M. Lance Tavana, M.D. is a board-certified plastic surgeon with additional board certification in hand surgery. Originally from Erie, Pennsylvania, Dr. Tavana attended college at Stanford University in California, where he earned a BS in biology in 2000. Medical school brought him back east to Philadelphia, where he obtained his medical degree at Temple University in 2004. Residency sent him south to the University of South Florida, where after completing his internship in general surgery, he continued his plastic surgery residency at USF, graduating in 2011. Further fellowship training in the specialty of hand and upper extremity surgery continued in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, through the Department of Orthopedics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Since 2012, Dr. Tavana has served as full-time faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina as an associate professor in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He is currently the program director for the MUSC integrated plastic surgery residency and is active academically, having authored several book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles as well as presenting on a local and national level. He previously served as the president of the South Carolina Society of Plastic Surgeons. Dr. Tavana also serves at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, taking care of our nation's veterans.

Dr. Tavana specializes in hand and upper extremity surgery. He treats all conditions of the upper extremity from the elbow to fingertip, including but not limited to: carpal tunnel syndrome (treating with endoscopic carpal tunnel release); cubital tunnel syndrome; hand/wrist/elbow pain; rheumatoid arthritis; osteoarthritis; fractures; amputations; lacerations: tendon and nerve injuries; congenital conditions; Dupuytren's disease; tennis elbow; and, sports injuries. Dr. Tavana also performs reconstructive surgery for traumatic injuries, cancer reconstruction, and chronic wounds. Dr. Tavana currently sees patients in Mount Pleasant, West Ashley, and North Charleston.