April 19, 2024 • 33 mins
This week, Rachel Zoe is joined by the incredible powerhouse that is Dr. Lara Devgan. Dr. Devgan is recognized as New York's "#1 Female Cosmetic Surgeon” and the mother to 6 children!
Dr. Devgan’s passion in how she practices cosmetic and reconstructive surgery is deeply inspiring. The artistry and physiology that she has mastered has transformed so many people’s lives and instilled so much confidence in countless men and women.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hi everyone, I'm Rachel Soe and you're listening to Climbing
in Heels for your weekly dose of glamor, inspiration and
of course fun. Okay, I am joined today by the
most incredible powerhouse that is doctor Laura Devkin. Doctor Devkin
is recognized as New York's number one female cosmetic surgeon
(00:31):
and the mother two six children.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Six, yes six, do you know anyone's six children?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Doctor Devkin's passion in how she practices cosmetics and reconstructive
surgery is so deeply inspiring. The artistry in physiology that
she has clearly mastered has transformed so many people's lives
and instilled so much confidence in countless men and women.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I cannot wait for you to hear this episode. It
is so good. So let's get right into it. And
I never do this.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I want you to know that in the year and
a half that I've been doing climbing and heels, I've
never once read a paragraph off something I got about
someone's like bio. But this one is so mind blowing
that I think it's a great little intro.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Doctor Devgan attended Yale College, John Hopkins Medical School, JOHNS
Hopkins School of Public Health Columbia, Cornell, New York Presbyterian
Hospital Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Residency and Fellowship, and obtained
a coveted National Institutes of Health T thirty two Predoctoral
Clinical Research Fellowship to study surgical outcomes. Her surgical expertise
(01:44):
spans cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, focusing on facial aesthetics, advanced
body contouring, and complex reconstructive cases. As a respected attending
surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital, Greenwich Hospital, and Manhattan Ear
and Throat Infirmary, Doctor Devkin not only practices but also
(02:05):
contributes to educating the next generation of plastic and reconstructive
surgeons and then it goes on and on. Recognized as
New York's number one female cosmetic surgeon by Rate MDS
and featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Wall Street Journal,
Washington Post, Guardian, UK, Vogue, Glamour, Laura Town and Country,
l Murray Claire, and more. Doctor Devkin has also been
(02:27):
named to America's Top Plastic Surgeons. She's the founder and
CEO of Luxury Medical Grade Skincare, which I use. Doctor
Devkin's Scientific Beauty and the host of Beauty Boss's podcast.
Doctor Devkin lives in Manhattan with her husband and children.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So you're clearly a slacker. This is like, this is insane.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
You recognize that, right you are a force of knowledge
accomplishment and all the things that, like, I think, are
like the most insanely like thought to be unachievable by
so many people, as adults, as kids, as teens, like
(03:05):
what is she human? And I know you and you
are so human and so lovely and obviously so talented.
But I need to talk to you a bit about
this journey. I need to, really I want to talk
about it. So I need to know, first of all,
where were you born and raised and how and who
(03:26):
were you as a child that you are this adult.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Please explain how this happens?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Cool? Such an introduction. Oh my god. I grew up
in la I grew up in Malibu, California, and Santa Monica,
and since I was little, my favorite things to do
were drawing and painting, and so I grew up as
a classically trained artist. When I was little, we lived
up the road from the old Getty Villa in Malibu,
(03:56):
and I used to take art classes there and I
remember being a little kid and trying to splash in
the fountains and drawing these Etruscan antiquities, and it was
such an amazing way to appreciate creativity and that it
kind of became the underpinning for everything else after that.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And so you grew Okay, so where did you go
to school? First?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Like?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Where do you you do? You go to school in Malibu?
Where did you go to school? Here?
Speaker 3 (04:23):
I elementary school in Malibu at Webster Elementary. I think
it's still around for sure. And then I did high
school at Harvard Wesley in.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
La Proper yep, best private school in Los Angeles, Yes, yes, yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Then it was a pressure cooker. I hear it's become
a bit more intense.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah, but it is.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah, but okay, So then you go to Yale Undergrad right, which,
as I know, is an incredible school. But did you know, like,
were you a kind of a girl that was like,
I'm a girl I can do anything boys can do.
I don't like what kind of girl? What kind of
(05:05):
student were you like? What kind of kid were you?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Like?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Were you always an overachiever?
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I was the kind of kid that I am as
an adult, I was like I had the same energy
that I have in the operating room even when I
was little. So I wonder if people I know, there
are all these debates about nature and nurture, but I've
been I've been kind of a perfectionist since I was
a little. I was a big student in school. I
(05:35):
was obsessed with my cats. When I was growing up.
I would like have a whole little world with my cats.
I loved math, science, writing, reading, I loved anticiplate in school,
and my siblings were a lot older, so they were
kind of out of the house and already in college
(05:55):
when I was growing up, and so I had a
little bit more of an adult skewing worldview because I
was hanging out with my parents all the time.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Got it okay?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
So that I mean that checks and so were you
when you started school? Were you like, I want to
be a plastic surgeon, this is what I want to do?
Speaker 2 (06:12):
At what point?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Not at all. I went to Yale and I was
an English major because I loved reading, and I just
I loved writing. I loved reading. I thought that there's
nothing better than trying to find all the right words
for all the complex, nuanced feelings. And I really continue
to respect reading and writing so much. I always have
been passionate about art and anatomy, and as I evolved
(06:38):
at Yale, I was I was very much a science
kid as well. I was just a student kid. I've
always loved learning, and I still like learning, yeah, of course,
and so I was always taking in everything. And so
when I was in college, besides, I made all these
goals for myself. I was like, Okay, I'm going to
I'm going to read the complete works of Shakespeare. I'm
gonna write so much stuff. I'm going to work in
(07:02):
There was a professor I really admired who passed away,
Robert McNabb. But he was a prize winning, really brilliant biochemist,
and I worked in his biochemistry lab. I did clinical
research with Michael Merson, who at the time was the
dean of the Yale School of Public Health, and I
just wanted to understand everything there was to understand so
(07:24):
that I could figure out where I wanted to be.
At one point in college, I got the opportunity to
do an internship at the Aga Khon Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya,
which is where my mom grew up. My mom is
a native of Kenya and so she grew up in
(07:44):
Nairobi for most of her life and I had the
opportunity to go back there for a summer in college
and intern at this hospital. And it was such an
amazing life changing experience because there was so much disease
burden and so much opportunity to help people who lived
(08:05):
in a vastly different way. I was coming from the
Ivy League, from you know, a stable household in southern California,
at all these educational institutions where everything looks so nice
and perfect, and there was a lot of inequity. There
was a lot of lack of access to health. There
was very high prevalence of HIV and AIDS, and I
(08:27):
was the fraternity ward in a hospital. And I think
around that time I began to think, you know, I
love writing. I want to continue with the English major,
but rather than describing the things that other people do,
I want to do those things myself. And that led
me to a career in medicine, and I applied to
medical school. The rest is history.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
That's so wild, that is so well, it's interesting because
I think that's sort of this that's sort of this
like fearlessness. I think that comes in because when I
think about it, like I was a psychology major in college, right,
I ended up in fashion. I would argue I use
psychology every day of my life, and I would say
that I couldn't be happier than I majored in it
because I still am obsessed with the psychology, and you know,
(09:13):
it is something you really I feel, I really do use.
I think in terms of practicing in medicine, that is
something that you do. I think, flip this switch at
some point and go, I want to be in it.
I actually want to do it instead of researching it,
instead of talking about it, instead of learning about it.
You do all those things obviously constantly. But to me,
(09:38):
that's the like jump, that's the like I want my
hands in this kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
And so I like, at what, like were you scared?
Were you?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Like I always wonder I think when it comes to
jumping into an actual medical profession, like do you ever
do did you have any fears about entering it? Because
I feel like at that time it was likely mostly male,
was it?
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Yeah, well, surgery continues to be mostly male, and by
the time I got to medical school in two thousand
and two, there were a lot of women in the class.
I think it wasn't quite half and half, but it
was getting there, but within surgical subspecialties it was still
extremely male dominated. When I got to medical school, I
(10:29):
knew that I wanted to treat it like learning language,
and that kind of desire I've had since I was
a kid to learn as much as possible and taken
everything about the world was one hundredfold in medical school
because the level of knowledge that you need to master
of anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, disease, clinical medicine is encyclopedic and
(10:52):
judging medical school, I thought I wanted to go into
surgical oncology, which is an amazing field that involves surgery
related to cancers of the body. And in those cases
when I was observing, as you know, a medical student
assistant in the operating room, I found myself gravitating towards
the ends of the cases, which at the end of
(11:13):
the case is when the plastic surgery team comes in
and they reconstruct the resected tissue deficits. So if the
cancer team has taken away somebody's entire jawbone, the plastic
surgery team will come in and use the fibula a
bone of the leg and do these delicate microvascular anastomos
(11:34):
these under a microscope and create a new jaw out
of the leg. You know, just these mind blowing beautiful operations,
make a new breast out of your you know, abdominal
body tissue, right exactly. It's just I mean, it's really
it was so beautiful and interesting, and I thought to myself,
(11:54):
this is what I need to do, because plastic and
reconstructive surgery is first of all, totally misunderstand in pop culture,
in the media life. It seems like the most frivolous,
stupid profession, but it's actually built out of people who
at least at one point were extremely intellectual. Yes, and
I say, okay, this is all age groups, this is
men and women, this is age zero to one hundred plus.
(12:17):
You have to be a master of all types of
anatomy and physiology. You really have to understand artistry. And
so that little kid part of me was also coming
to the surface, and that's kind of how I ended
up there.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
That's so incredibly fascinating, because you know, I would apply
the same thing to fashion.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
So I had a crossroads in my career many times
in fashion, where I was like, this seems so superficial,
this seems so this, this seems so that, And then
I would get these like women coming up to me
like you changed my life. You made me get out
of a depression, you made me come out of this.
You maybe want to feel like a woman again, you
maybe want to go to work again. You met and
again the psychology of what that process means. And to
(12:58):
your point, you know, and I think about cosmetic and
plastic surgery for the longest time it was reconstructive because
I have so many people in my life who have
had to get reconstructive surgeries for cancer and various other things,
and historically that's what it meant, right, But to your point,
(13:18):
I also want to I also want to touch on
the importance of what you do on a cosmetic level
for so many women, because I do think that the
women that look like the best version of themselves in
the most natural way, which is how I even found
out about you in the first place, was that all
(13:40):
these women, I'm like, you look incredibly at doctor Devkin,
doctor Devkin, doctor Devkin, doctor Duvkin, and it was like,
who is doctor Devgen Because living in LA and I
was like.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Why don't I know this person?
Speaker 1 (13:51):
And then I went down the black hole and I
like obviously follow you, and I was like, oh my god,
I need everything you do, and like, I think what
you do is enhance and capture the best thing about women.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I don't think. I think.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
I think you help built confidence and I think what
you do is beautiful to be honest and so, but
I do think to your point, society and pop culture
has taken this for better for works to a whole
different place and has very different connotations with many people.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yes, I agree with that.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
I totally agree with you. Plastic surgery is not even
about how you look. It's about identity and confidence. And
if I'm doing my job well, then any indication that
I've even been present is not available to the viewer user.
And the best, most beautiful artistic bespoke work flips into
the background. So it's almost like fashion, where there is
(14:47):
a spoke coulture element to it. And also like fashion,
plastic surgery has both form and function, so there is
the reconstructive aspect of it that is a fundamental part
of the backdrop of plastic surgery, and that's everything from
cancer reconstruction trauma, reconstruction for facial bone cleft and palette,
(15:08):
congenital anomalies, all types of syndromes, burn surgery, hand surgery,
tendon repairs, digit replantation, tissue transfer. There's this huge functional
part of it, like if you're wearing a shirt, it
has to cover the relevant parts and there's all form
like you know, you can save somebody's life but have
it not look good, of course, or you can make
(15:30):
it the most beautiful fashion garment that you would ever
want to wear, that's completely beautifully tailored and customized. All
of the seams are in the background, and it looks
like that person was born to wear it. And that's
kind of the difference between good work and excellent work.
And when I came of age as a plastic surgeon,
(15:52):
as you were alluding to before, it was a completely
male dominated field, the very toxic work environments. This weird
situation that currently exists where ninety percent of plastic surgeons
are men, but yet ninety out of patients or wins.
So that's this strange pig melion complex where men were
like making their ideal Barry Dollar lab and I just
felt like, you know, what's missing is what about people
(16:15):
like me who are intelligent women of substance who also
want to put their best selves to the world. And
you know where lipstick doesn't make you less smart, It
doesn't take away your college degree or whatever. It doesn't
make you an anti intellectual if you want to wear
a Q or look as yeah, you know. And I think,
I really think that that's part of the human condition.
(16:37):
Ever since Narcissus looked at his puddle in the lake,
we all have been trying to wear cool sneakers, work
on our abs at the gym, color our gray hair.
As I was talking about, it's part of what makes
humans human. And I think the moment you stop caring
about how you project and present to the world is
(17:00):
the moment when you stop caring about who you are.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
I could not agree with that more. And I think
it's okay to say that, and I think it's okay
to be that. And I think, listen, it's all tied together, right,
How we put ourselves out there, how we carry ourselves.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It affects our emotional being.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Like I always tell people the story when I had
COVID a couple of years ago, I literally was isolated,
locked in a bedroom for like ten days. Basically I
had a full like cat ee and lashes every single
day and concealer because I just was like, yep, me
myself and I in this room, but like, this is
how I feel like me, you know. I just I
(17:40):
think that that is sort of not everyone feels that way,
but for me, that's how I feel. It's not for anybody,
it's you know, it's for me. And I think I
think it's okay that we can wear these different hats,
and I think that as women, Like it's funny, all
my doctors are female. Anyone who touches my face is
going to be a female and like, and that's across
(18:02):
the board. Anyone who touches my body is going to
be a female too, Like all my doctors are female.
And that's And I love men, you know I do.
I love men. I'm not a men bacheer. I love men.
Men have been very supportive of me. But I think
at the end of the day, I I would want
a woman who who who understands my psychology and understands
(18:25):
where I am and what I'm going through. And I
think there's just this empathy that I think women have
that you know, I think that we get it, but
I think, you know, how do you, like, how do
you have six children?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
So explain this to me? I mean, I know how,
but so you're you're.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
One of the literally like the absolute most booked, busiest,
hardest working as just someone who is a working mom
of two, Like, how, how please explain this to me?
Because you're obviously an incredible mother.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
If we grew up thinking I was going to have
a huge family, I'm the youngest of four, my husband
is one of three, and so we kind of thought
maybe that would be a reasonable number, right, But you know,
I love my kids more than anything. They're really good
kids course, and it is the best. And that's just
like kind of what life dealt us. After a while,
(19:26):
we figured out how it was happening because we were
able to I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
But like, I'm thinking about you going through all these
years of school and practice, and I'm also considering you
were probably pregnant for like twelve of those years, give
or take, right, So like.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
No, actually I am I had I had my eldest
son when I was a senior resident, when I was
a chief resident, and all my other five kids I
had as an attending so I was more able to
sort it out. But yeah, I have four sons, their
aged twelve year old twins and eight, and then I
(20:05):
have two daughters who are seven and five.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
I mean, honestly, it's the dream.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
The cats are getting in there, they're doing a breakfast
routine and they're helping with everything.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
So tell me, like, Okay, so in your in your
everyday life, like do you just say, are you still
sort of like what's next? Or are you sort of
like I guess what I'm saying is are you systematic
in your approach to your career or do you just
cause I'm very gut driven, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
I don't plan things at all.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I'm very like what feels right in the moment, what's next?
When I feel like it's time to do something else?
Are you sort of like, Okay, by next year, I
want to launch my next product line by this time
I wanted to. Or do you just like are you
just like I'm good? Right now I'm working on my products?
Like how do you how does this brain of yours operate?
(20:57):
Explain to me?
Speaker 3 (20:58):
I like to I like to always have projects going on.
I think the least happy times in my life have
been when I've not been busy, so I thrive on
projects and building and busyness. So I like to plan stuff.
Not everything is planned. I think the big unknown is
always a factor, and you know, I like I like
(21:22):
being open to opportunities and just fun stuff that can
come up here and there. Some of the most fun
things I've done recently have just randomly come up out
of nowhere, like our smoothie a juice press, or our
co branded Costa Chipriani products. These are like organic things
that have happened in some time. But I do like
(21:44):
to have kind of a bimodal distribution of my thought,
where there's a short term set of goals and a
long term set of goals. And you know that Aristotle
line that excellence is not an act but a habit,
and you are what you do. So I try to
make sure that each day is a freestanding, successful day.
(22:04):
But then I try to think about what's going to
happen in the future. I mean a lot of that
is it's really a fool's errand because we can't really
plan the future, I think it's one to try.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Well.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
I love your products so much, they're so good, especially
the lip plumper.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
By the way, I want to add that is so good.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Someone came over to do my makeup and I had
it on and she was like, did you do your lips?
And I was like, no, I literally just put this
on twenty minutes ago, literally twenty minutes or she had
seen me like two days before.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, no, it literally it looks like a Cyrindra pill.
I've put myself out of business a little time.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Whoa, But I want to talk about that for a second.
I just do want to touch on because listen, I
mean being in full disclosure. Not everybody can afford to
come see the Queen doctor Davkin. So what is your
advice for women all over the country, all over the
world that are like I dream to come seere I can't.
I can't necessarily come get treatment from her, but I
(23:08):
want to look better?
Speaker 2 (23:09):
What can I do? Do you have tips and tricks?
Speaker 3 (23:12):
There's some very easy, super inexpensive, even free things that
you can do on a daily basis, besides just the
stuff your mom told you to do. Likes unscreen and
don't drink, don't smoke, where sunscreened. Oh we have to live,
but you have to live a little so whatever that
means to you. I think you can, first of all,
(23:33):
right away try to sleep on your back, because if
you get positional wrinkles I do I compress one side
of your face, that's going to be a problem. I
think another good tip is to try to stay physically
active because, particularly like for our generation and as people age,
if your muscle mass decreases, then that will have an
(23:53):
impact on your bone density and osteopenia and osteoporosis. So
it's funny I watched this video. It was an interview
of like a dozen women in their sixties and seventies,
and the question is what advice would you give to
your younger self? And all of them said almost all
of them said build more bone density. And I thought
(24:14):
about that as like what is salient? So thinking about
stuff like regular exercise and not just for vanity, not
just so you can get in acute drink, but so
that you can have muscle mass and strong bones, because
that will impact your attractiveness as well as your health
and longevity. So you know, as we aid, a facial
(24:35):
bones structure shrinks, particularly if you have a low degree
of bone density. So if you have more osteoclast than
osteoblast activity, then you're going to have more loss of
the facial skeleton. Then there's other stuff like you know,
using medical grade skincare, vitamin CB, rule exerum, retinol, bacouchial
(24:58):
peptide based I cream, mixed molecular weight haluronic with niacinamide.
These ingredients can improve skin quality because even if you
can't go get botox and lasers and all that stuff
every three or four months, this is almost like the
equivalent of brushing your teeth every day so that you
(25:18):
don't need to go get your teeth whitened, so that
like mini level of resurfacing. So those are some of
my more esoteric tips about how age in a healthful way.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
And I also the other thing I do want to
point out is I think one of the things I
admire about your work the most is like, yes, of
course you do every kind of surgical procedure or whatever,
but I do love how you always present these alternative,
like non surgical procedures that really are like face changing,
(25:50):
like the little magic you do to noses and like
all these jaw things and all these magical things.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
That you have like figured out how to do it unreal.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
That's the future of beauty. The future of plastic surgery
to me is using the most invasive surgical anatomy, but
using less invasive, non surgical, smaller, less invasive modalities to
achieve it. So you kind of need to marry both
in order to push the envelope. But things little developments
(26:23):
like non surgical rhinoplasty. I think that's the most important
cosmetic surgery concept during my lifetime. That's going to take
literally millions of people out of the operating room, and
that's incredibly powerful. Just the act of using micro droplet
haluronic acid as if it were a surgical Carlage graph
(26:45):
with the mind and eye of a real board certified
plastic surgeon, you can make very powerful changes to the face.
So I think part of that is what we were
talking about earlier, which is just openness to ideas, being
ready to not shy away from change and progress, but
continuing to be aware, continuing to read articles. Do research
(27:08):
make progress.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Okay, So my closing question, because I don't want to
take your whole day.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
It's interesting.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
I have a lot of people that wanted me to
ask you this question because there's a huge controversy about it.
I kind of have a feeling how you're going to
answer it, but I'm still going to ask you. There's
a big debate about what age you should have facelifts
or things done like that.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Right.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Are you asked this at least once a day? Yes,
And so there's this conversation lately in Los Angeles going
around like I've already missed the boat.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
I'm too old.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Apparently I was just to get it in my thirties
or my forties or whatever. My response to that was like, well,
it depends on your face, but I want to hear
from the queen, so please share your thoughts on this.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
So this is a really important and frequently asked questions.
I think that the trend is toward smaller, more finesse
surgical procedures at younger ages, and that's for four main reasons.
I think. First, it can be a more discrete outcome,
so less of adulta between the before and the after. Second,
you're going to have a better healing propensity because your
(28:20):
molecules and cells will be younger and fresher and more
able to heal an incision. Third, you'll be able to
have a smaller scar and fourth, you're going to have
more quality adjusted life years to enjoy that outcome. So
that's kind of how people are generally thinking about things. However,
you know, not every nail requires the same kind of hammer,
(28:42):
and so some people can be very happy delaying, defering
completely surgery. And I think that's part of what modern
beauty means. It means the permission to be your own
kind of beautiful. You don't have to shove it down
someone's throat to like, go have a surgery. As a
plastic surgeon, the way I think about these things is
when you have more than a centimeter of pinchable laxity
(29:04):
in the neck, the jowl, or the mid face, or
to put it another way, whenever you're dying to subtract. Typically,
subtraction is the domain of surgery. Addiction can be done
surgically and non surgically, but they're not. That is, to
subtract without surgery.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Right understood? Understood? Okay?
Speaker 1 (29:26):
And what would you say is a procedure you've done
most throughout your career?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Is there one?
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Surgically? I do a lot of face and eye surgery.
Is it like facelift, necklif lefroplasty, little finesse procedures of
the face, and also some kind of hidden secret plastic
surgery procedures like temporal brell, clip lift and you know,
all those little things. And then non surgically, I do
a lot of this term of art that I invented
(29:54):
about a decade ago of global facial optimization, which is
things like profile balancing with non surgical Rundo plus augmentation
giving the face greater symmetry with cheekmone and jawlaine augmentation
finesse procedures that are designed to keep somebody's identity but
optimize the way they look.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
I want to move in with you. I feel like
if I do that.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
I feel like, if I do that, I'll just wake up,
like yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
With all the kids, cats, we would like probably not even.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Know, so you know, I wish I had more kids,
So six kids is not scare me. I love it.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
I want kids, not so much the cats, but I
would love the new face and all the kids.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I'd be so happy.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
I love having you, Laura. You are brilliant. You are
so beyond impressive. You're so beautiful, you're so sweet, you're
so smart, all the things. I can't wait to jump
into your office.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
I can't wait.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
I can't wait to see you so soon. It was
so fun chatting to you, and I think that you're
somebody who has done so much to really move the
needle on fashion and how everybody integrates little decisions into
their daily life with their personal style. And I really
adore all the stuff that you've done.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Well right back at you. I loved having you.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
This was so much fun, and keep doing keep working
your magic on everyone, because I mean, we're all just
in line. Thank you so much to doctor Devkin for
being on the pod. At first thought, I mean, you
(31:38):
think cosmetic surgery just seems like, oh my god, it's
the thing everybody gets to transform their face and look
this and have the perfect jawnline and the cheekbone and whatever.
But I was so blown away by doctor Devkin's ability
to break down how plastic surgery is really about building
your confidence, gaining your sort of true identity, and you're
(31:59):
just overall how you feel about yourself every day and
your confidence and not just about how you look on
the outside.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
I don't know. This episode was one of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
I literally could have asked her like seventy thousand more
questions because I think the topic of cosmetic surgery, I'm
pretty sure I don't go a day without hearing someone
talk about it on some level. And I think it's
this massive umbrella that is dominating pop culture in so
many ways, and I think it can be very detrimental.
(32:30):
But I think that doctor Dovkin's approach to it is
just so you know, she's so gifted, she's so talented,
she's so natural, she's so effortless. If you could see
the women that I know that she works with, they
don't look like they've done a thing. They just look
absolutely beautiful and like the absolute best version of themselves.
So thank you so much for listening to Climbing and Heels.
(32:52):
If you haven't already, please subscribe to the show on
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the iHeart app, or wherever you get
your podcasts, so don't miss a single episode this season,
and follow the show at clembing in Hiales pod for
the latest episodes and updates.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
I will talk to you soon.
Hi everyone, I'm Rachel Soe and you're listening to Climbing
in Heels for your weekly dose of glamor, inspiration and
of course fun. Okay, I am joined today by the
most incredible powerhouse that is doctor Laura Devkin. Doctor Devkin
is recognized as New York's number one female cosmetic surgeon
(00:31):
and the mother two six children.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Six, yes six, do you know anyone's six children?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Doctor Devkin's passion in how she practices cosmetics and reconstructive
surgery is so deeply inspiring. The artistry in physiology that
she has clearly mastered has transformed so many people's lives
and instilled so much confidence in countless men and women.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I cannot wait for you to hear this episode. It
is so good. So let's get right into it. And
I never do this.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I want you to know that in the year and
a half that I've been doing climbing and heels, I've
never once read a paragraph off something I got about
someone's like bio. But this one is so mind blowing
that I think it's a great little intro.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Doctor Devgan attended Yale College, John Hopkins Medical School, JOHNS
Hopkins School of Public Health Columbia, Cornell, New York Presbyterian
Hospital Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Residency and Fellowship, and obtained
a coveted National Institutes of Health T thirty two Predoctoral
Clinical Research Fellowship to study surgical outcomes. Her surgical expertise
(01:44):
spans cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, focusing on facial aesthetics, advanced
body contouring, and complex reconstructive cases. As a respected attending
surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital, Greenwich Hospital, and Manhattan Ear
and Throat Infirmary, Doctor Devkin not only practices but also
(02:05):
contributes to educating the next generation of plastic and reconstructive
surgeons and then it goes on and on. Recognized as
New York's number one female cosmetic surgeon by Rate MDS
and featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Wall Street Journal,
Washington Post, Guardian, UK, Vogue, Glamour, Laura Town and Country,
l Murray Claire, and more. Doctor Devkin has also been
(02:27):
named to America's Top Plastic Surgeons. She's the founder and
CEO of Luxury Medical Grade Skincare, which I use. Doctor
Devkin's Scientific Beauty and the host of Beauty Boss's podcast.
Doctor Devkin lives in Manhattan with her husband and children.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So you're clearly a slacker. This is like, this is insane.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
You recognize that, right you are a force of knowledge
accomplishment and all the things that, like, I think, are
like the most insanely like thought to be unachievable by
so many people, as adults, as kids, as teens, like
(03:05):
what is she human? And I know you and you
are so human and so lovely and obviously so talented.
But I need to talk to you a bit about
this journey. I need to, really I want to talk
about it. So I need to know, first of all,
where were you born and raised and how and who
(03:26):
were you as a child that you are this adult.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Please explain how this happens?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Cool? Such an introduction. Oh my god. I grew up
in la I grew up in Malibu, California, and Santa Monica,
and since I was little, my favorite things to do
were drawing and painting, and so I grew up as
a classically trained artist. When I was little, we lived
up the road from the old Getty Villa in Malibu,
(03:56):
and I used to take art classes there and I
remember being a little kid and trying to splash in
the fountains and drawing these Etruscan antiquities, and it was
such an amazing way to appreciate creativity and that it
kind of became the underpinning for everything else after that.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And so you grew Okay, so where did you go
to school? First?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Like?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Where do you you do? You go to school in Malibu?
Where did you go to school? Here?
Speaker 3 (04:23):
I elementary school in Malibu at Webster Elementary. I think
it's still around for sure. And then I did high
school at Harvard Wesley in.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
La Proper yep, best private school in Los Angeles, Yes, yes, yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Then it was a pressure cooker. I hear it's become
a bit more intense.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah, but it is.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah, but okay, So then you go to Yale Undergrad right, which,
as I know, is an incredible school. But did you know, like,
were you a kind of a girl that was like,
I'm a girl I can do anything boys can do.
I don't like what kind of girl? What kind of
(05:05):
student were you like? What kind of kid were you?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Like?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Were you always an overachiever?
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I was the kind of kid that I am as
an adult, I was like I had the same energy
that I have in the operating room even when I
was little. So I wonder if people I know, there
are all these debates about nature and nurture, but I've
been I've been kind of a perfectionist since I was
a little. I was a big student in school. I
(05:35):
was obsessed with my cats. When I was growing up.
I would like have a whole little world with my cats.
I loved math, science, writing, reading, I loved anticiplate in school,
and my siblings were a lot older, so they were
kind of out of the house and already in college
(05:55):
when I was growing up, and so I had a
little bit more of an adult skewing worldview because I
was hanging out with my parents all the time.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Got it okay?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
So that I mean that checks and so were you
when you started school? Were you like, I want to
be a plastic surgeon, this is what I want to do?
Speaker 2 (06:12):
At what point?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Not at all. I went to Yale and I was
an English major because I loved reading, and I just
I loved writing. I loved reading. I thought that there's
nothing better than trying to find all the right words
for all the complex, nuanced feelings. And I really continue
to respect reading and writing so much. I always have
been passionate about art and anatomy, and as I evolved
(06:38):
at Yale, I was I was very much a science
kid as well. I was just a student kid. I've
always loved learning, and I still like learning, yeah, of course,
and so I was always taking in everything. And so
when I was in college, besides, I made all these
goals for myself. I was like, Okay, I'm going to
I'm going to read the complete works of Shakespeare. I'm
gonna write so much stuff. I'm going to work in
(07:02):
There was a professor I really admired who passed away,
Robert McNabb. But he was a prize winning, really brilliant biochemist,
and I worked in his biochemistry lab. I did clinical
research with Michael Merson, who at the time was the
dean of the Yale School of Public Health, and I
just wanted to understand everything there was to understand so
(07:24):
that I could figure out where I wanted to be.
At one point in college, I got the opportunity to
do an internship at the Aga Khon Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya,
which is where my mom grew up. My mom is
a native of Kenya and so she grew up in
(07:44):
Nairobi for most of her life and I had the
opportunity to go back there for a summer in college
and intern at this hospital. And it was such an
amazing life changing experience because there was so much disease
burden and so much opportunity to help people who lived
(08:05):
in a vastly different way. I was coming from the
Ivy League, from you know, a stable household in southern California,
at all these educational institutions where everything looks so nice
and perfect, and there was a lot of inequity. There
was a lot of lack of access to health. There
was very high prevalence of HIV and AIDS, and I
(08:27):
was the fraternity ward in a hospital. And I think
around that time I began to think, you know, I
love writing. I want to continue with the English major,
but rather than describing the things that other people do,
I want to do those things myself. And that led
me to a career in medicine, and I applied to
medical school. The rest is history.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
That's so wild, that is so well, it's interesting because
I think that's sort of this that's sort of this
like fearlessness. I think that comes in because when I
think about it, like I was a psychology major in college, right,
I ended up in fashion. I would argue I use
psychology every day of my life, and I would say
that I couldn't be happier than I majored in it
because I still am obsessed with the psychology, and you know,
(09:13):
it is something you really I feel, I really do use.
I think in terms of practicing in medicine, that is
something that you do. I think, flip this switch at
some point and go, I want to be in it.
I actually want to do it instead of researching it,
instead of talking about it, instead of learning about it.
You do all those things obviously constantly. But to me,
(09:38):
that's the like jump, that's the like I want my
hands in this kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
And so I like, at what, like were you scared?
Were you?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Like I always wonder I think when it comes to
jumping into an actual medical profession, like do you ever
do did you have any fears about entering it? Because
I feel like at that time it was likely mostly male,
was it?
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Yeah, well, surgery continues to be mostly male, and by
the time I got to medical school in two thousand
and two, there were a lot of women in the class.
I think it wasn't quite half and half, but it
was getting there, but within surgical subspecialties it was still
extremely male dominated. When I got to medical school, I
(10:29):
knew that I wanted to treat it like learning language,
and that kind of desire I've had since I was
a kid to learn as much as possible and taken
everything about the world was one hundredfold in medical school
because the level of knowledge that you need to master
of anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, disease, clinical medicine is encyclopedic and
(10:52):
judging medical school, I thought I wanted to go into
surgical oncology, which is an amazing field that involves surgery
related to cancers of the body. And in those cases
when I was observing, as you know, a medical student
assistant in the operating room, I found myself gravitating towards
the ends of the cases, which at the end of
(11:13):
the case is when the plastic surgery team comes in
and they reconstruct the resected tissue deficits. So if the
cancer team has taken away somebody's entire jawbone, the plastic
surgery team will come in and use the fibula a
bone of the leg and do these delicate microvascular anastomos
(11:34):
these under a microscope and create a new jaw out
of the leg. You know, just these mind blowing beautiful operations,
make a new breast out of your you know, abdominal
body tissue, right exactly. It's just I mean, it's really
it was so beautiful and interesting, and I thought to myself,
(11:54):
this is what I need to do, because plastic and
reconstructive surgery is first of all, totally misunderstand in pop culture,
in the media life. It seems like the most frivolous,
stupid profession, but it's actually built out of people who
at least at one point were extremely intellectual. Yes, and
I say, okay, this is all age groups, this is
men and women, this is age zero to one hundred plus.
(12:17):
You have to be a master of all types of
anatomy and physiology. You really have to understand artistry. And
so that little kid part of me was also coming
to the surface, and that's kind of how I ended
up there.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
That's so incredibly fascinating, because you know, I would apply
the same thing to fashion.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
So I had a crossroads in my career many times
in fashion, where I was like, this seems so superficial,
this seems so this, this seems so that, And then
I would get these like women coming up to me
like you changed my life. You made me get out
of a depression, you made me come out of this.
You maybe want to feel like a woman again, you
maybe want to go to work again. You met and
again the psychology of what that process means. And to
(12:58):
your point, you know, and I think about cosmetic and
plastic surgery for the longest time it was reconstructive because
I have so many people in my life who have
had to get reconstructive surgeries for cancer and various other things,
and historically that's what it meant, right, But to your point,
(13:18):
I also want to I also want to touch on
the importance of what you do on a cosmetic level
for so many women, because I do think that the
women that look like the best version of themselves in
the most natural way, which is how I even found
out about you in the first place, was that all
(13:40):
these women, I'm like, you look incredibly at doctor Devkin,
doctor Devkin, doctor Devkin, doctor Duvkin, and it was like,
who is doctor Devgen Because living in LA and I
was like.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Why don't I know this person?
Speaker 1 (13:51):
And then I went down the black hole and I
like obviously follow you, and I was like, oh my god,
I need everything you do, and like, I think what
you do is enhance and capture the best thing about women.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I don't think. I think.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
I think you help built confidence and I think what
you do is beautiful to be honest and so, but
I do think to your point, society and pop culture
has taken this for better for works to a whole
different place and has very different connotations with many people.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yes, I agree with that.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
I totally agree with you. Plastic surgery is not even
about how you look. It's about identity and confidence. And
if I'm doing my job well, then any indication that
I've even been present is not available to the viewer user.
And the best, most beautiful artistic bespoke work flips into
the background. So it's almost like fashion, where there is
(14:47):
a spoke coulture element to it. And also like fashion,
plastic surgery has both form and function, so there is
the reconstructive aspect of it that is a fundamental part
of the backdrop of plastic surgery, and that's everything from
cancer reconstruction trauma, reconstruction for facial bone cleft and palette,
(15:08):
congenital anomalies, all types of syndromes, burn surgery, hand surgery,
tendon repairs, digit replantation, tissue transfer. There's this huge functional
part of it, like if you're wearing a shirt, it
has to cover the relevant parts and there's all form
like you know, you can save somebody's life but have
it not look good, of course, or you can make
(15:30):
it the most beautiful fashion garment that you would ever
want to wear, that's completely beautifully tailored and customized. All
of the seams are in the background, and it looks
like that person was born to wear it. And that's
kind of the difference between good work and excellent work.
And when I came of age as a plastic surgeon,
(15:52):
as you were alluding to before, it was a completely
male dominated field, the very toxic work environments. This weird
situation that currently exists where ninety percent of plastic surgeons
are men, but yet ninety out of patients or wins.
So that's this strange pig melion complex where men were
like making their ideal Barry Dollar lab and I just
felt like, you know, what's missing is what about people
(16:15):
like me who are intelligent women of substance who also
want to put their best selves to the world. And
you know where lipstick doesn't make you less smart, It
doesn't take away your college degree or whatever. It doesn't
make you an anti intellectual if you want to wear
a Q or look as yeah, you know. And I think,
I really think that that's part of the human condition.
(16:37):
Ever since Narcissus looked at his puddle in the lake,
we all have been trying to wear cool sneakers, work
on our abs at the gym, color our gray hair.
As I was talking about, it's part of what makes
humans human. And I think the moment you stop caring
about how you project and present to the world is
(17:00):
the moment when you stop caring about who you are.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
I could not agree with that more. And I think
it's okay to say that, and I think it's okay
to be that. And I think, listen, it's all tied together, right,
How we put ourselves out there, how we carry ourselves.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It affects our emotional being.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Like I always tell people the story when I had
COVID a couple of years ago, I literally was isolated,
locked in a bedroom for like ten days. Basically I
had a full like cat ee and lashes every single
day and concealer because I just was like, yep, me
myself and I in this room, but like, this is
how I feel like me, you know. I just I
(17:40):
think that that is sort of not everyone feels that way,
but for me, that's how I feel. It's not for anybody,
it's you know, it's for me. And I think I
think it's okay that we can wear these different hats,
and I think that as women, Like it's funny, all
my doctors are female. Anyone who touches my face is
going to be a female and like, and that's across
(18:02):
the board. Anyone who touches my body is going to
be a female too, Like all my doctors are female.
And that's And I love men, you know I do.
I love men. I'm not a men bacheer. I love men.
Men have been very supportive of me. But I think
at the end of the day, I I would want
a woman who who who understands my psychology and understands
(18:25):
where I am and what I'm going through. And I
think there's just this empathy that I think women have
that you know, I think that we get it, but
I think, you know, how do you, like, how do
you have six children?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
So explain this to me? I mean, I know how,
but so you're you're.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
One of the literally like the absolute most booked, busiest,
hardest working as just someone who is a working mom
of two, Like, how, how please explain this to me?
Because you're obviously an incredible mother.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
If we grew up thinking I was going to have
a huge family, I'm the youngest of four, my husband
is one of three, and so we kind of thought
maybe that would be a reasonable number, right, But you know,
I love my kids more than anything. They're really good
kids course, and it is the best. And that's just
like kind of what life dealt us. After a while,
(19:26):
we figured out how it was happening because we were
able to I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
But like, I'm thinking about you going through all these
years of school and practice, and I'm also considering you
were probably pregnant for like twelve of those years, give
or take, right, So like.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
No, actually I am I had I had my eldest
son when I was a senior resident, when I was
a chief resident, and all my other five kids I
had as an attending so I was more able to
sort it out. But yeah, I have four sons, their
aged twelve year old twins and eight, and then I
(20:05):
have two daughters who are seven and five.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
I mean, honestly, it's the dream.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
The cats are getting in there, they're doing a breakfast
routine and they're helping with everything.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
So tell me, like, Okay, so in your in your
everyday life, like do you just say, are you still
sort of like what's next? Or are you sort of
like I guess what I'm saying is are you systematic
in your approach to your career or do you just
cause I'm very gut driven, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
I don't plan things at all.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I'm very like what feels right in the moment, what's next?
When I feel like it's time to do something else?
Are you sort of like, Okay, by next year, I
want to launch my next product line by this time
I wanted to. Or do you just like are you
just like I'm good? Right now I'm working on my products?
Like how do you how does this brain of yours operate?
(20:57):
Explain to me?
Speaker 3 (20:58):
I like to I like to always have projects going on.
I think the least happy times in my life have
been when I've not been busy, so I thrive on
projects and building and busyness. So I like to plan stuff.
Not everything is planned. I think the big unknown is
always a factor, and you know, I like I like
(21:22):
being open to opportunities and just fun stuff that can
come up here and there. Some of the most fun
things I've done recently have just randomly come up out
of nowhere, like our smoothie a juice press, or our
co branded Costa Chipriani products. These are like organic things
that have happened in some time. But I do like
(21:44):
to have kind of a bimodal distribution of my thought,
where there's a short term set of goals and a
long term set of goals. And you know that Aristotle
line that excellence is not an act but a habit,
and you are what you do. So I try to
make sure that each day is a freestanding, successful day.
(22:04):
But then I try to think about what's going to
happen in the future. I mean a lot of that
is it's really a fool's errand because we can't really
plan the future, I think it's one to try.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Well.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
I love your products so much, they're so good, especially
the lip plumper.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
By the way, I want to add that is so good.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Someone came over to do my makeup and I had
it on and she was like, did you do your lips?
And I was like, no, I literally just put this
on twenty minutes ago, literally twenty minutes or she had
seen me like two days before.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, no, it literally it looks like a Cyrindra pill.
I've put myself out of business a little time.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Whoa, But I want to talk about that for a second.
I just do want to touch on because listen, I
mean being in full disclosure. Not everybody can afford to
come see the Queen doctor Davkin. So what is your
advice for women all over the country, all over the
world that are like I dream to come seere I can't.
I can't necessarily come get treatment from her, but I
(23:08):
want to look better?
Speaker 2 (23:09):
What can I do? Do you have tips and tricks?
Speaker 3 (23:12):
There's some very easy, super inexpensive, even free things that
you can do on a daily basis, besides just the
stuff your mom told you to do. Likes unscreen and
don't drink, don't smoke, where sunscreened. Oh we have to live,
but you have to live a little so whatever that
means to you. I think you can, first of all,
(23:33):
right away try to sleep on your back, because if
you get positional wrinkles I do I compress one side
of your face, that's going to be a problem. I
think another good tip is to try to stay physically
active because, particularly like for our generation and as people age,
if your muscle mass decreases, then that will have an
(23:53):
impact on your bone density and osteopenia and osteoporosis. So
it's funny I watched this video. It was an interview
of like a dozen women in their sixties and seventies,
and the question is what advice would you give to
your younger self? And all of them said almost all
of them said build more bone density. And I thought
(24:14):
about that as like what is salient? So thinking about
stuff like regular exercise and not just for vanity, not
just so you can get in acute drink, but so
that you can have muscle mass and strong bones, because
that will impact your attractiveness as well as your health
and longevity. So you know, as we aid, a facial
(24:35):
bones structure shrinks, particularly if you have a low degree
of bone density. So if you have more osteoclast than
osteoblast activity, then you're going to have more loss of
the facial skeleton. Then there's other stuff like you know,
using medical grade skincare, vitamin CB, rule exerum, retinol, bacouchial
(24:58):
peptide based I cream, mixed molecular weight haluronic with niacinamide.
These ingredients can improve skin quality because even if you
can't go get botox and lasers and all that stuff
every three or four months, this is almost like the
equivalent of brushing your teeth every day so that you
(25:18):
don't need to go get your teeth whitened, so that
like mini level of resurfacing. So those are some of
my more esoteric tips about how age in a healthful way.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
And I also the other thing I do want to
point out is I think one of the things I
admire about your work the most is like, yes, of
course you do every kind of surgical procedure or whatever,
but I do love how you always present these alternative,
like non surgical procedures that really are like face changing,
(25:50):
like the little magic you do to noses and like
all these jaw things and all these magical things.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
That you have like figured out how to do it unreal.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
That's the future of beauty. The future of plastic surgery
to me is using the most invasive surgical anatomy, but
using less invasive, non surgical, smaller, less invasive modalities to
achieve it. So you kind of need to marry both
in order to push the envelope. But things little developments
(26:23):
like non surgical rhinoplasty. I think that's the most important
cosmetic surgery concept during my lifetime. That's going to take
literally millions of people out of the operating room, and
that's incredibly powerful. Just the act of using micro droplet
haluronic acid as if it were a surgical Carlage graph
(26:45):
with the mind and eye of a real board certified
plastic surgeon, you can make very powerful changes to the face.
So I think part of that is what we were
talking about earlier, which is just openness to ideas, being
ready to not shy away from change and progress, but
continuing to be aware, continuing to read articles. Do research
(27:08):
make progress.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Okay, So my closing question, because I don't want to
take your whole day.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
It's interesting.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
I have a lot of people that wanted me to
ask you this question because there's a huge controversy about it.
I kind of have a feeling how you're going to
answer it, but I'm still going to ask you. There's
a big debate about what age you should have facelifts
or things done like that.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Right.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Are you asked this at least once a day? Yes,
And so there's this conversation lately in Los Angeles going
around like I've already missed the boat.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
I'm too old.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Apparently I was just to get it in my thirties
or my forties or whatever. My response to that was like, well,
it depends on your face, but I want to hear
from the queen, so please share your thoughts on this.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
So this is a really important and frequently asked questions.
I think that the trend is toward smaller, more finesse
surgical procedures at younger ages, and that's for four main reasons.
I think. First, it can be a more discrete outcome,
so less of adulta between the before and the after. Second,
you're going to have a better healing propensity because your
(28:20):
molecules and cells will be younger and fresher and more
able to heal an incision. Third, you'll be able to
have a smaller scar and fourth, you're going to have
more quality adjusted life years to enjoy that outcome. So
that's kind of how people are generally thinking about things. However,
you know, not every nail requires the same kind of hammer,
(28:42):
and so some people can be very happy delaying, defering
completely surgery. And I think that's part of what modern
beauty means. It means the permission to be your own
kind of beautiful. You don't have to shove it down
someone's throat to like, go have a surgery. As a
plastic surgeon, the way I think about these things is
when you have more than a centimeter of pinchable laxity
(29:04):
in the neck, the jowl, or the mid face, or
to put it another way, whenever you're dying to subtract. Typically,
subtraction is the domain of surgery. Addiction can be done
surgically and non surgically, but they're not. That is, to
subtract without surgery.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Right understood? Understood? Okay?
Speaker 1 (29:26):
And what would you say is a procedure you've done
most throughout your career?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Is there one?
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Surgically? I do a lot of face and eye surgery.
Is it like facelift, necklif lefroplasty, little finesse procedures of
the face, and also some kind of hidden secret plastic
surgery procedures like temporal brell, clip lift and you know,
all those little things. And then non surgically, I do
a lot of this term of art that I invented
(29:54):
about a decade ago of global facial optimization, which is
things like profile balancing with non surgical Rundo plus augmentation
giving the face greater symmetry with cheekmone and jawlaine augmentation
finesse procedures that are designed to keep somebody's identity but
optimize the way they look.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
I want to move in with you. I feel like
if I do that.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
I feel like, if I do that, I'll just wake up,
like yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
With all the kids, cats, we would like probably not even.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Know, so you know, I wish I had more kids,
So six kids is not scare me. I love it.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
I want kids, not so much the cats, but I
would love the new face and all the kids.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I'd be so happy.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
I love having you, Laura. You are brilliant. You are
so beyond impressive. You're so beautiful, you're so sweet, you're
so smart, all the things. I can't wait to jump
into your office.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
I can't wait.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
I can't wait to see you so soon. It was
so fun chatting to you, and I think that you're
somebody who has done so much to really move the
needle on fashion and how everybody integrates little decisions into
their daily life with their personal style. And I really
adore all the stuff that you've done.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Well right back at you. I loved having you.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
This was so much fun, and keep doing keep working
your magic on everyone, because I mean, we're all just
in line. Thank you so much to doctor Devkin for
being on the pod. At first thought, I mean, you
(31:38):
think cosmetic surgery just seems like, oh my god, it's
the thing everybody gets to transform their face and look
this and have the perfect jawnline and the cheekbone and whatever.
But I was so blown away by doctor Devkin's ability
to break down how plastic surgery is really about building
your confidence, gaining your sort of true identity, and you're
(31:59):
just overall how you feel about yourself every day and
your confidence and not just about how you look on
the outside.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
I don't know. This episode was one of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
I literally could have asked her like seventy thousand more
questions because I think the topic of cosmetic surgery, I'm
pretty sure I don't go a day without hearing someone
talk about it on some level. And I think it's
this massive umbrella that is dominating pop culture in so
many ways, and I think it can be very detrimental.
(32:30):
But I think that doctor Dovkin's approach to it is
just so you know, she's so gifted, she's so talented,
she's so natural, she's so effortless. If you could see
the women that I know that she works with, they
don't look like they've done a thing. They just look
absolutely beautiful and like the absolute best version of themselves.
So thank you so much for listening to Climbing and Heels.
(32:52):
If you haven't already, please subscribe to the show on
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the iHeart app, or wherever you get
your podcasts, so don't miss a single episode this season,
and follow the show at clembing in Hiales pod for
the latest episodes and updates.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
I will talk to you soon.
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