Jenny: Welcome to another episode of Facial Aesthetics Unmasked. Today, for the first time we have Dr. Thompson on. Dr. Thompson is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon, amazing person and the owner of Utah Facial Plastics for what is it now…13, 15 years?
Dr. Thompson: It’s been about 15 years.
Jenny: Yeah, 15 years now. Super excited to have Nicea Degering and Regan Leadbetter from Good Things Utah, two of our favorites.
Nicea: Thank you for inviting us.
Reagan: We are so happy to be here.
Jenny: Anytime.
Reagan: We sound so similar when I hear you through my headphones.
Nicea: I know.
Jenny: No one will know who is who.
Reagan: If someone says something inappropriate it’s Regan, it’s not Nicea.
Nicea: And I’m selling a Honda, it’s happening.
Jenny: Yeah, nice work gals. Good Honda plug. Today we are talking about a super important topic about board-certification when it comes to all the cosmetic procedures out there. A lot of times people don’t understand the difference in the types of board-certification, why it matters, so yeah…we’ll have Dr. Thompson talk about the difference between cosmetic board-certification versus plastic surgery board-certification.
Dr. Thompson: Yeah, so it can be a little bit confusing because as you meet different physicians and doctors that practice in cosmetic medicine there are many that might specialize in something other than plastic surgery and there are certifications that can be obtained for those physicians. Really all you need to do to practice in any field of medicine is to have a medical degree and so you could’ve done a residency in obstetrics and you end up deciding oh, I want to add Botox to my clinic. There are also certifying groups that have popped up that will give some kind of cosmetic certification to people who have not had traditional or formal training in plastic surgery and that’s where you see the differences.
Jenny: Which is hard because on their website, they’ll put ‘board-certified cosmetic surgeon’ and people really don’t know the difference.
Reagan: Can I ask you…so what does board-certified mean? What do you have to go through to have that title?
Dr. Thompson: To be board-certified typically, at least in my specialty, in facial plastic surgery, you have to have been in practice for a number of years, you have to have demonstrated that you’ve done a certain number of cases in that specialty that cover a wide range of illnesses or conditions, and then you have to take a test. For me, I had to sit for a written exam and oral exam from other practitioners that were board members on a facial plastics. The America Board of Facial Plastics Surgery and that is done in Washington D.C. So everybody who wants to do that has to go through that process. Prior to that you have to have a residency training in plastic surgery or a fellowship training in plastic surgery. So there are requirements, at least for me, beyond just doing some cases and taking a test, you have to actually have been trained in that in your residency and opposed to cosmetic surgery, they have a list of requirements as well but having residency training or fellowship training in that is not part of that.
Jenny: And a cosmetic surgeon could have trained in teeth. Like, it could be a wide range of things.
Dr. Thompson: Right. And they’re not certified by The American Board of Specialities. So, there are ways to kind of look into it a little bit more but the main thing is to check that the person is board-certified by the group that he or she should be. So in my case, The American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. For a general plastic surgeon who kind of does a wide range of practice they would be certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery. And what you know if someone is certified by one of those two groups is that they did specialty training in that field. So for example, I did medical school just like every other physician but then I went and I did my residency training in head and neck surgery and facial plastic surgery. That special called Otolaryngology. So I did five years of training in head and neck cancer, ear problem, sinus problems, nasal problems, oral cancer, a lot of reconstructive and more of the medical side of head and neck surgery. And that also included some portion of cosmetic surgery and reconstructive plastic surgery. And after that five years, I decided that I wanted to be specialized in facial plastic surgery, not just general otolaryngology. And so I applied for a fellowship in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery and that that was an additional year of training. So really I have six years of training before I ever started my practice in the specialty that I’m in as opposed to someone who trains in something else and then decides that they want to pursue that interest post-graduate.
Reagan: Talk about a resume. I mean that’s 6 years. That’s a long time. What made you think I want to specialize in facial plastic surgery?
Dr. Thompson: Well, for me I have an arts background. I was a music major in college…piano major.
Nicea: I didn’t know that about you.
Reagan: What did you play?
Dr. Thompson: Piano performance was my undergraduate.
Jenny: He’s amazing. He played at a few of our events.
Nicea: He’s played at a few of your events?
Jenny: Yeah, it’s incredible.
Reagan: Dr. T, I can play an eleventh…
Dr. Thompson: Big hands…
Reagan: That’s how big my hands are.
Dr. Thompson: That’s very impressive…the fact that you know that too is even more impressive.
Reagan: Well, I can play a few very rudimentary songs.
Nicea: So you are good at the right side of your brain and the left side?
Dr. Thompson: I’m not sure but I do have that kind of artistic side and my grandmother was a very accomplished artist and was pretty well known in her own right and in Holiday as an artist. And I kind of persued that as well before college. So, I always had an interest in art.
Jenny: We’ve gotta see your art now. We have to put some of your art up in the office. I didn’t know that part.
Nicea: So,when did you say “I don’t want to be apart of the Utah Symphony. I want to go to medical school”. How did that happen?
Jenny: I want to do facelifts.
Dr. Thomson: Yeah, so I never said I want to facelifts. It’s difficult to make a career in the arts as probably most of you know. And so I was always a little more practical minded even though I loved my undergraduate degree I didn’t know that I’d be able to find a job. One of my other big interests has always been science and biology and so I kind of went in that direction and took one of those aptitude classes in college and one of the careers that was suggested for me as a junior in college was medicine. And that was really the first time I ever thought about going into medicine. I had nobody in my family that was a doctor and it’s just not part of anybody that I really know. My dad is a biologist…he’s a fisheries biologist. So I always had that interest. So I had considered just going into biology. But, I love people and I think just…you know…
Nicea: You’re good with people.
Jenny: Yeah.
Nicea: You really are.
Reagan: You are so good with people. What’s interesting is, I’m listening to all your schooling and you’re telling us and we’re listening to it on the podcast, how do I know that someone else has been to that amount of schooling? I mean, I’m searching the website, I’m thinking of my friends and our friends going to trying to find someone that they trust and they’re looking at I don’t know…the website or something on social media.
Nicea: And we’ve seen some try and fail with other doctors.
Reagan: I agree.
Nicea: We’ve seen that, so that’s how I know.
Jenny: We see it all the time. We see it every day.
Regan: Well, you probably fix the fails.
Jenny: Yup.
Dr. Thompson: Occasionally we do see those that we do need to help out. But I think the main thing is looking at a background section on the website and if the information about the physician seems really vague or there’s not a lot of detail then that maybe deliberate. And if you see that someone did a residency in plastic surgery or they did a residency in otolaryngology or head and neck surgery fellowship that’s a pretty good indication that they have the training. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re a good surgeon or good doctor so it is difficult to figure that out sometime.
Reagan: But that’s what you when you say do your research. You want those things at least.
Dr. Thompson: I think those are just the first steps in credentialing someone. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to be a good physician of good doctor if they have all that training. But, that’s at least how you know they have the background and the training.
Reagan: Isn’t work of mouth so big and when you see someone? Nicea and I for sure get asked all the time get who we go to. You’re not overdone, you look like you…just maybe rested. I think it’s one of those things where you see someone and think, ‘I want whatever doctor they have’, I want that. And I think that’s the question we get most of all and luckily you have the training, the artist, the scientist…
Jenny: the experience
Reagan: The experience, the years…
Nicea: The piano playing…
Reagan: all of that… the piano playing.
Jenny: The painting…
Nicea: You know, I feel better knowing that your fingers can fly up and down a keyboard if needed. It’s true.
Reagan: But it is a balance, right? Of the artist and the scientist together, maybe that makes you the perfectionist that you are but you see the beauty and I think you see people’s faces too. Like you look at someone’s face…
Nicea: The symmetry.
Reagan: Like you look at someone’s face and say, ‘this is you’. I want to make you the best you. You’re not trying to make someone a Kardashian. You’re saying, ‘I want you to be you’.
Jenny: Or, I want to sell.. You know, more.
Nicea: More and more and more.
Jenny: I want you to use 5 syringes or more of filler right now.
Reagan: Oh, I’ve heard him say, “No, no, no, that’s it. That’s all we are doing.”
Jenny: Don’t do anymore…someone who can say “no”.
Reagan: Well, bless your heart…Michelle Money wanted her lips bigger.
Jenny: I know…
Reagan: We love her and he was like…
Nicea: If she were sitting here she would agree.
Jenny: We’re fixing her up now…
Reagan: Right. This is what I wanted and I remember she and I having the conversation that Dr. Thomson said this doesn’t balance out your face..
Jenny: This is not a good idea.
Reagan: But I love how real you are about it. Because I don’t know how many doctors do that.
Jenny: Not many.
Dr. Thompson: I’m glad you brought up that point. I had a lady in my office just the other day that wants a rhinoplasty and she has a little bit of a bigger nose overall, largely due to her ethnicity and maybe not the most feminine nose. And so I understand that it would look more attractive, look more feminine if it was a little bit smaller and would balance her face a little bit better. So we have these imaging programs that we can use to give people an idea of what it might look like if they were to have surgery. So I did the imaging program and she was you know, can’t you make it smaller? Can’t you make it more pointed? So I did a little bit, and a little bit more and it was never enough. And finally I just told her she could probably find somebody that will do it the way that you wanted it but to me it didn’t fit her face. You know…it is not that I want to dictate what everyone looks like but I think there is this balance between ‘this is not your face’ or ‘this is not your nose’. So, we need to work with what you naturally have to many everything harmonize and balances together. And that doesn’t mean my opinion is right. This is the way that I look at it and I think my background…I come from more of a small-town background and I think that influences the way that I make recommendations and I’m not saying that’s right. It’s just the way that I kind of perceive things and I’m not here to impose my taste or my will on others but at the same time I think sometimes if somebody is asking for something that’s out of balance or doesn’t look right, it’s my job to speak up and say so.
Nicea: But, isn’t a conservative approach unique?
Reagan: I feel like it is. I love it.
Jenny: Yeah.
Dr. Thompson: Yeah, I think it is. And I do think that a lot of times procedures are driven by the need to pay off expenses…especially with some ofthe new technologies that are very expensive.
Jenny: Places will push those because that’s what they have…
Dr. Thompson: Yeah.
Jenny: That’s what they need to pay off.
Dr. Thomson: I can do 4 syringes on this lady and I know she’ll say yes so I’m going to do that. And, you know, in my mind that’s not what we’re here to do as physicians.
Nicea: Consequences of choosing someone you shouldn’t have. Choosing someone that you didn’t do your research on, you didn’t know, someone recommended them and they shouldn’t have. What do you see? What’s happening out there?
Dr. Thompson: Well, I mean I I see people all the time that come in to me and they say, “Yeah, I know I shouldn’t have done this or yeah, I went to this place and I’m not happy and…
Jenny: It was less expensive…
Dr. Thompson: Yeah, it was less expensive and I’m back and I’m sorry kind of thing.
Jenny: What can we do to fix it?
Dr. Thompson: I get this all the time. I’ve even have people that try to administer their own homemade filler and Botox.
Jenny: We did… Crisco.
Reagan: Oh gosh. What?! Not just rubbing on the Crisco…
Nicea: Like injecting?
Jenny: Yeah…
Reagan: Oh goodness.
Dr. Thompson: Yeah, that one. That made me feel badly because, you know, it turned into a bit of a complication…
Reagan: I bet.
Dr. Thompson: …an infection. And I’d rather have you wait for 6 months and pay the appropriate amount than try to save money. And that especially applies to surgery. I think sometimes people want to take shortcuts with surgery because it’s cheaper and that’s one that you really can’t go back on once you make that decision.
Jenny: Especially, since it’s your face. I remember seeing a patient that came in for a consultation with Dr. Thompson and she ended up seeing still a board-certified plastic surgeon but I don’t think they had great experience with facelifts. The average plastic surgeon that does full body work does approximately two facelifts per month. That is what the stats show. That’s not to say that there aren’t a lot of good full body plastic surgeons that don’t do great facelifts but she ended up going to someone with less experience and she ended up coming back to us. She lost her sideburns and when she came in, I didn’t even recognize her. I pulled up her pictures because she remembered me and I didn’t remember her at all. I usually can recognize patient but I had to pull up her picture and she looks like a completely different person. Which is really sad. You pay a lot of that money. And so I think you need to do your research even if they’re board-certified in plastic surgery. How many of these procedures do they do on average? And I would always ask for referrals. Patients to talk to that have been through the procedure.
Nicea: Which you do all the time.
Jenny: We do offer that.
Reagan: What about when you see discounts? When someone’s like…
Jenny: Discounts on surgery is frightening.
Regan: Like I see that this is 50% off or we’re throwing this eyelid lift in…
Jenny: I think it’s a red flag.
Nicea: What about Botox parties? I mean, do you remember being invited to several of those years ago?
Jenny: Yes.
Nicea: And who’s injecting it? You don’t know. But, it’s a party.
Dr. Thompson: We do a lot of specials too.
Jenny: We do specials, but not on surgery.
Dr. Thompson: Not on surgery, we don’t.
Jenny: I think surgery specials are a red flag.
Dr. Thompson: Yeah.
Jenny: Like a thousand off your facelift…I would run.
Nicea: Yeah, turn and run.
Dr. Thompson: I do think that’s true. I would agree with that.
Nicea: What do you see the most of? What plastic surgery do you do the most of?
Dr. Thompson: I would say, I feel like facelifts are what I do the most of and all of the ancillary procedures related to that. So a lot of times, you know, when the face and neck starts to fall then the eyelids get heavy or the forehead starts to fall. Or it gets hollow underneath the eyes, they get baggy under the eyes or the lip actually gets longer. We talk about lip lift on…
Nicea: I thought that was so interesting. I’ve never heard of that until you and I talked on Good Things Utah.
Reagan: Wait… what’s a lip lift?
Dr. Thompson: Lip lift is one of my favorite procedures because it can just change somebody from looking old and tired, to looking young because we look at someones eyes, that one of the big things we talk about with aging. But the mouth is a big aging feature too. If someone opens their mouth and they’re not smiling and you can’t see their upper teeth at all, that is usually an indication that the lip is elongating and…
Reagan: Do I need it? Look at me.
Nicea: Do I need it?
Reagan: No, I see yours. Do you see mine? Do you see my teeth?
Nicea: Yeah, you look good.
Reagan: What do you do in the lip lift?
Dr. Thompson: I’ve even done it on younger people that have a longer lip naturally. But, as we age…
Jenny: Reagan’s going to be in the mirror all night.
Nicea: Your lips are so juicy. Who does them?
Reagan: Are you sure? Ok, sorry. But what do you do?
Dr. Thompson: Your lips do look amazing.
Reagan: Thank you. Well, they’re courtesy of you.
Dr. Thompson: So, anyway it’s incision right under the nose and the nasal crease. And we literally remove a few millimeters of the lip and stitch it up. And one of the reasons I also like it is because sometimes people come in and say, “My lips are gone. I used to have these nice, full lips and I can’t see them anymore.” And part of that is that the lips have gotten smaller but part of it is that the upper lip has gotten longer and the ligaments and skin that supports that lip have gotten weaker. So as it gets longer, the red lip kind of roles inside the mouth and you don’t see it anymore.
Reagan: Oh, so it’s hiding.
Dr. Thompson: And so you try to put filler in there and they still can’t see their lip. And that’s one of the reasons that sometimes people start to look really unnatural because they keep trying to add more filler into their lips to make them more visible. But, it’s not working because there’s too much distance down to their lip.
Reagan: Can that cause wrinkles all through there too? I’m just thinking of my mom. My mom is 73 and she has a lot of wrinkles right through there and her lip is heavier. So, when you do the lip lift does that help with those wrinkles too?
Dr. Thompson: It will most likely make those less visible. You know, some people naturally have a shorter lip and it’s never an issue. But, a lot of people have kind of an average length lip. As they get a little bit older than all of a sudden…yeah, when they smile you can’t see their teeth. When they don’t, you can’t see their upper teeth at all.
Nicea: But millimeters make that much of a difference?
Dr.Thompson: Oh, yeah.
Nicea: Like millimeters…
Jenny: It’s a little tweak, in office.
Reagan: Just a little something…so your lip gets longer with age, what else is going? Oh, no.. it’s all of it.
Jenny: Your ears get bigger.
Dr. Thompson: This lip lift is a millimeters kind of procedure. I literally take a ruler and measure at multiple points because the eye can pick up millimeters really easily and so it’s important that its done in a symmetrical way.
Jenny: And if you take too much, that’s another problem.
Dr. Thompson: Yes, so that’s another reason why it’s good to be a little bit conservative. I can always take a little more out, I can’t put it back. And frankly, I did… just this week a lady that I did a lip lift on maybe 4 or 5 months ago and she really wanted it shorter from the outset. And even post-operatively and several months after she said, “you know, I still feel that this is longer than I want”. And I was able to go back and take some more out and now she’s happy sees what she wants. It could have gone the other way. So…
Reagan: Well, you’re kind of like the boob doctor. He’s like, “I swear you should go this big” and you’re like, “I can’t go that big” and he’s going to say,”I know you’re going to want to go bigger”…and then they’re done and you want to go bigger.
Nicea: It sounds like you’ve been there before…
Reagan: No, but also along with your board-certification and all your experience and everything…what I loved going to you for several things…is that it was always safe. I always felt safe with your operating room, your staff, how you operate, it feels very safe.
Dr. Thompson: Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I mean that’s one of the most important things in medicine is that you are not causing any harm. That’s our first rule, the first thing we learn in medical school is do no harm. And so it’s important that we make sure that we are providing that environment for patients.
Jenny: And there have been some, even recent stories here in Utah, where surgeries were performed in-office where they should have been done in OR setting, surgical, facility, hospital. Where yeah, tragedies can happen and patients can die if things aren’t monitored properly.
Dr. Thompson: And there is risk no matter what I do and I do tell people that. Even if everything is done right, there’s still risk. But, we’re trying to do everything we can to minimize the risk. And occasionally if somebody is just really nervous about…you know, say we’re doing a big facelift and they’re going under anesthesia for it. Yeah, we’re doing it at a hospital and we’re using an anesthesiologist. We are doing everything to maximize the safety of that procedure. And they’re still nervous…I just tell them there’s no way that I can do this with zero risk. And you took a risk when you got your car and drove to my office today and it’s the same thing. If you want zero risk don’t do the surgery because there’s always some risk but I think there are a lot of things we can do to minimize the risk and to create good outcomes.
Reagan: So beauty is risky. That’s what we’re going to change from beauty is pain.
Dr. Thompson: Beauty is risky.
Reagan: I like your honesty though…
Nicea: That’s what you appreciate when doing something like this, is someone who will be honest with you… you need that.
Dr. Thompson: Yeah, I try to be as honest as I can with people.
Reagan: We’ve had some honest conversations, Dr. T and I. We have.
Jenny: Which is good.
Regan: He’s like a therapist.
Jenny: Yeah, I know right? That’s what a lot of patients say.
Dr. Thompson: That’s one of the things I enjoy about my job…especially somebody like Nicea and Reagan who I’ve known now for I don’t know how many years.
Reagan: It’s a lot… How many years has it been?
Nicea: Has it been like 7, 8? 8 Years?
Jenny: I think it has been about 8 years.
Nicea: Yeah.
Dr. Thompson: 8 years?
Jenny: Yeah.
Dr. Thompson: Yeah.
Jenny: Yep, it has since we did the original show.
Dr. Thompson: We were reminiscing of our first meeting before we came in and it was very memorable to me and Reagan. Like it was still vivid in our minds.
Reagan: Totally. Well, Nicea was afraid and Nicea had been dreading 40 for a long time.
Nicea: I’m not kidding, I want to hear you tell this because I blocked it out.
Reagan: Alright, so let me set the scene. We were sitting on set and you said, “I’m going to Dr. Thompson after this, he’s going to assess my face and we are going to talk about what we’re doing and he may do somethings and I’m terrified.” She maybe had a couple injections of Botox before and that was it. And she said, “I’m considering some filler”…
Dr. Thompson: And probably are like a lot of other people who had seen things that had made you really nervous like I don’t want to look like this or too much or overdone…
Jenny: Bad outcomes.
Reagan: 100%
Nicea: In the nicest way like I’ve seen them in interviews, at the outlet…
Reagan: Right, like in our jobs we meet a lot of people. So she said, “Would you please come with me? I’m going to look at you, don’t let me do anything crazy.” So, I said “okay, I’ll come”. So I go into the room and I loved it because Dr. Thompson’s energy already sets you in such a namaste.
Nicea: And he’s tall and I’m tall and I appreciate tall.
Reagan: A little tall, dark and handsome doesn’t hurt.
Nicea: We had a tall thing happening right off the bat.
Reagan: But she was nervous, terribly nervous and so he’s talking and he’s saying the things he wants to do to your face and they were very minimal and he was telling you that. He would say, “I would do a little bit here, would do a little bit here” and he was telling you exactly 100% what he was going to use, where it would go, what he would do, how natural he wanted it to look for you. And I think you kind of heard it but not really. Because this is a podcast, so you can’t see my head but she kept turning her little cute face over to me with her eyes looking at me like a puppy.
Nicea: Should I? Is it fine? Is it fine?
Reagan: And I gave the big nod.
Nicea: We say terrified. If you’re listening we say terrified, not for needles and injections and all of that. That doesn’t terrify me. It’s making a change to your face, like initially am I changing my face and will this change how I look? I mean, you’ve grown up in front of the camera and people trust this look and you feel like that’s who you are and I don’t want to change that.
Reagan: But you didn’t change your face. That’s what I love about what he did. You didn’t change your face.
Nicea: But all those things going through my mind.
Reagan: You just softened those…
Jenny: You just became Benjamin Button…that’s what we like to say.
Nicea: I became Benjamin Button.
Reagan: You know how many people tell…especially Nicea, how much younger she looks, even in these last…probably even 3 years. These last 3 years they… because we’ve taken pictures of years…which some of them are horrifying. And now, people are like, why do you look better than you did 5 years ago, 10 years ago? And I think the same thing. I think you look so good.
Jenny: Why are you aging in reverse?
Nicea: But, I had no reason to be terrified. I mean no reason. Not because of what I’m trying but who I trusted it to.
Jenny: Which is another thing you need to look for when you’re doing your research…visit different people. Who do you feel comfortable with? Who’s coming at you with a sales pitch and who is just delivering honest, straightforward information.
Nicea: Reagan is not available for all your consultations everyone…she’s mine. So don’t try to hire her to look over and see if she agrees.
Reagan: I only do it for one person, that’s it…
Nicea: Thank you. And you don’t need to do that anymore because that was that first… and it’s so funny I don’t remember a lot about that. I really don’t.
Jenny: That’s so funny.
Dr. Thompson: Yeah, I remember it so vividly too. I know Reagan does too.
Reagan: We bonded.
Dr. Thompson: We were sitting there together and I remember her looking over at you and she would kind of nod your head, like yup, yup I like this sounds good to me.
Nicea: How funny.
Jenny: You guys are the cutest.
Dr. Thompson: Yeah, I remember it very well.
Nicea: I know we were probably holding hands.
Reagan: I think I might have held your hand. Probably when he injected for the first time.
Nicea: That’s true…we did a little hand holding. That’s alright, we cuddle on vacation it’s fine.
Dr. Thompson: One thing you mentioned that might be worth a comment is how you appreciated what I asked you what your concerns were or what is it that you hope I might be able to help you with. And sometimes…and I feel like this was the way with Nicea. A patient may not be sure what they see or what they want. In that case she’s asking me to kinda use my skills and my assessment and my eye of what I see that might be not harmonizing well or maybe will be distracting from the appearance that is her face. So you know, my first job is to listen to what the patient is feeling and saying and experiencing and focusing on those things. Sometimes I have people come in and they say, “I’m really hating this mole on my chin”. And I’m thinking I see some other things that to me are much more distracting than that mole. But it’s not my job to bring those up in my opinion unless they ask me. Because that can be maybe damaging to someone’s self-esteem but also, I’m here for the patient I’m not here to make it look the way I think you should look. But if you want me to look at your face and tell you what I thin I can do that. And then I will. I will kind of go through and say these are the things that I see, these are the priorities in my opinion. You know, you’re noticing this, I think your crows feet are worse than this and so I think maybe we should do a little Botox and that will make a bigger difference than maybe this more expensive filler in your lips, which I really don’t think you need.
Nicea: This is not the doctor that will up sell you on every procedure. Reagan knows, there was a day…
Regan: Oh no, are we going to talk about it?
Nicea: I don’t even think I asked. We did an interview, this was years and years ago. I did an interview and then when we finished, he said, “Can I access you now?” and I said of course, oh my gosh, of course. Because I say of course all the time. The 17 things he said that my face needed and I think my jaw dropped.
Jenny: Aw.. Sad.
Nicea: This is not…you are not that experienced. And it’s so funny I was like, “Wait, I do? That eyebrow does do that and then like I’m at home in the mirror going, “does it really do that.”
Jenny: Yeah, yeah.
Nicea: So yeah, you’re right, is such a fine line. It’s such a delicate thing, someone’s face. I think you see what is different than what I see and what bugs me you don’t even notice but it does bug me. And so, I think you have a job that’s delicate in nature when you’re dealing with patients and I think you’re so good at walking that line of… symmetry wise and what I see, but how do you feel.
Reagan: You heard him say, self-esteem. He’s concerned about people’s self-esteem not I want more money. I want you to be happy. I want to hear your concerns. I want to help you feel more like you. I love that.
Jenny: Yeah, and I think you’ll find… one thing I’ll hear from patients that maybe come from medical spas is that they go into a spa and a lot of times they’ll want them to sign up for these memberships or these contracts or buy a certain amount of syringes or get on a facial plan. I feel like people appreciate that we’re different and are going to recommend what is best for you based on your concerns. It’s not like you’re coming in and we’ve got like this big sales pitch ready where the whole team knows it like it’s a numbers game. It’s not a numbers game.
Dr. Thompson: Yeah, I’ve even had people come in and be apologetic that they didn’t spend more money. You know…I’m like, “that’s not why we’re here”. So I think it’s important to realize that even if you’re coming in with probably one of the most simple things I do is a mole shave. Somebody that has a little bump and I just shave it off and you know what does it cost, like $75 or something. I don’t know. But, that’s not the point, it’s what I can do to help you. And I think sometimes plastic surgeons can forget that we’re physicians, we are healers, we are here to help people. That’s our primary job. If we lose sight of that, then we’ve lost something really important to who we are.
Nicea: Well said.
Jenny: That’s a good point.
Nicea: I love it.
Jenny: Well thank you so joining us gals and Dr. Thompson. For more information on Utah Facial Plastics you can visit utahfacialplastics.com or call (801) 776-2220. We also have utahhairmd.com for info on hair rejuvenation and we look forward to our next episode…join us soon.