The Hidden Dangers of Medical Tourism

In this episode, Dr Gregory Keller, a board-certified facial plastic surgeon with offices in Beverly Hills and Santa Barbara, Calif, and full clinical professor and member of the medical staff at UCLA, talks about what it means for your practice and patient relationships to offer retail skincare products in office and what stands out to him about the Defenage line of skincare and haircare products. 

This week, we revisit our conversation with Terri Ross, a well-known aesthetics practice management consultant. She talks about how a med spa can benefit the plastic surgery practice financially and improve patient outcomes and the lifetime value of a patient to the practice.

Dr Sal Pacella, division head of plastic surgery at Scripps Hospital, on the opportunities to change a child’s life through reconstructive plastic surgery with the non-profit Fresh Start Surgical Gifts. 

In this episode, Dr Elisabeth Potter, who specializes in DIEP flap breast procedures, on how the recent CMS decision ensures patients have options and why there is still more work to be done to ensure equitable access. 

In this episode, Max Stock, founder and CEO fo Epicutis Skincare, joins the podcast to talk about the company's products, how they were developed, why they're ideal for plastic surgery patients post procedure, and how Epicutis works with plastic surgery practice to build better patient relationships. 

In this podcast episode, Dr Alex Zuriarrain is back to talk about the surgical and non-surgical neck lift options, who’s a good candidate for what, and setting realistic expectations with your patients. 

In this episode, Leah Garcia and Dr Felipe Jimenez of Nulastin, the hair care brand focused on elastin replenishment, on why hair care products should be part of a plastic surgery practice’s retail offerings and its line of products featuring its patented Elastaplex technology. 

In this podcast, we look at facial paralysis, facial reconstruction, and the role of the plastic surgeon, Babak Azizzadeh, MD, FACS, a double-board certified facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, specializing in the field. In this episode:

• Founder and director of The Facial Paralysis Institute and associate clinical professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Azizzadeh shares how it was a family friend’s experience with facial paralysis while he was doing his residency that sparked his passion for this subspecialty.
• Most of the time, Azizzadeh explains, we don’t think about the 17 muscles on either side of our face—the ones that allow us to express ourselves and control how our mouth for eating and speaking and opening and closing our eyes. The brain and the facial nerve work together seamlessly. But when there is an injury, virus, inflammation, infection, or tumor that interrupts that nerve, the face can stop working normally—and that is when facial paralysis can set in.
• Azizzadeh explains the role of the facial plastic surgeon in managing facial paralysis. He talks about how most plastic surgery is about creating some improvement in symmetry or static procedures, like face lifts. Facial paralysis, on the other hand, requires more dynamic reconstructive efforts to allow the patient to, for example, “smile more naturally, emotionally, and more instinctually, according to Azizzadeh.
• In his breakdown of the procedures in his armamentarium, Azizzadeh explains that no two patients present the same. Facial paralysis, however, can be broken down into two categories which come down to zero activity and some activity. He explains how length of paralysis affects surgical choices and how muscles from other parts of the body can be used introduced where facial muscles have atrophied.
• For patients experiencing facial paralysis caused by Bell’s Palsy, Azizzadeh explains how he is using Botox and physiotherapy to improve patient’s facial movement.
• And then, Azizzadeh talks about his own pioneering work in the field, including his surgery called selective neurolysis to help patients regain the ability to produce natural facial expressions. PSP

In our latest podcast episode, hosts Alison Werner & Keri Stephens speak with Dr. Constance M. Chen from New York, is a leader in microsurgical breast reconstruction. They discuss the nuances of DIEP flap breast reconstruction, a topic clouded with misconceptions, especially regarding slimmer patients.

Dr. Chen addresses the common belief that thin individuals aren't suitable candidates, pointing to alternative grafting methods. With growing concerns around breast implant illnesses, she highlights the advantages of the DIEP flap method, outlining its recovery process in comparison to implants.

The conversation also touches upon who might not be the best candidate for this procedure, with insights from Dr. Chen on natural tissue breast reconstruction. Join us for a comprehensive and insightful discussion.

In this podcast, Plastic Surgery Practice Co-Chief Editors Alison Werner and Keri Stephens interview James Beckman, MD, founder and CEO of Therapon Skin Health. They talk about the company’s Theraderm Clinical Skin Care line, its proprietary peptides, and how Theraderm grew out of Beckman’s works to develop a product to improve the skin of burn victims with skin-grafted hands. They also talk to him about where skin care is headed.

Beckman, who spent 20 years in private practice as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon and has a degree in biochemistry, shares his journey to creating a commercial product with active peptides for skin showing the signs of aging. The product grew out of his work with patients who had suffered burns or lost skin that resulted in skin grafts to close the wound and with patients who were just experiencing extremely dry skin as a result of their working conditions.

Working with a local pharmacist, he created his first product: Beckman’s Dry Skin Therapy. The product caught on with fellow plastic surgeons and he soon had his first company. From there, he sought to develop a product that restored elasticity and collagen of aging skin.

Today, the Theraderm Clinical Skin Care line has three product systems—an anti-aging, a skin renewal, and a revision clear skin system. As Beckman puts it, “Those three systems developed out of one system, and that one system developed out of one product that restored the oil depletion in dry hands.”

When looking to the future for the skin care company and its products lines, Beckman shares his philosophy on product development overall—and it centers on helping the consumer actually solve a problem. “I think the key for skin care product manufacturers is to—with any product—go out and see what the consumers are suffering with and try to find an answer that solves that problem rather than an advertising campaign that sells more of your product.”

In this interview, Beckman takes the listener through his career journey as a plastic surgeon in rural Arkansas and shares how word-of-mouth marketing is so much more valuable than having a huge advertising budget. After all, that’s how he found success with Beckman’s Dry Skin Therapy, and that pattern continues today with Theraderm's skin care product lines. PSP