During his junior year, ’89 grad Gary Motykie was on the soccer team. During one of the games, the opposing goalie had bumped into Motykie causing him to tear all three ligaments in his knee, also know as the “triple triad.” When Motykie tried to walk away from the fall, his leg collapsed. At that point Motykie knew he would be out for the rest of the season.

Soon after his injury, Motykie went to see an orthopedic surgeon to repair the three torn ligaments. The entire surgery was filmed with the use of an arthroscope, which is a small instrument that is inserted into the area that is being operated on. Once in recovery, Motykie was able to view the footage of his knee being repaired. Motykie says this is one of the moments that influenced him to become a surgeon.
“Not only was I able to see someone who could fix my knee, but also to be able to see the footage of how [the surgeon] did it,” Motykie said.

After high school, Motykie realized that he wanted to go into plastic surgery to combine his love of science with his desire for an element of creativity. Motykie attended the University of Illinois, where he received his bachelors degree of Science in Bio-Medical Engineering. From there, he continued on to Northwestern Medical School where he received his Doctorate of Medicine.

Motykie currently owns his own private practice in Los Angeles, where he performs a wide variety of surgeries. Some of the surgeries for which he has been awarded include various hand surgeries along with working with injuries of burn victims. Other than his various awards, Motykie is well known for his appearances on “Dr. 90210.”

While being on “Dr. 90210,” Motykie performed several life-changing surgeries.
One surgery in particular that sticks out to him is one for a woman who had lost 200 pounds on her own, but due to the weight loss, she was left with a lot of extra skin.
“[The skin] was basically trapping her; she couldn’t do normal things like going to the beach or the gym,” said Motykie.
In order to remove all of the access skin, many surgeries had to be performed. The entire transformation took about three years.
“The goal was to completely make-over her entire body in time for her 20-year high school reunion,” Motykie said. “When she was in high school, she was overweight as well, so nobody knew her as I knew her. [At the reunion,] everybody was amazed by her; she felt like the beauty of the ball.”
For Motykie, seeing her being “freed” by a surgery he had performed made this transformation one of his greatest accomplishments.

Another type of surgery that has made Motykie feel extremely accomplished are the various reconstruction surgeries that he performs on women who have survived breast cancer.
One particular surgery that Motykie can recall is one reconstruction surgery he performed on “Dr. 90210” where he got to have a follow-up with the woman.
“She came back, and when she says to the camera, ‘It literally changed my life,’ that was what I was going for,” Motykie said. “That’s probably one of my best accomplishments.”

After performing many surgeries for women who have survived breast cancer, Motykie received many requests to develop some sort of charity. The Healing Curve is a charity in which women who have survived breast cancer but are left with scars and a loss of breast tissue are able to undergo reconstructive surgery for their breasts.
On the website, Motykie said, “Overall, I started The Healing Curve in order to help women who feel they have lost their bodies, their femininity and their self-esteem due to their battle with breast cancer.” Many of the surgeries through the charity were performed on “Dr. 90210.”

Although being on television is the “fun part,” Motykie said, “doing the shows is more about reaching people.” Motykie not only affects those who he operates on; in the past, he has received many letters saying that he has given people hope by what he has done for one person.
“Having thousands of people who you have never met write you letters saying ‘you’ve given me hope’ is something I find very inspirational and motivational on a personal level,” Motykie said.