“We’ve got a skill, but the Hippocratic oath is to help people” | Dr Aamer Khan, The Harley Street Skin Clinic  

The waiting room for Dr Aamer Khan’s surgery, on Harley Street, London, has a traditionally British feel.   

Whilst you wait, you are offered tea or coffee in quaint china cups. The only way you would know it is a cosmetic surgery is due to the folders of potential treatments placed on the tables.  

Dr Khan himself has not always been a cosmetic doctor, and to simply label him as one would be a disservice. 

Dr Khan admits he wanted to work in medicine since the early age of 8 years old, but alongside his medical pursuit, he was also a national triple jump champion.  

But so strong was his passion for medicine that, rather than pursue both simultaneously, he stopped the sport to focus on medicine. 

“I think [sport] helps you to have an approach to life. Athletics [taught me] the discipline, the focus. 

“I think that’s all been very useful, but I’ve always had a desire to learn more about whatever I do, become a student of it.” 

Dr Khan took this approach to medicine. As well as working in primary care, he worked within anaesthesiology and with ‘acutely ill people.’ 

“I’ve always had a desire to learn more
about whatever I do, become a student of it.” 

“After that nothing really fazes you. You learn a lot about human physiology, and you learn a lot about how the body works physically.” 

However, it was his next step, that would go on to alter the course of his career. After initially wanting to move into cardiology, Dr Khan began work, one day a week, as a cosmetic doctor. 

“I used to do a day case every Monday. I was doing the plastics on skins, so people coming in with tumours and skin conditions that needed operating on.” 

But rather than viewing his patients as a ‘bag of conditions’, ‘they were whole people who had families and other aspects to their lives.’ 

Now, after moving into private medicine, his clinic takes on the same approach. As well as providing procedures, the Harley Street Skin Clinic looks to provide total support to their patients, ‘treating the person as a whole.’  

As well as working with an impressive list of celebrities, nothing epitomises this more than the work Dr Khan does with ex-military personnel. 

After years of carrying out procedures with injured servicemen and women, Dr Khan and his wife Lesley founded the charity Back on Track, a charity that looks to raise money for injured servicemen through a race day in which ‘soldiers, celebrities and the general public vie for top position.’ 

It is no surprise that Dr Khan works with the soldiers, as his family having strong ties to the armed forces. Both his grandfather and great grandfather were in the army, with the latter the first Indian Muslim to be awarded the Victoria Cross. 

It was an encounter with a soldier named Mark Allen that started the chain reaction that led to Back on Track. 

“When they are serving, they’re
invincible they’re young and have the sense of
immortality. Then, suddenly, you’re stuck in a house.”

As the youngest soldier to have lost both legs and survived in Afghanistan, Mark returned to the UK, with Dr Khan treating him for some of his injuries.  

Upon his return, Mark began racing cars, becoming a world record holder for racing the greatest distance over a 24-hour period, as well as competing in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race as one of the first injured soldiers. 

For Dr Khan, sport allows the soldiers to find the adrenaline and sense of achievement that may be missed when leaving the armed forces. 

“They are action men and action women and they really love that adrenaline. In their spare time, they’re doing lots of sport and when they haven’t got that and they are stuck in the house, a depression sets in. 

“Most of them have some form of psychological issue,
they have this trauma, but also the social development
has been in a particular direction, the military way.”

“When they are serving, they’re invincible they’re young and have the sense of immortality. Then, suddenly, you’re stuck in a house nobody’s taught you how to manage your accounts, how you do your shopping and plan your life and all these social skills.  

“Most of them have some form of psychological issue, they have this trauma, but also the social development has been in a particular direction, the military way. It has been everything to them.” 

As well as looking to raise money and treat injured soldiers, Dr Khan takes it upon himself further to help those he treats with the support network and life skills needed to adapt back into civilian life. 

As well as providing a support network around the soldiers, Dr Khan explains it is about providing them with a new sense of purpose, something that is missing when they leave the forces. 

One such case is a soldier, who Dr Khan asked to remain unnamed. After returning to the UK, and attending a few Back on Track race days, he began to struggle. 

After suffering shoulder injuries whilst serving, the soldier struggled to work and began to fall behind financially. Mark called Dr Khan one night after work and explained the situation to him. The soldier was at home preparing to kill himself. 

“We were out eating, and Mark asked ‘Could [you ring the soldier] he’s in a really bad state’, so I rang him and it took me about half an hour to talk him down. 

“I rang him back and said ‘look we’ve got the race tomorrow, why don’t you bring all your paperwork, come in and we’ll see what we can do.” 

“We can make a decision like that and we decided,
yes, we would help him, and you know what he was
going to kill himself over? Six and a half thousand pounds.” 

Dr Khan and the trustees of Back on Track quickly decided they would help the soldier get out of trouble. The soldier in question had applied to a large charity but, due to ‘red tape’, was unable to get help.  

As Back on Track is a small charity, they had less trouble turning the decision around quickly and helping the soldier. 

“We can make a decision like that and we decided, yes, we would help him, and you know what he was going to kill himself over? Six and a half thousand pounds.” 

But rather than stop there, Dr Khan wanted to help the soldier find his ‘secondary purpose’, something that would replace the passion and sense of self the armed forces provided.  

“We made a commitment through the charity
18 months ago to help soldiers who need it.”

After reaching out to the clinic’s personal PR, the solider was put in touch with a range of contacts and, after working as an apprentice for one of ‘Jamie Oliver’s proteges’, he now has a website and food blog and is looking to open up a burger bar. 

It is providing the soldiers with a purpose, a supportive team and the empathy and understanding to help them find their place back in society.  

Whilst Dr Khan is a cosmetic doctor, his work sees him not only care for his patients medically but take on their situations personally and help them reach a solution. 

“We made a commitment through the charity 18 months ago to help soldiers who need it.   

“I’m a doctor and I feel that it is my duty to help people.”