"I was in the military and he was a military serviceman, so I had that kind of connection with him," says Batra. "He was basically turned away by the VA hospitals because of the complexity of his reconstruction."

Years after his reconstructive surgeries, Grado continues to be a huge DOCS supporter.

In May, the organization got a taste of national exposure. The Oprah Winfrey Show ran a segment that featured Batra and Dr. Michael Halls, the two founders of DOCS. The show highlighted another complicated case the surgeons took on - that of Ana Rodarte, who was born with neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes the growth of large, benign tumors on the body.

When DOCS met Rodarte, she couldn't see out of her left eye and had difficulty speaking, eating and breathing due to the large tumor on her face. It took nearly four years and seven major surgical procedures to free Rodarte of the tumor and its associated complications.

DOCS' portfolio is filled with such cases. The surgeons operated on a 41-year-old woman with fibrous dysplasia, a disease that causes bony tumors to appear on the face and skull. They helped save a 27-year-old man from having to undergo an amputation of his arm after a car accident by transferring nerves and muscles from his back to his arm. In another case, the surgeons performed complete reconstructive jaw and facial nerve surgery on a 27-year-old woman, who was shot in the face and shoulder with a shotgun.

To perform the lengthy procedures, DOCS makes arrangements with hospitals. For example, the organization currently has a breast cancer survivor in need of surgery.

"[This patient] falls through the cracks because she's not poor enough to apply for community assistance," says Batra, "but her house is in foreclosure, she lost her insurance and her job and she needs her breast reconstructed because it's painful and gives her problems."

Since October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, DOCS approached a hospital pointing out the good publicity the story could generate and was able to secure OR time to do the procedure.

For other cases, DOCS may use future referrals as leverage for the pro bono use of the facilities.

"The hospitals will kind of see what benefit they'll gain out of it, so we negotiate," says Batra.

A lot of financial support for DOCS comes from the patients in the surgeons' plastic surgery practices. Batra also donates 5 percent of his annual salary to the organization.

Restoring faces
While DOCS takes on complicated cases, another U.S.-based organization focuses on helping women who were victims of domestic abuse. Started in 1992 through a partnership with the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Face to Face offers reconstructive surgeries to women who were disfigured by abusive partners. The organization is the humanitarian arm of the Education and Research Foundation for the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

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