Sports Injuries: An Inside Look with Dr. Daria Hamrah

Injuries happen in sports. No matter what sport, it’s bound to happen. But with more and more injuries happening now than ever before, athletes are getting busted up and need quick fixes to get back out on the playing field or court. And behind these athlete facial fixes is Dr. Daria Hamrah, a Double Board Certified Oral and Maxillofacial / Facial Cosmetic Surgeon based just outside of the Washington, DC area.

Dr. Hamrah spoke to us exclusively about fixing up some of the world’s top athletes and just how bad some of those broken noses, jaws and facial bone procedures can be!

Sideaction:  With so many injuries happening in the playoffs and in sports in general this year, have you seen an increase in professional athletes coming through your doors these days?

As a maxillofacial surgeon, I typically treat facial trauma cases. These include broken noses, jaws and other facial bones. Also I treat facial soft tissue laceration. These injuries happen all the time and are actually more common in the regular season as more games are played every week. Fortunately, sports like hockey, football and baseball have adapted and now wear more protective gear to cover the faces with helmets and shields. So all together I would say the injuries have decreased, let’s say compared to 10 years ago, when I used to see and treat more. However during the playoffs for example some key players request to continue to play despite their injuries and we are forced to make them special face shields or guards so that they can continue to play, specially during elimination games.

Sideaction: What injuries / procedures are you seeing most of?

Like I said above, it’s typically the exposed areas of the face. These are the nose and the lower jaw/chin and sometimes the cheekbones. As to soft tissue injuries, skin lacerations are most common and require sutures or skin glue. Another common injury is dental fractures or avulsions that require replacement of the missing or broken tooth with dental implants. So I have several dentists that I work closely with to reconstruct their broken or missing teeth where as a surgeon I place the dental implants (titanium screws) into the jaw and the dentists then place the crowns (part that resembles the tooth) atop.

Sideaction:  Do athletes care how they look after? Or your job is just to heal them up?

Oh, you bet they do! You have to realize, today these athletes are not just like gladiators. They are in the public eye and most of them have endorsements that land them on TV commercials or make them social media influencers, which brings them in some cases more revenue than their sports contracts with their respective teams. I feel that social media and the celebrity status that comes with being a professional today, plays a huge role in how athletes feel about their appearance. Having been practicing in the field for 20 years now, I can tell you that it wasn’t as important to them prior to social media and exposure in general.

Sideaction:   Do other patients of yours ever come in asking to look like a certain athlete through facial surgery? If so, which ones do they want to look similar to?

Not yet, which is good! It would be very concerning and alarming to me if that was the case. In general, I discourage and don’t even accept patients that want to look like someone else, regardless of whether they want to look like their favorite athlete, a model or their favorite cousin. The reason is that it would be for the wrong reason and usually exposes a deeper psychological problem that cannot be fixed by looking different. Not to mention the fact that changes to any face are only relative to what you start off with and are not absolute. That means, you simply cannot make someone look like someone else unless they already have some resemblance.

Sideaction:  Beyond work and the athletes you treat, what sport teams do you cheer for?

As to my local teams, I have always cheered for my local teams, based on where I have lived. I feel it’s important to support the community you live in. However, this has come with conflicting challenges in the past 20 years since I have moved to the US from Germany. It’s because I have lived in many different cities and alway cheered for the local team, but also felt loyalty to others. But to give you the short answer, based on the above, my favorite Football team is the New England Patriots, since Boston was the first city I arrived at and lived in when I moved to the US. That’s why the Red Sox are my favorite baseball team, however I also cheer for the Washington Nationals as I know many of their players since they are my patients and we have developed friendships. Knowing one of the owners of the Washington Capitals as well as players, and living in the Washington DC metro, the Capitals are my favorite hockey team. As for Basketball, I cheer for the Wizards as well as the Miami Heat. I loved going to the Heat games when I lived in Miami during their championship reign. As for soccer, I cheer for FC Barcelona, no just because of Messi, but also because both of my son’s play for the FC Barcelona youth academy and especially the younger one is aspiring to become a soccer pro.

Sideaction:  While athletes are always in good shape, what about you? How do you keep in shape so you have the endurance to do so many surgeries for long periods of time?

That is a great question, because it’s true. As surgeons being on our feet hunched over for 10-12 hrs per day 5 days a week, it can become physically very challenging. This is why a lot of us are forced into early retirement because of injuries to our spine, neck and shoulders. So, physical fitness is of utmost importance.

For me, staying in shape was never difficult as I am obsessed with it. Since I was a kid I was an athlete and played various individual sports like Tennis and team sports like soccer and basketball competitively. I don’t remember ever taking a longer break than a week outside of the gym since I was 16 years old. As a matter of fact, during college I worked as a personal fitness instructor for our local gyms in Germany. Today, when I am not working out in my own gym in my house, I love going to Orange theory, play pickup soccer on weekends or play tennis with my personal coach once a week. As to my personal workout routine, I work out a minimum of 4 days per week for 45 minutes to strengthen my core and upper body.

Sideaction: Any bold sports predictions for the rest of 2021?

Well, my prediction that the Phoenix Suns will win the finals didn’t quite come true. But if you really want to hear my bold prediction, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will win the Super Bowl and Tom Brady will win his 8th ring. As for Basketball, the Nets will win their first NBA title and Argentina and Lionel Messi will win the FIFA World Cup (2022). That’s all I have.

Special thanks to Dr. Daria Hamrah for taking the time to chat with us.

Welcome to the game outside the game! Follow us on our Sideaction Twitter handle, Instagram, and Facebook for the latest on sports and pop culture news across the web!