From surgeon to health expert

I am Mariëtta Bertleff, trained as a plastic surgeon and specialising in hand and wrist surgery since 2010.

In my consulting room, I have noticed a clear shift in recent years: more and more people want not only to be treated but also to actively contribute to their recovery and health. Questions like "What can I do myself?" have been increasingly common. This growing awareness around lifestyle and nutrition has deeply affected me.

The power of nutrition and supplementation

During my medical training and specialisation as a surgeon, nutrition or supplementation was hardly addressed. It was often dismissed as irrelevant or scientifically insufficiently substantiated. However, I discovered a different perspective when I took the Nutrition and Science course at Stanford University: nutrition is indeed a key to health – and in some cases, supplementation with vitamins and minerals is crucial.

Today, discussions about nutrition, supplementation, and exercise are an integral part of my practice. I coach people in achieving their personal health goals, give lectures to athletes on performance and recovery, and offer presentations to companies on vitality in the workplace.

My mission? To help people regain control over their own health – substantiated, personal, and practically applicable.

“In the training to become a doctor, and also a surgeon, this receives relatively little attention. While knowledge of basic physiology — how systems work together, adapt, and become unbalanced — is essential for understanding complaints properly. I do not see this knowledge as an alternative to the medical profession, but as a necessary supplement.”

ORAPHI Health brings these worlds together: medical expertise with insight into nutrition, lifestyle, and hormonal regulation, creating space for both prevention and treatment, allowing us to do more for people. The treatments at Oraphi fall under non-contracted care.