It is indeed a pleasure to contribute a foreword to this timely issue of Clinics in Plastic Surgery , dedicated to approaches to the brow and upper eyelid. It is refreshing to see a contribution to this series that emphasizes input from a wide variety of surgical specialties. Cross-specialty discussion and input uniformly lead to improved surgical outcomes and patient satisfaction. Unfortunately, this type of effective cross-talk has not always been the reality. Reflecting back several decades ago, a spirit of collaboration was the exception rather than the rule. Each specialty guarded its clinical knowledge very closely, and attempts to enter the gray zones of disparate surgical fields were met with vigorous resistance.

As reflected in this issue of Clinics in Plastic Surgery , this practice has changed. This shift is likely to have occurred because each specialty now acknowledges the positive impact of educational collaboration. It is now uniformly recognized that the tools employed by plastic surgeons, combined with those employed by facial plastic surgeons, oculoplastic surgeons, and dermatologists together, provide a stronger armamentarium with which to achieve superior clinical results. Also contributing to the openness of ideas across surgical specialties is the fact that gifted surgical teachers have emerged who have been willing to teach not only physicians within their discipline but also new generations of physicians from collaborating specialties. The combination of teaching excellence and surgical expertise embodied in our strongest thought leaders in facial surgery is inspiring and permits learners to seek cross-specialty guidance in their quest for improved results.

Specialty collaboration is a concept whose time has arrived, and with that it is each of our individual obligations to accurately assess our individual skill sets and experience. Collaboration should not lead to expansion of surgical “turf,” but should be synergistic in its educational impact.

I applaud the gifted teachers represented in this publication for their dedication to this concept born of educational enlightenment.