David White, M.D., a senior cosmetic surgeon in the Palo Alto Medical Foundation's Department of Cosmetic Surgery at the Palo Alto Clinic, has always been drawn to the beauty of the human form.

"I was interested in art before I could read," Dr. White recalls. "I began sketching when I was very young, and became more serious about portrait painting in junior high and high school."

The fact that he was able to sell his oil portrait paintings in high school and college was testament to his natural talent. Dr. White says this long-time interest in the human form as art made for a natural transition to a career in cosmetic surgery.

"I'm intrigued by how our eyes take cues from subtle contours of the face and body," he explains. "We attribute qualities to individuals based on their appearance. For example, we decide whether a person is good, bad, happy or sad based on how they look."

Dr. White says he enjoys performing surgeries and other types of cosmetic treatments that can improve a person's life and the way he or she interacts with other people.

"Sometimes just a small change in the face makes a dramatic difference," he explains. "In many cases, a cosmetic procedure, whether it be a facelift, tummy tuck, nose reshaping or facial laser resurfacing, can bring a lot of joy into someone's life. It's a happy surgery virtually all of the time."

According to Dr. White, cosmetic surgery is enjoying increasing acceptance among baby boomers. While at one time it was seen as a frivolous thing, he says more people now understand that they can look as young as they feel by simply changing some soft-tissue contours.

His cosmetic practice keeps Dr. White very busy, but in his rare moments of spare time, he creates bronze representations of faces. Some of his sculptures are on display at the Palo Alto Clinic, the Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University.

Dr. White is also interested in 18th century Georgian architecture, characterized by proportion and balance. He is doing some woodwork in this style for his new home in Atherton, where he will soon move with his wife, Leigh, and youngest daughter, Lauren, 14. They also have three grown children: Emily, 27; Jesse, 25; and David, 24.

A graduate of Georgetown University Medical School and a trustee of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Dr. White has worked at the Palo Alto Clinic since 1983. He completed his training at Stanford University Medical Center, where he served as chief resident in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. His training also included a fellowship in hand surgery at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and research in computerized analysis of facial deformity at Stanford.