Brian Kelley, MD

Most patients find their way to my plastic surgery practice in Austin at a difficult moment — after a cancer diagnosis, a serious injury, or a chronic nerve or hand problem that has resisted earlier treatment. My role is to make the path forward clear: what reconstruction can offer, what it will realistically achieve, and what your recovery will actually look like. Honest guidance matters as much as surgical skill, and I treat both as part of the job.

How I came to reconstructive surgery

I trained at Baylor College of Medicine, then completed both plastic surgery residency and a combined hand surgery fellowship at the University of Michigan — programs chosen for their depth in microsurgery and complex reconstruction. The work convinced me that the most meaningful problems in surgery sit at the intersection of plastic and hand surgery: free tissue transfer, peripheral nerve reconstruction, replantation, lymphatic surgery. These are the cases I built my practice around. Through my faculty role at UT Austin's Dell Medical School, I stay involved in clinical research and resident education, which keeps the work rooted in current evidence rather than habit.

The patients I work with

The patients I see most often are navigating breast cancer reconstruction, traumatic injuries to the hand or limb, peripheral nerve damage, complex hand and wrist conditions, and reconstruction after Mohs or melanoma surgery. Many have already seen other specialists and need a higher level of microsurgical expertise to reach their goals — whether that means restoring a breast with their own tissue, replanting a finger or limb, addressing nerve pain or restoring function after amputation, or rebuilding the hand after injury or arthritis.

My approach to microsurgery

My practice is committed to advanced microsurgery and I try to incorporate the latest technologies to help me treat patient's effectively. For women considering natural-tissue breast reconstruction, that includes DIEP and PAP flap procedures — using your own tissue rather than implants. For patients with severe extremity injuries, I perform microsurgical replantation and revascularization along with free tissue transfer for limb salvage. For patients living with chronic nerve pain, phantom limb pain, or lost function after amputation, I use Targeted Muscle Reinnervation (TMR) and Regenerative Peripheral Nerve Interfaces (RPNI) — techniques that address the underlying nerve dysfunction rather than masking symptoms, and that can pair with myoelectric prosthetics when functional restoration is the goal. For lymphedema, lymphovenous anastomosis and vascularized lymph node transfer offer surgical options that did not exist a generation ago.

Continuity of care across Austin

I hold full hospital privileges across the Ascension Seton system in Austin — Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas, Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin, and Dell Children's Medical Center. This network matters when reconstruction is part of a larger treatment plan: Level I trauma capabilities, comprehensive cancer care, and a full pediatric hospital sit within the same continuum, so patients are not handed between systems mid-treatment.

Outside the OR

At home in Austin, I am a husband and father of two. My wife, Angela Kelley, MD, is a fellow Austin Monthly Top Doctor and one of the country's leading reproductive endocrinologists. Our kids keep us busy with music and sports — which, after a long week in the operating room, is exactly where we want to be.