Full compassion

Lifestyle/Technology | Paul Lim and his wife decided that they were not called to a prudent life | Susan Olasky

Plastic surgery in the United States attracts top medical school students and pays top wages, particularly for the vanity work that falls outside the limits of medical insurance: Some who do cosmetic surgery earn $7 million to $9 million per year. But money can't buy satisfaction.

That may be why so many plastic surgeons do humanitarian work, traveling for a week or two each year to South America and other locales to correct cleft palates and other deformities. Plastic surgeon Paul Lim says, "I don't know if there's any specialty with such a high percentage doing humanitarian work." Only one in a thousand, though, gives up plastic surgery's financial rewards to become a full-time medical missionary. Lim is that one.