Latest / The Dr. Randi Show / The One-Hour Facelift: Inside the RE•LIFT™ Revolution — Dr. Adam Summers

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The One-Hour Facelift: Inside the RE•LIFT™ Revolution — Dr. Adam Summers · The Dr. Randi Show

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The views expressed in this podcast are for informational
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Now let's get into the episode. Hello everyone, and welcome to
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the Doctor Randy Show. I'm your host, Doctor Randy
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Boyett, where we explore the ideas and innovations shaping
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the future of aesthetics, beauty and medicine.
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He's a world renowned plastic surgeon.
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He's the creator of Relift, A facelift designed to be
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performed in about an hour. And it's changing the
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conversation between surgeons and patients about what facelift
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surgery can look like today. Welcome to the show, Doctor Adam
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Summers. I appreciate it so very much.
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It's great to be here. Well, we're excited to have you
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on the show today. This procedure that you're doing
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is groundbreaking and we're excited to learn about it.
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So if it's OK with you, I'll dive right in.
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Let's do it. Doctor Summers, you are widely
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regarded as an expert in facial surgery, and I'm sure both
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patients and colleagues ask you about Relift regularly.
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So for those hearing about it for the first time, our
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listeners and viewers, what makes it distinctly different
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from the conventional facelift? Unlike traditional facelifts,
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which require large incision around the ears and potentially
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visible scars for the rest of your life.
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Also, the need for general anesthesia in many cases.
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Relift was designed as a minimally invasive procedure
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with a hidden incision above the ear, and it is done uniquely
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under local anesthesia. Now, what's really important is
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that minimally invasive doesn't mean minimal results.
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It actually gives the results of a full face and neck lift, but
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without those visible incisions. And it has the advantage of
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having been proven to last for a decade or more in most patients.
2:20
Wow, that's great results for a very quick procedure.
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It's great to hear that there is an option like this out there.
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So after decades in facial surgery and ultimately
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establishing Relift as your signature approach, when did you
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realize that you were ready to step outside the traditional
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playbook and raise the standard? You know, when I was in my
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surgical training at the Medical College of Wisconsin, I was
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doing general surgery and plastic surgery training and
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subsequent fellowship. I was exposed to minimally
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invasive techniques such as laparoscopic and endoscopic
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surgery. And as I got into more of the
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plastic surgery and aesthetic side of things, I said, wouldn't
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it be great if we could apply some of these techniques to
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facial rejuvenation? And I happen to be working with
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one of my mentors who had done a bunch of studies on this.
3:14
And we did some fairly aggressive techniques, initially
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based on orthopedic procedures where you could repair the
3:23
sagging ligaments and tighten up the internal structure.
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I wrote some papers on this and presented it nationally.
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And then in the early 2000s, I started moving it to become
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minimally invasive where we were able to make these small
3:36
incisions and get these long lasting results.
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I will tell you, Randy, at that time I wasn't quite sure if the
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rest of the world was ready for this kind of thing because I
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kept hearing from people, this is not going to work.
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And I guess part of it is I grew up in Missouri, which is known
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as the Show Me State. And I said, you know what, I
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have to prove this, that it's going to work beyond any
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equivocal doubt. So I did about 1000 of these
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procedures and started to show people that over a course of
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many years we have this permanent type of result.
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It was at that time that I realized we had something that
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was not just evolutionary, in some cases revolutionary for
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aesthetic procedures. You definitely captured the
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audience, and 1000 procedures speaks for itself.
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Over the years, how has Relift continued to evolve as you've
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kind of refined it in your practice?
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I'm so glad you asked that question.
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It's really been based on both materials and methods.
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So there's one thing you can learn as a surgeon, which is the
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methods to do a different type of procedure.
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There's a whole nother segment to this where you need a certain
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set of materials in order to make that procedure work.
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And it's interesting because I got to what might be called that
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proverbial glass ceiling. Or I could see through to the
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other side where I knew I could do even better than what I was
5:03
already doing, but I didn't have the materials to get there.
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And so I actually enlisted a couple of different
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universities. We've been doing material
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science research for a couple years and we have developed new
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nanostructure technology that really helps enable this type of
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procedure to work incredibly well.
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Well, it sounds like you've spent a lot of time on this
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Doctor Summers, and when we spoke, I can just tell your
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passion for it. So love to hear that.
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It has been a passion of ours, absolutely.
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Let's go a little deeper into the surgical approach because I
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find that patients today are very well educated.
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They've done a lot of research. And from a structural
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standpoint, how does RELIFT differ from the way you
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reposition tissue compared to the standard facelift approach?
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It's interesting to ask that because that was actually the
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impetus behind developing these procedures.
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We see with traditional facelifts, whether it's a smash
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lift or a deep plane or even a mini facelift, that you don't
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have as much control over the mid face and the soft tissues of
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the cheek tend to drop as we age.
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You lose that ligament to support the infra orbital rim
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starts to become more exposed. You lose some of the fullness in
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the lower eyelid. You lose that nice smooth
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transition between the lower eyelid and cheek.
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And then on top of that, you get an increase to visibility, the
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nasal labial fold and jawing. So all of this is attached and
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the concept of controlling the mid face, we've been looking at
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that for decades now and this procedure in particular does an
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excellent job with that. And then from there, what
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actually supports the lift long term?
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What's holding everything in place over time?
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I use the analogy if you think about orthopedic procedures
6:59
where someone might blow out their shoulder, have a rotator
7:03
cuff injury, or maybe they have an ACL injury.
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Those ligaments support the Bony structures and enable you to
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have function. When the orthopod goes in to
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repair those injuries, they use permanent sutures and they rely
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on the body's natural healing to support those sutures.
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Even more so, the sutures have a certain amount of strength when
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they are inserted, but your body's natural healing adds
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strength to that, and the relift type of procedures are exactly
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the same. From a safety standpoint, how
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does the risk profile of Relift compared to other facelift
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procedures? When I was in my training in the
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90's, the deep plane facelift was introduced by Doctor Hammer
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in Texas and we learned about that.
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And there were, he had reported a large number really of delayed
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healing as far as increased swelling, increased risk for
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nerve injury. That's gotten better over the
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years, but you haven't gotten rid of those issues.
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Also, with their traditional procedure, you have the
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permanent scars around the ears, which in some cases maybe not a
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safety issue, but from an aesthetic standpoint is less
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than ideal for men who have short hair and women who have
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short hair and individuals with skin of color where you are much
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more likely to have a visible scar or worse,
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hyperpigmentation, post inflammatory hyperpigmentation,
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keloids, that type of thing. So what if you could eliminate
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those issues? What if you could eliminate
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visible scars and be able to do a procedure in a man who is
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bald, in an African American man who is bald?
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Let's make it even more complicated, right?
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In someone who, let's use the word mature person, so in their
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80s or 90s, who wouldn't be a good candidate potentially to
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have a general anesthetic for, God forbid, worry about their
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health. What if you could offer these
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individuals a procedure that helps them achieve the youthful
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look they want age appropriate youthful look, restore their
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confidence and eliminate the risks.
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And that's what we have achieved with this.
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It's really in that case revolutionary.
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It sounds like the perfect solution for maybe people who
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might be afraid, you know, things like that, right.
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So on that note, you talked a little bit about the long term
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result. Would you say that it is
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equivalent to all other facelift procedures out there from maybe
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10 to 15 years? 100% as long as the individual
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has good skin quality. We of course see people with
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skin that's been damaged by sun exposure or perhaps a lot of
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weight gain and weight loss where the skin has gotten
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stretched out. You get to a certain point where
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the skin is lost its elastic quality and it really doesn't
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matter if you had a traditional facelift or Relift procedure,
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minimally invasive procedure, you still need to treat the
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skin. And I think one of the big
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failures in the longevity of any facelift treatment is the
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inability for some patients to have their skin treated.
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And they shouldn't see inability, but the fact that it
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wasn't introduced as an option or maybe even a requirement to
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get good long term results. From a structural standpoint,
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the minimally invasive procedure with Relift is absolutely
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comparable to a traditional facelift, even deplane, but the
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skin treatments still are required in both scenarios.
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Remarkable. And if someone were to have the
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relift procedure today and then 10 to 15 years from now they
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decide they want to have a different type of facelift down
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the line, does that still preserve that option?
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Absolutely. And it actually does one better.
10:51
So imagine someone has had a facelift of any kind and 510
10:57
years later maybe they've had some weight changes and some fat
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distribution changes. Maybe they've had some bone
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loss, which happens as we age. That foundational structure that
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any facelift is built on his now sunk in or sagged.
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And you do see people coming back that have had traditional
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facelifts come back later. In the case of a minimally
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invasive procedure where we've been inserted permanent sutures
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that can actually be re tightened, we can go back 5-10
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years later and we can actually re tighten that existing network
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of sutures and lift everything back up to where it used to be.
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So that is also amazing. But to answer your question, it
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absolutely does not get in the way of any other procedure that
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might be desired in the future. Let's talk a little bit about
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patient selection because I'm sure this is important for
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anyone doing facelift, but for the relift, who is the ideal
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candidate for the relift and what are you looking for in
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their facial anatomy? Our ideal patient is typically
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in between their 40s and 70s. They've noticed some facial
12:03
changes with their anatomy where there's been some sinking and
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sagging. Their skin quality is reasonable
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or good. It's not in such bad shape that
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they need some ancillary procedures and we're looking at
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the overall cheek volume. So some people have lost so much
12:21
weight and that's maybe even a issue with the weight loss
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medications today, the Ozempics and what not, all the GLPS that
12:29
our people are utilizing, we do see some facial fat wasting and
12:33
loss. So in those patients, we might
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not have as much structure to manipulate and we just have some
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loose skin. So in those patients, they're
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not ideal candidates. That being said, we have now
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advanced the procedure where we can do some fat grafting and we
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can actually grab onto that scaffolding.
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And we have some additional what I would call fairly novel
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techniques that we've just introduced this past year where
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we can strengthen the scaffolding of the lift itself.
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So if somebody is looking for the opportunity to correct the
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mid face, jaws and neck, and they've seen some sagging
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occurring over the past few years and they might want to
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turn the clock back, you know, 10 years and they're probably a
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good candidate to come and talk to us.
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What's interesting is we do have some younger patients as young
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as their 20s who were born with congenital ptosis, and they've
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been really good candidates because you can do these
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procedures without any visible scars.
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And as I mentioned, the more mature patients who aren't good
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candidates maybe for a general anesthetic.
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And then who, on the flip side, would absolutely not be a good
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candidate for Relift? Someone who has really lost a
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lot of facial volume has tremendous amount of sagging.
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They're going to need more extensive procedure than what
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Relift alone can provide. Sometimes when people come in,
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do you have to recommend a different type of procedure?
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Yes. So I still do traditional
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facelifts, mass lifts, deep plane mini facelifts.
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We have the whole gamut of facelift procedures that we
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offer, even implants and whatnot.
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But I will say that the majority, probably 80 to 90% of
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the people that I see are candidates for this procedure,
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which has been incredible. Walk us through the patient
14:30
experience on procedure day, from arrival to leaving your
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office. So unlike a traditional
14:36
procedure that lifts away the skin and the muscle and fat and
14:41
you have all these different layers you have to manipulate,
14:44
with our relief procedure, we're able to lift the cheeks and
14:48
jowls with the internal suturing techniques and people can
14:52
actually look good the next day. Now, if you get into doing a
14:55
neck or brow relief procedure, you're going to need to wear a
14:59
little wrap afterwards to prevent swelling of that area.
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But when it comes to just the face alone, we have so many
15:07
patients and videos. Take a look at our videos on
15:10
relief dot me of patients who have had the procedure and the
15:14
next day they look phenomenal. So right away, results are
15:19
setting in and they're feeling comfortable when they leave.
15:22
Absolutely. And what does recovery
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realistically look like in the first few days, in the first
15:29
week, and then when somebody is socially ready to be seen?
15:33
This is a surgical procedure, so it's important that patients
15:37
take it easy afterwards. I don't want them doing anything
15:40
that would be considered strenuous.
15:42
Nothing that would get your heart rate over 100, nothing
15:44
that would raise your blood pressure, make you sweat.
15:46
If you're doing something that makes you sweat, you're probably
15:48
doing too much. Unless you live in Florida
15:50
perhaps, right? That being said, the patient
15:54
that has a neck or a brow procedure has that wrap on
15:57
afterwards and so they're going to be limited from social
16:00
activities. Patients who only do the cheeks
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and jaw lifting, they're back to normal light social activities
16:07
the next day. So you didn't just develop a
16:13
technique, you built an entire identity around it.
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And why was it important for you to formally define it as re lift
16:23
instead of allowing it to be grouped in with the existing
16:26
facelift categories? I think it goes back to when I
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was in my surgical training and subsequently looking at the
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Hippocratic Oath. It says do no harm is a part of
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it. And if you look at what
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aesthetic procedures we do as plastic surgeons, you're taking
16:44
someone who is already healthy and quote, UN quote normal, and
16:50
you're looking to make things better.
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I've always had, I guess, a moral dilemma with that.
16:54
It's like, how do you separate do no harm from you got to do
16:58
some harm to this person to get to the next level.
17:00
And it always seemed to me if you could do the least amount of
17:05
trauma to the patient, you're really doing them a great
17:08
service as long as you can achieve the desired result.
17:11
And that's where a lot of this came from is I look back on it
17:14
because I've asked myself the same question.
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Why have you done this? And that's the answer I get for
17:20
myself is I had this moral dilemma and I came up with a
17:24
methodology to resolve that. And it seems that it's worked
17:28
out very well for you. And are other physicians doing
17:32
the RELIFT procedure as well? We're in the process of training
17:36
other physicians how to do it. Someone who's going to go down
17:39
this path of minimally invasive aesthetic procedures already has
17:43
to be an expert at traditional procedures.
17:47
This is not something where you take a weekend class, not having
17:50
ever done a facelift before, and all of a sudden you can do this.
17:53
You have to already be an expert at all the different techniques,
17:56
understand the anatomy intimately, and you can then add
18:00
this on is an extra layer of technology and methodology to
18:05
your existing. Let's call it a toolbox of
18:07
tricks. Beyond the traditional before
18:11
and after photos, how do you measure success with relifting
18:15
your practice? Whether it's longevity of
18:18
results, patient satisfaction, referral of other patients, how
18:23
do you personally measure that success?
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Well, as some people may know, I actually was involved in a lot
18:31
of patient satisfaction studies in the early 2000s.
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And to get into my background a little bit, I was a computer
18:40
programmer before I went into medicine around the 2000s.
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I developed a computer software, software as a service platform
18:50
called Patient Approved, where we get patient feedback.
18:53
And our goal was to help doctors do a better job in their clinics
18:58
with their patients. And this is used by physicians
19:02
across the country. Of course, we utilize it as well
19:06
as other patient satisfaction surveys.
19:08
And we do look at long term feedback from patients and look
19:13
at, you know, are there things we can do better?
19:16
I think I may be more critical of our results than the patients
19:20
are sometimes because I'm always looking at how can we make this
19:23
better? I think it's just the way that
19:25
I'm built. But we have ongoing long term
19:29
patient satisfaction studies. We just did a in person seminar
19:34
a few months ago and we had people there that were over five
19:38
years out from their procedure and they were willing to come up
19:42
and show their results and it was just amazing.
19:44
And this was unsolicited. So it's wonderful to see that
19:48
kind of happiness with the patients and and their and their
19:53
significant others. I mean, they're so happy to be
19:55
with somebody who is confident and feels good about themselves.
19:59
Wow, I'd love to hear that. And so once someone has the
20:03
relift, what role do treatments like lasers, skin tightening or
20:10
injectables play in maintaining or enhancing those results?
20:14
There's significance. So anybody that's had any type
20:17
of facial rejuvenation procedure, relift, smash, lift,
20:21
deplane, you're not taking care of the skin per SE.
20:24
You might be pulling on the skin and stretching it, but that's
20:27
not changing the quality of the skin.
20:29
So we have patients look at their overall skin care routine
20:33
and will then recommend a variety of different laser
20:36
treatments. It might be IPL to get rid of
20:39
red and brown spots, might be CO2 or erbium to help tighten up
20:42
the skin and build more elastin. And some patients, fillers and
20:46
Botox are still a really important part of their overall
20:50
routine to have the optimal appearance they're looking for.
20:54
Let's zoom out from the surgical suite and dive forward into
20:59
vision and trends in the space because I'd love your opinion.
21:03
You're an expert in the area, and what you've seen and what
21:06
you've done makes a difference. So where do you see facial
21:11
rejuvenation as a whole evolving over the next decade, especially
21:15
as patients seek, you know, powerful results and less
21:18
downtime? The patients who engage in both
21:24
skin care as well as energy based treatments and at a
21:27
younger age are probably going to get better, long lasting
21:31
results. I think as we go forward, you're
21:34
going to see the marriage of those two things happening.
21:37
We're seeing a little bit of it over the past decade or so in
21:41
terms of photodynamic therapy where topical products can
21:46
actually be utilized and oral products can be utilized and
21:50
activated with energy, especially LED based therapy.
21:53
So that gets you into the photodynamic, but there's going
21:56
to most likely be other blending of technologies.
22:01
So you have, again, nanotechnologies being
22:03
developed. And I know it sounds like a
22:05
buzzword, but it's actually a real thing.
22:07
So there'll be more of that and we'll be able to effectuate
22:12
changes in the elastic quality of the skin and again, tighten
22:15
up the deeper soft tissues without having the side effects
22:19
that are typically seen with traditional procedures.
22:23
And with so much emphasis on the natural results today, how are
22:29
you personally approaching delivering meaningful change
22:34
without anything looking overdone?
22:37
Well, anybody can pick up the syringe and start injecting
22:40
people if they have a medical license of some sort.
22:43
I think a lot of the unnatural appearances come from
22:47
practitioners, whether they be physicians, nurses, or whatever,
22:51
doing things in a way that is not balanced.
22:54
And to answer your question specifically, it's almost not
22:57
about the tool, it's more about the individual wielding the
23:02
tool. And I think it's such a shame to
23:06
see people go to individuals that are offering services just
23:11
because of price alone. Or there's some social media
23:14
hype around a new place that's opened.
23:16
Well, if a new place is opened, they probably don't have as much
23:20
experience doing the procedures. So I would advise anybody take a
23:25
careful look at what those aesthetic outcomes are and
23:28
really get an understanding of what that person's aesthetic
23:31
sense is and see if it matches your own.
23:34
Right, because natural could mean different things to
23:37
different people. Right.
23:39
To that point, we have had some people come in asking for overly
23:45
done looks and there is a certain individual who likes a
23:50
much pulled tighter appearance. And I let people know our relift
23:55
procedures, these minimally invasive procedures can't do
23:58
that. They're actually designed not to
24:00
pull on the skin. They're designed to provide a
24:04
natural aesthetic result, providing that balance, that
24:08
harmony that you're looking for. And you cannot distort the
24:12
tissues in a way that you might with the more traditional
24:15
facelift technique. So in that way it's.
24:18
Actually a good thing. It's a good thing it's more
24:20
aesthetically balanced and aesthetically safer.
24:23
So it's creating kind of like a governor on how far you can go
24:27
with the procedure. It's a great way to put it.
24:30
What do you believe is the most common misconception that
24:33
patients have about facelift surgery in general?
24:37
Wow. I have people come in and they
24:40
think a facelift includes their forehead and their eyelids and
24:43
maybe their nose and neck and chin.
24:45
And you know as well as I do that the term facelift is pretty
24:51
generic. It could involve so many
24:53
different things. So I always break it down for
24:56
patients. I always say, look, we're going
24:57
to talk about your brow, your upper eyelid, lower eyelid, mid
25:00
face, lower face. Now can we really break it down
25:03
so they understand what they're getting?
25:05
It's amazing to me how many people I come in that have been
25:09
treated elsewhere and they don't even know what they've had done.
25:13
So I, I think it's so important, it's incumbent on us to educate
25:17
our patients well so they know what they're doing.
25:20
They know what the long term effects are and what they can
25:23
expect to achieve out of that. Well, that's unbelievable that
25:26
they're not exactly sure what they've had done right.
25:29
True story. And as the deep plane facelift
25:32
continues to trend, RIGHT gets a lot of attention right now in
25:35
the media, what is the single most important differentiator
25:40
distinction that patients should understand when comparing it
25:45
against Relift? So deep plane by nature means
25:50
that we're going down into the deeper levels where the nerves
25:53
are located in blood vessels and you're at much higher risk,
25:57
unfortunately, of getting into trouble if any of those are
26:00
bumped into or worse yet severed.
26:03
The RELIFT procedure controls the soft tissue planes, deep and
26:08
superficial, without going into severing those nerves.
26:12
It's a safer version of the deep plane and this mass procedure
26:16
combined. I think that's important to
26:18
understand. So how do you define, I guess
26:23
from 5 to 10 years for your patients?
26:27
How do you define success for them?
26:29
What should they feel in five to 10 years from now?
26:33
If somebody can look in the mirror, well, let me rewind that
26:36
a little bit. If you look in the mirror, I
26:39
look in the mirror and we see someone looking back at us that
26:42
we don't recognize. That's a sign that maybe there's
26:46
something going on. And it's so funny because it
26:48
happens quickly. You wake up one day and I
26:51
remember walking by a window and sketching my reflection and
26:54
thinking, Oh my God, there's my dad and you know, of course it
26:57
was me. And so it's, it just happens in
27:00
the blink of an eye. But for you to be able to look
27:03
at yourself and have the confidence that you look the way
27:07
you think you look, and to approach the world with that
27:10
confidence in an ongoing fashion, that to me is a huge
27:14
measure of success. Yes, it is, I think just kind of
27:18
like a better version of yourself, right?
27:20
Instead of a different version of yourself.
27:22
Absolutely. And Doctor Summers, people might
27:26
ask you this because you did really change the playbook.
27:29
What has been the most challenging part of developing
27:33
and refining your own surgical technique?
27:37
It's funny because the very first time I presented the
27:40
genesis of these procedures at an ASPs meeting, I had other
27:44
surgeons that I was presenting it to, and I asked if there were
27:47
any questions in the audience. And one of my peers held up his
27:50
hand. I said, yes, Sir, what's your
27:51
question? He said, this isn't going to
27:53
work. And I said that's not a
27:55
question. I have my before and afters.
27:58
Clearly it works. And I said, is there a question
28:00
about what we're doing? He's raised his hands again.
28:02
He says, well, that's not going to last.
28:04
So I took that to heart. As I had mentioned before, I
28:08
feel like what's kept me working on these procedures kind of in
28:13
quiet and private has been the need that I need to prove that
28:19
not only to myself and to my patients, but to the rest of the
28:21
world that this is the real deal, that it works.
28:25
But there's a whole nother level to this.
28:27
And as I got into the materials design and whatnot, I realized
28:32
we have the opportunity to create something completely new.
28:36
And it's just been so much fun to be involved in building this
28:40
out with our patients and the research team as we have.
28:43
At this point in your career, what are you most proud of when
28:47
it comes to the impact of your work?
28:49
Well, my mom asked me not more than 24 hours ago, when are you
28:54
going to retire? When are you going to just
28:56
settle down? And all the people that know me
28:59
know that I absolutely love doing what I'm doing.
29:02
If I could, I would do it for free for the rest of my life.
29:05
I just get such a kick out of helping people and in a way
29:11
helping people that I don't even know sometimes.
29:13
We talked about the patient, approved the software.
29:15
There's doctors and their patients that I have helped that
29:18
I'll never meet. It's having that long lasting
29:22
impact across a much broader spectrum that gives me just such
29:28
a immense feeling of satisfaction.
29:31
I can feel the passion in your words, and that's great because
29:34
you love what you do. So we hope you don't retire
29:37
anytime soon because I've had a lot of people are interested in
29:40
the RELIFT procedure and as we start to wrap things up, that's
29:45
my next question. Other than retirement, which we
29:47
hope you're not looking at right now as you look ahead, what is
29:52
the next chapter for Doctor Summers and for Relift?
29:56
We're already working towards that.
29:58
We've launched a national training center.
30:01
We have a beautiful 24,000 square foot building with ORS
30:05
and training rooms and we're offering training to surgeons
30:10
throughout the country, board certified plastic surgeons that
30:13
have good experience, that want to add another layer to their
30:17
armamentarium for helping their patients.
30:20
And I'm looking forward to working with them and training
30:23
them and facilitating things and helping them around the country.
30:27
I'm excited to potentially go out to their sites and
30:31
facilitate things with them. It's really quite a journey and
30:34
I'm glad to be on it. They're ready to pay it forward,
30:37
right? Absolutely.
30:39
And teach the next generation. Well, that's a great goal and
30:42
it's a great next chapter. So before we wrap up, how do
30:46
people get in touch if they're interested in the relift
30:49
procedure? I've seen the before and afters.
30:52
I think it's phenomenal, exceptional.
30:55
So how do they get in touch and what's the best way to reach out
30:57
to you? Patients can visit relift dot me
31:02
me and they can see before and afters.
31:05
They can hear patients testimonials talking about their
31:07
experience and they can learn more about how the procedure is
31:11
done in their particular situation.
31:14
Doctors who are interested in becoming RELIFT certified
31:19
surgeons should go to reliftmd.com and they can
31:24
inquire about how to become a provider.
31:27
They can set up to participate in our webinars and learn more
31:30
and even have individual private conversations with us.
31:34
Thank you for that information and thank you so much for
31:37
joining us today. It's been such a great
31:39
conversation. Is there anything else that
31:41
you'd like to share with our listeners and viewers?
31:43
I just love what I do. I look forward to help, you
31:47
know, seeing anybody that might have listened or saw this
31:49
podcast and come in and we do virtual consults so we can talk
31:53
to anybody anywhere in the world.
31:55
We can do an assessment and say if you're a good candidate and
31:58
whether it's me or one of our certified providers.
32:01
Happy to help you out with that. So virtual consult can get them
32:05
booked. OK.
32:06
Absolutely. Yeah.
32:07
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for
32:08
joining us today. I'd love to invite you to do our
32:11
speed round, Doctor Summers, because I think your expertise
32:14
would be fantastic in this. Do you have another minute?
32:18
Sure, of course. OK, great.
32:20
Let's jump in and just your opinion, your quick opinion on a
32:24
bunch of rapid fire questions, OK?
32:26
Sure. All right, so fillers still
32:29
foundational or overused? Foundational in the right hands,
32:34
Overused in the wrong hands. Neurotoxins preventative.
32:39
Do it early or wait. Have you ever heard of baby
32:42
Botox? Yes.
32:44
So yes, you can start early. You can actually prevent lines
32:48
and wrinkles. You can get nice elevation of
32:51
the brow. You can do all kinds of
32:53
wonderful things. Again, in the hands of the right
32:54
person, starting early gives you better long term results.
32:59
Yes, I often wish that I was raised in the generation where I
33:02
could have prevented the wrinkles, but I had to play
33:05
catch up there. Energy based skin tightening?
33:08
Game changer or incremental? Love it.
33:12
I've been involved with energy based treatment since the 90s Co
33:16
2 treatments. They got better and better over
33:18
the years. Fractional treatments, radio
33:20
frequency and whatnot. But if again, in the right hands
33:24
applied, it can be amazing. And I think not enough patients
33:29
understand that they need to do a series of treatments.
33:32
It's not just one and done. It's not an eraser on a
33:34
blackboard. Erasing the lines and you're
33:36
done. It's a series of treatments.
33:38
Exosomes promising or premature? In my opinion, at this time it's
33:43
a little premature. PRP Is it staying power or is it
33:47
being phased out? We love it, we use it for all
33:51
types of treatments, so everything from hair
33:53
restoration, skin improvement, sexual Wellness, it's got a
33:57
place and it's safe and easy to do.
34:00
AI facial analysis useful or overhyped?
34:05
I'd be concerned about the overpromise.
34:07
It's certainly easy enough to use software to get a
34:12
visualization of what you might look like with certain
34:14
procedures, but the rubber may not meet the road with the
34:17
reality factor in many cases. Right.
34:20
I tell the story that I got veneers on my teeth years ago
34:25
and that was something that was very easily predictable on
34:30
facial analysis. But I think like the whole
34:32
positioning of your face and what your face is going to look
34:36
like, that might be a little more difficult.
34:38
It's more challenging. We are actually working on some
34:41
tools with that, but I think it's early to show what reality
34:44
can be. Liquid rhinoplasty.
34:47
You think that's a precise enhancement or risky shortcut?
34:51
We do a lot of it. I've been doing liquid
34:53
rhinoplasty procedures for better than 15 years.
34:56
We have incredible results. They rival that of a traditional
35:00
rhinoplasty, but they're short lived so I use them as a way to
35:07
get people over the hump, no pun intended, where we can show
35:10
people what they might look like.
35:13
Better than a photo manipulation because it's their real anatomy
35:18
and we can do fantastic things with it.
35:20
We can help breathing even with internal valve collapse.
35:24
We can change tip rotation, get rid of humps.
35:27
So for the right person, it's useful.
35:29
I think most of those patients ultimately come to a formal
35:32
rhinoplasty though. Non surgical jawline contouring.
35:36
Effective or temporary illusion? Temporary and not as much bang
35:42
for the buck, but some people really like the results early
35:45
on. It is definitely got some cost
35:48
to the upkeep for that. Yes, I did it once and I was, it
35:52
was a little bit of sticker shock.
35:54
I couldn't believe how many syringes go into creating that
35:57
jawline. But it works.
35:59
But then you know, the upkeep, the expense, it's quite steep.
36:04
Ultrasound based tightening reliable or inconsistent?
36:07
Potentially dangerous. So the ultrasound technology and
36:12
there's different types of ultrasound.
36:15
I like ultrasound technology for more body contouring, fat
36:18
adjustments. But for skin, you really it's
36:23
kind of overkill because you're going deeper in many cases than
36:26
the structure of the skin and any technology, whether it's
36:29
radio frequency or ultrasound that goes deeper than the
36:34
dermis. You're just getting into the fat
36:37
and other areas that are not helpful for skin rejuvenation.
36:40
CO2 laser resurfacing gold standard or too aggressive?
36:44
Gold standard, we do it all the time.
36:47
I can't tell you how many thousands of treatments of CO2
36:50
we've done. I'm a huge fan.
36:52
IPL and BBL maintenance staple or situational treatments.
36:58
Both IPLMBBL can be used for situational issues.
37:03
If you have red spots, brown spots, you want to get rid of
37:05
them, fantastic. But they're also useful in
37:08
ongoing basic care, especially as you get through the summer
37:11
season. Maybe you want to get rid of
37:12
some some seasonal maintenance issues.
37:15
I think it's plays a real good role.
37:17
Tear through filler, transformative or high risk?
37:21
High risk in the wrong hands. We do a lot of it.
37:24
It makes a huge difference when it's done the right way.
37:27
If you're not doing it on the bone and avoiding intravascular
37:32
injections, you've got a potential real problem.
37:35
But there are ways to do these things safely and get good long
37:39
term results. Chin filler, do you think that
37:42
that's trend driven or that it can really make a difference in
37:45
enhancement? It can make a huge difference.
37:48
So if someone has a little bit of a recessed chin and their jaw
37:51
lines a little weak and maybe they see a little bit of sagging
37:53
in their neck, adding a little bit of filler to pull the chin
37:58
forward and redefine the jawline can actually be transformative
38:02
in the right patients. Hair restoration, How are you
38:04
feeling about that? We're still working on it.
38:07
We have high hopes for it. We do medical hair restoration.
38:11
PRP plays a role. Obviously micrograph micro
38:14
follicular graft transplants have been around for decades,
38:17
but you know, there's lots of up and coming science behind
38:20
follicular regeneration and I think there's a lot to be said
38:24
in the future about what this hair restoration is going to be
38:27
in a medical sense. So we're seeing a much higher
38:29
demand for that based on these GLPS.
38:32
You know, there's a lot of hair loss going on.
38:34
So we're seeing quite the surge in hair restoration treatments,
38:38
red light therapy, meaningful cellular support, or Wellness
38:42
hype. Meaningful cellular support if
38:45
it's true red light therapy. So it's easy to deceive a
38:49
consumer because you can put a red filter on anything and it's
38:53
not necessarily red light therapy, but true red light
38:57
therapy has been shown to be helpful in maintenance and
39:01
restoration of the skin in some cases.
39:04
I'm a big fan of red light therapy, but whatever works for
39:08
somebody might not work for somebody else.
39:10
Facelifts under 40 proactive or premature.
39:15
Oh, I'm a fan of doing procedures when there's an
39:19
obvious need for it, and sometimes someone will come in
39:23
regardless of age, and you as a surgeon aren't quite able to see
39:30
what the patient is asking for. Those are not typically good
39:34
surgical candidates. Maybe there's something can be
39:37
done with fillers or other things to make them happy in
39:39
that moment, but surgical procedures you still want to
39:43
have a good reason to be doing it.
39:46
Non surgical neck contouring with injectables, Subtle shaping
39:51
or just a short term effect? Short term and expensive, not a
39:56
huge fan. It can certainly be done and for
39:59
the right patient it can be highly effective.
40:02
But we see a lot of people coming in that have.
40:05
Demands that expectations that exceed reality.
40:10
So someone with a heavy neck, excess skin, fat, they're not
40:14
ever going to get the results that surgery can achieve.
40:17
As a matter of fact, they may not get any significant results
40:20
with the injectables. Muscle stimulation treatments
40:24
for face and body meaningful toning or temporary effect.
40:29
Temporary and overhyped. And one last question, we'll
40:35
talk about chemical peels, foundational treatment or
40:38
outdated? Foundational, there's lots of
40:41
new and alternative versions of chemical peels on the market now
40:45
that are good and safe for many different skin types.
40:48
And so I think there's still a role in medical aesthetics for
40:52
different types of chemical peels.
40:54
Well, thank you so much for joining our Speed Round.
40:56
We love hearing your opinion on those top trending questions and
41:00
items in our industry. So thank you so much for joining
41:04
us on the Doctor Randy Show. I'm your host Doctor Randy
41:07
Boyett, and the conversation continues next week.
41:36
Doctor Randy Boyett holds a PhD and is a recognized leader in
41:39
the aesthetics and medical industry.
41:41
She is not a licensed medical doctor.
41:44
All commentary and product recommendations are based on
41:47
industry expertise and are provided for informational
41:50
purposes only.