. Davoodi, being able to address both at once felt like exactly the right fit.

Dr. Davoodi’s bedside manner shows up in review after review, but where it came from might surprise you. Before his career in medicine, he spent eight or nine years waiting tables. His parents owned a Persian restaurant, and he grew up working in it, absorbing early on that how you treat people matters as much as what you do for them. He learned to remember his regulars: their names, what they ordered, and even what was going on in their lives. He saw how these small details could completely change someone’s experience and make them feel like VIPs. Those instincts followed him into the exam room.

Today, he takes the time to really get to know his patients, going the extra mile to help them feel comfortable throughout the entire process. He’ll even give you his personal cell phone number, which is a natural extension of how he thinks about the entire care experience. He answers DMs. He replies to text messages at 2 a.m. when a nervous post-op patient can’t sleep.

“If somebody wants to get a hold of me, they can get a hold of me,” he says.

He also uses humor (self-described corny dad jokes included) to cut through the anxiety that walks in the door with many patients. Laughter, he’ll tell you, isn’t just a social tool. It releases endorphins and shifts the energy of the room in a very positive way.

About half of what Dr. Davoodi does is reconstructive work, and the other half is purely cosmetic. To him, they share a fundamental goal: helping someone feel at home in their body. A patient undergoing breast reconstruction after cancer and a mother considering a mommy makeover after two pregnancies are, in his view, going through a version of the same experience. “You’re taking somebody whose body has been changed,” he notes, “and you’re just trying to get them back to themselves.”

That philosophy shapes how he approaches every procedure. Whether a case is classified as reconstructive or cosmetic, Dr. Davoodi holds it to the same standard. “I treat all my reconstructive patients as having a cosmetic outcome,” he explains. “I want to respect how you see your body. What matters most is how you feel when you look at yourself.” It’s also why he’s willing to meet patients where they’re at in their journeys.

One case that stuck with him is that of a woman who came in for a tummy tuck after losing 120 pounds. She still had a long way to go, and many surgeons would have turned her away, but Dr. Davoodi took the time to understand what she had accomplished and what she still wanted to achieve. He ultimately performed her surgery — safely, carefully, and with a clear understanding that it wasn’t the final chapter. It worked. The results gave her visible proof that her body was changing, and that momentum carried her forward. Five years later, she drove over eight hours to come in for a consultation with the only surgeon she trusted to help her with the next step. That kind of long-term trust is what he strives to build with every patient. It’s why his recommendations are thoughtful, personalized and intentional. If he doesn’t believe a procedure is right for you, he’ll say so, even if it means turning away business.

“I wouldn’t recommend something that I wouldn’t offer to my own family members,” he affirms. “And I truly mean that.”

In addition to cosmetic and reconstructive procedures, Dr. Davoodi treats patients who experience chronic migraines. His interest in this area is personal as well as professional. His wife lives with chronic migraines, so he has seen firsthand how they can affect daily life. He offers surgery for peripheral nerve migraines, a type of migraine triggered by compression of specific nerves in the head and neck. When the condition is properly diagnosed, surgical treatment can provide significant relief, with a success rate of around 80%.

Before surgery is considered, patients undergo a careful diagnostic process, receiving strategically placed Botox injections over the course of about a year. These injections help identify which nerves may be responsible for triggering the migraines. Patients who qualify for surgery and choose to move forward often experience dramatic improvement. For those who prefer to manage migraines without surgery, Dr. Davoodi also offers Botox treatment at a reduced cost.

When he’s not in surgery, Dr. Davoodi is most likely on a tennis court, in the kitchen or watching his daughters perform, cheer or compete. He runs, exercises consistently and takes his own health seriously. “I believe in walking the walk,” he says. “If I’m going to ask a patient to get in shape before surgery, it’s because I’m doing it myself, too.”

He also loves to cook. His signature dish is chicken piccata, though the Persian cuisine he grew up with is never far from the rotation. And when he’s not cooking or competing, he’s usually traveling or teaching, two things he says he’ll never get enough of.