November 1, 2024 • 37 mins
This week, Rachel Zoe is joined by Dr. Macrene - a world renowned dermatologist, cosmetic and reconstructive surgeon and skincare innovator… just to name a few of her titles. Her commitment and passion for science and medicine has made her an absolute pioneer in her male dominated field! Her skincare line MACRENE actives is truly changing the game and her mission to rid the world of toxins and plastics is truly inspiring.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi everyone, I'm Rachel Zoe and you're listening to Climbing
in Heels for your weekly dose of glamour inspiration and
of course vent.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
There really is just.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Not enough I can possibly say the intelligence and grit
of my guests today. I've never experienced any conversation like
this one. Doctor mccrean is a world renowned dermatologist, cosmetic
and reconstructive surgeon, and skincare innovator, just to name a
mere few of her titles and accomplishments.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yes, MD and PhD.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Her commitment and passion for science and medicine has made
her an absolute pioneer in her very male dominated field.
Her skincare line, mccrean Actives, is truly changing the game,
and her mission to rid not only her industry, but
the world of toxins and plastics is so beyond inspiring.
Let's dive right in with the one and only Doctor
(01:00):
my Cream. So, first of all, I'm so excited to
have you on. I wish I was sitting next to you,
but that's the beauty of Zoom. I've been doing this
podcast for a while now and I've had some pretty
extraordinary women, and I have to say I've had women
on here that have not graduated high school. I have
some that have graduated college. I have a few that
(01:22):
have done more than all of that. You're the most
highly educated person I think I might ever met in
my possible life. And you've also received more awards for
your profession and beyond, but like.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Harvard Harvard, Harvard, Harvard Clinical Professor.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, it's literally two full pages of just what you've done.
You're speaking to someone now who chose not to become
a psychiatrist because I had to go to extra school after.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I graduated college. So I'm so excited to have you on.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Well, first of all, Rachel, I'm so happy and excited
to be here. I loved you the minute I met
you at Gwynne's dinner Gwyneth Paltrow's house, and it's like
we instantly bonded and I feel a sisterhood with you,
and since then our relationship has only grown. And I'm
just so excited to be on your podcast, and I'm
so proud and happy, yeah connected with you, and you're
(02:24):
doing such good in the world and bringing this communication
to everyone out there. Thank you for honoring my life story.
I was very precocious started in science at an extremely
young age. When they honored me at Harvard with the
Fay Prize, which is the highest undergraduate honor, they told
a story about how I.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Was suddenly laughing because I'm like, these are things people
like joke about, like I was going to get this honor,
but you actually it's not.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
I mean, it's never enough. And you know in this
podcast it will probably come out that you know, I
so related to Hamilton where he was never satisfied. You know,
anybody who saw Hamilton on Broadway, that's like me. I
just have an I have an unsatiable appetite for life.
And when I was three years old, I was like
following ants in the garden and putting little sticks to
(03:14):
follow their path. I was before I went to preschool,
so my parents think I was around three. And it
turns out that when I sat in my Harvard biology class,
like all those years later, they had just discovered that
there were these invisible sense that ants had left for
the path between the Krum and the Anhill. So I
was like a scientific mind from a very young age
(03:36):
and went into lab at twelve after reading Rachel Carlson
Silent Spring and was hell bent on replacing toxic pesticides
with plant based alternatives, and that's what got me my
start in science and university lab. And then I skipped
two years and went to Harvard at sixteen after winning Westinghouse.
And once I got to Harvard, I worked first in
(03:57):
sech biology, then plant like robology, and that's why when
I ultimately and then I got a full bride, and
then when I ultimately did the mdphd and became a dermatologist,
I immediately applied that entire predecessor life of like plant
molecuro biology to replacing toxins and skincare. Hence clean beauty
(04:17):
was born. I was first to formulate clean at a
very early juncture, replacing toxins with clean formulation, and I've
since gone beyond that and I'm working on clean packaging
and manufacturing practices, all because of my love of the
earth and my love of science.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
That is so extraordinary. It's extraordinary that you remember all
of it. It's extraordinary that you've done all of it.
But I want to talk about because cleming in heels
is really about digging into the journey, and I want
to really understand because it's clear obviously your obsession with science, right,
(04:56):
and ultimately what led you to dermatology.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
But it's interesting because I.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Always wonder as a female in such a male dominated industry.
Certainly at the time that you were coming up, I
imagine it was mostly men.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
How at what point were you like?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I am obsessed with this and this is my because
when I meet like med students and science students, it's
always like, what lane are you going to choose?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Because there's thousands?
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Right, How what made you say dermatology versus like neurosurgeon
or right?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
You know, that's how interesting that you bring that up,
because it's you know, one of the reasons I ended
up in dermatology was because I was given kind of
a I will call it a choice at a critical
juncture in my career because I was actually very interested
(05:52):
in nurse surgery as well as plastic surgery. I was
an artist from a young age. The other thing besides
following ants is I was really good at portraits. So
I started doing portraits when I was really little, and
my parents used to have parties in their home and
the guests used to line up for me to do
their portraits. So I was struggling as to whether I
was going to become an artist or a scientist for many,
(06:14):
many years, but my mother didn't want me to be
a starving artist, so I went into the sciences and
it was a man's world and still is a man's
world because these institutions were built by men. And so
I've been famously quoted as saying, to puncture the glass ceiling,
you have to build your own house. So that's what
(06:34):
I've done, because I've noticed that even within the departments,
you could be one could be the most highly published,
highly cited author in their department for twenty years running,
and still they will block advancement, they will find a loophole,
and that is an issue to this day.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Do you mean because you're a woman.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
I believe that that plays a huge role, because I've
noticed that in many of these instances, men keep receiving
awards that are purely discretionary. They still hold the dominant
number of positions of power in our organizations, in our world, yes,
(07:17):
and they hold onto those reins and it's very hard
to get through. So that's why I've built my own practice,
my own little microcosm. If you will not just the
clinical practice of dermatology in my institute in New York,
the Hamptons and in Europe because I'm, as far as
I know, the only dual certified in medicine, surgery and
dermatology in the europeion as well as the United States,
(07:41):
and working on even furthering that certification to be global.
But also within the skincare brand that I've established, which
is doctor mccrean Actives.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Which I am obsessed with.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Thank you, and does it work? Says You've got to
get behind the brand because it really works and it
really works.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
So you said that to me this summer.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
You said, Okay, I need you to try this, this,
this because all your treatments are going to last longer.
You're going to need.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
This less like da da da da da.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And honestly, I don't think I've really even touched my
face since I've seen you, you know, so you find it,
it's really effective, and I want I want to talk
about that after as well.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
So thank you for saying that, by the way, because
the only way our world is going to be saved
from toxins plastics is if you actually put your dollars
as a proxy for your vote for your future and
So if you put your dollars to doctor mccrean Actives,
you're putting your dollars towards clean formulation with plant based
(08:45):
ingredients that replace toxins that are highly effective to replace procedures,
and clean packaging which my goal is to eliminate plastics
for the industry, and clean manufacturing practices. And it does
yourself a favor because it frees you of the shack
of having to do either plastic surgery or injectables or lasers,
(09:05):
because that's my area specialty and I've translated that into actives.
But you're right, I was very interested in NEU surgery.
I was very interested in plastic surgery. But after doing
everything I had done at full Bright, an empty and
a PhD in genetics at Harvard, three Harvard degrees, I
fell in love. I was engaged to be married, and
I was putting in my applications for residency and I
(09:27):
was told, well, either you're going to be a surgeon
or you're going to have a family. And I was like, oh,
my yes, And that's what happened to me. And I'm
not saying it's one. I think it's true for a
lot of women, and it may be conversations that are
had at the dinner table, they're valid conversations because and
(09:48):
I'll tell you what, they're valid conversations because the most
precious commodity we have is our time, and neurosurgery is grueling.
It was going to be eight years of training on
top of what I had done every other night of call.
This was before the Bell Commission, guys. I only got
five weeks of maternity leave when I was a resident.
(10:10):
I had to take all my call before I delivered.
It was brutal. And then my first job as a dermatologist,
it was unpaid leave, and I was expected to take
call during my unpaid leap on any of my patients
for follow up. So it was a grueling time in
history where women were not treated with respect when they
were delivering. So it was hard enough as it was,
(10:35):
and frankly, choosing dermatology was I was giving it up.
My mentor at Harvard Medical School, Robert Godwin, he was
like the godfather of plastic surgery. He was the editor
in chief of the Annamals of Plastic Surgery for twenty
some more years, the chairman of the department at the Brigham.
I was his prodigy. He had me closing his cases.
(10:57):
As a medical student, I was sowing his cases shut.
I realized, like I got much older. How rare and
unusual that is. Medical students usually don't touch the patient,
They just watch. I was actually sewing. We were comparing
my breast to his, and he was like, wow.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
So now I have a question with the plastic surgery
that you were doing.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Question I have.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
There's cosmetic plastic surgery, and then there's like trauma, right,
there's I don't know what you call it in a
good point, so plastics.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Yeah, it's plastics in reconstructive surgery, and that does encompass, uh,
repairing wounds due to trauma. Uh, you know, birth defects,
major issues all over the body, and they're sort of
the aesthetic plastics, which is sort of facelifting necklip homy talks,
et cetera, and a lot of you know, it's obviously
(11:51):
for more financially viable to be doing plastic surgery that's
in the aesthetic sphere than to beyond paul in the
emergency room when somebody splits by.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
The way, because that makes sense, right, like what is
the irony right right?
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Right? But in my case, it was just because I
was artistically gifted in my brother's resurgeons were just very
good surgically in my family. And he was very upset
when I made that decision, because he said to me
in his office, maccree, you're a thoroughbred. You need to run.
You're a stallion, you need to run. You don't want
I don't want you in the corral. And he understood
(12:26):
my reasons, he accepted it. We stayed friends for until
the end of his life. And but what I did
once I got into the dermatology was I'm one of
the pioneers in my field. I started in lasers and
devices in two thousand and I've been involved in the
device development of every class of technology that's been born
(12:50):
in the last quarter century, as well as pharmaceutical trials
for things like botox fillers. I was the lead author
and lead investigator on the most recent advance in fillers,
the first new filler in dozens of years, a lead
investigator and lead author on the first f day proved
laser for acne, the appic clearing the JAD. I have
(13:10):
done such groundbreaking work in my life.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I was gonna say, okay, so you.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Get lemons you make lemonade. So like life is fractal,
so we as women may be set told we can't
go through this door because X, Y, and Z, so
we go in through an other door. And guess what.
When you walk through a new door, life is practical
A myriad of new opportunities emerge. So with in that
door of dermatology, I was able to apply all of
(13:37):
my skills. So I don't look back and regret. I
look forward with opportunity.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Well, also, I don't I think a long time ago,
if you said dermatology or skin that was like, oh,
it's a vanity thing. I don't even look at it
like that anymore, Like I actually don't like, yes, of
course there's that element. We all want to look twenty
years younger than we are, sure not all, but most,
(14:04):
and we can thanks to you, and you know, and
I think at the end of the day, you know,
it's like when people used to say to me, but
clothes are just it's like an it's like an exterior thing.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
It's like superficial.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
It's like it also really informs how we feel right
and really can hide things that we may want to
hide on any given day, and also lift us out
of something that might feel rather dark. What you're doing
is the very high stakes job.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
When I think about it. It's funny because I always said, like.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I don't even know if I'd want to be a
hair colorist, because if I messed up someone's hair color,
when you're dealing with someone's face, I mean, it's a
thing that typically matters most of people, right outside of
their obvious health.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
But how many children? Do you have?
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Two children too?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
So I think when you were having your children, you
were clearly building your career at the same time. And
I think it's just the question I always have to ask,
because I think everyone deals with it differently. But how
were those years, in those moments where did you ever
have to turn down jobs?
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Did you ever have to?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Like? How did that work?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Because doing what you do, despite the fact that it's
not neurosurgery, you still have a very high demand of
your time and an urgency.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Yes, yes, these are such amazing questions. Well, when I
was looking for my first job with my pedigree, I
was groomed to be because I'm a physician, scientist, the
chair of the department. Okay, that's really what I was
being groomed to be, but to do that you need
(15:40):
to take what's called a tenure track position or a
position in academia that is by definition of full time job.
And I went around, I shopped myself at the very
I happen to know I was ranked number one in
the country because Erwin Friedberg told me at NYU that
I was ranked number one when I applied to dermatology,
so that was like not a secret. So when it
(16:01):
was time for me to look for a position, I
knew where I ranked. And yet not a single chairman
I spoke to would allow me to work four days
a week while I was having children and still qualify
to get back on a tenure track for full professor.
And when I got back, and I'm not talking about
clinical because that's outside. I'm talking about full professor within
(16:24):
the universe. So basically I was iced out. That is
the leaky pipeline. Guys listen to crazy like.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Even if they're like there's women in the room, or
of course we're meeting with tons of women.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
The leaky pipeline is this, they will not allow you
to continue towards career goals if you take time out
while you're having children. And that is the leaky pipeline.
So I was very offended when a former president of
Harvard University tried to comment that the aptitude of females
(16:57):
wasn't as good as males for theis I'm obviously living
proof that that is absolutely untrue. But it's the leak
and the evidence they use is, well, look at how
many professors we have who are female versus mess That's
what if you're not going to allow me to work
in a university and on a tender track position, because
(17:17):
at four days a week, which is not asking for
a huge sacrifice, how would I ever make it there?
So that was the reason why I started private practice.
I started my own practice and chose to be a
clinical faculty on a voluntary position at Yale instead of
being a full time clinician within a university setting.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Interesting and also I would actually argue to say that
anyone who is using their hands for a living should
probably only be on call four days, you know, because
the last thing you want is it's an exhausted person
with their hand, right, I mean, truthfully, And when I
(18:00):
think about that, I think about so many doctors on
call and surgeons even in the er and everything like
I do think about that a lot. If they're doing surgery,
emergency surgery at three am or four am, like there's
got to be some you know, and especially if you're
on call right like you could be coming from a
dinner you had, whatever it is. It's like, I always
think about that, and I think about this type of
(18:22):
thing where you know there's such precision involved. But I
do think that starting your own and I do know
from that because I've worked for myself since I was
twenty five, you know there are pros and cons along
the way of that, because there is no one to
cover for you. There is no one to call on
sick too, and you do end up working ten x
harder when you're working for yourself.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Right, Yes, I feel like I'm an Olympic athlete. That's
what I hope because I demand the absolute best ten
out of ten with every single case I see every day.
You have to have excellent physical, mental fitness. And I
(19:02):
love what I do with such a passion. I have
boundless energy for it. But to your point, not everyone's
like me, no, okay or and so to perform at
my level requires a lot of different elements, not just
innate God given talent because I was given this artistic
(19:24):
gift and technical skill, but also the intellect and the
physical ability to expit.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
You have to know what to do with it.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Then the organizational skills. I mean, there isn't a move
I make all day that doesn't have a purpose. That
is something that only Olympians really understand. They can't make
one false move when they're on those slopes or they're
running crack.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It's true, that's true.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
That's how I function. But to your point, the secret
in medical circles, medical families is you want to be
the first case of the day. Right.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
No, it's true.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Acres world, the grease world, it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
That whether So let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I want to talk about that because on a very
small scale as a stylist, I found the biggest challenge
for me was delegating to people that I could trust
to execute on my vision. Now, with what you do,
that's a hundred acts, because.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Do you have associates you train to cover for you?
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Because you do have Europe and Hampton's and New York
hopefully LA.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
And You're going to love what I'm going to tell
you because it's going to just blow your mind.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Open that you don't let anyone else do it.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
I'm an artist, a intellect, scientists, the schools. I have
the vision I have the second I see a face,
it populates in my mind. I see exactly what needs
to be done to restore their natural beauty. Contrast me,
who does everything myself, to someone who has a bunch
(21:02):
of technicians doing things for them. It's a different model.
And I look at it like I'm Michaelangelo. I'm Michaelangelo.
And then there's you know, I guess I don't know.
You could get Andy Warhol prints made. You don't have value, sure,
but they're all the same, sure, whereas mine are masterpieces.
(21:27):
And that's why I take care of the world's most
famous and cherished faces who we all know love and
we need to see them in their natural beauty. And
those are my patients, and I feel like I'm doing
an honor to the world by restoring them. But it
is true that I'm one of a kind in that regard, right.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
And it's funny because I'm sure so many people said, well,
how do you scale that, You're like, I don't.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I make products. So what I realized early on was, Wow,
I can do this because I be genetics. I've actually
with my formulas, which are a combination of peptides MICROCAPSULEIY
high learning acids so that replaces botox and filler and
then DNA repair, which actually restores the skin back to
the way it was, plus antioxidants, brighteners, et cetera to
(22:17):
replace lasers. That I actually am restoring the skin back
to the age of roughly twenty five before it starts
to deor it making myself obsolete.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Well, by the way, I was going to say, are
you cannibalizing yourself?
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Aren't you salvage? I mean, think about progress. You know,
progress is a wonderful thing. I am. I'm fearless, right,
I'm never afraid because this is wonderful that I can
give people freedom like you you had freedom from needing
injections or anything else. I'm doing that for the whole world.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
So funny, I left your office this summer and I
was like going through something and I was like, I need,
like I just need whatever you think, and I think
we just did botox, but I remember you saying to me,
bing you my products, You're not even going to.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Need botox after this, And I was like what I
was like, great, so you're trying to tell me I
just have you in a jar. Now, it's that what
you're saying.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Yes, And my invention, my patent is.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
That also is how you scale because ultimately then everybody
in the world can have can have you in a jar.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Basically yes, because what I do that's different is some level. Yes, no,
on all levels, because what I'm telling when I see
the patient is I'm not putting my stamp on you.
I'm bringing out the natural beauty of rachel' zwe period.
I'm bringing out the natural beauty of whoever my patient is,
and many of them are very famous, and I just
see the beauty. It's like when I paint a portrait,
(23:43):
I bring out their natural beauty in the subject. It's
a gift. So by bringing your skin back to twenty five,
it's your natural beauty. Your natural beauty is your best beauty.
You don't have to change that. And yes, it's a
little mother's little helper because my lip plumper actually does
plump the lips permanently, so you do get a little
bit of what I call mother's helper. And that's the
(24:03):
great thing.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
It's like you plus, wait, held, I'm not sure I
have that. Can I order that? Please?
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Send that to you. It's gonna fabulous. It replaces a
jectable filler because it's the best microcapsulated hyalonic guess in
the world. Peptides for collagen, ceremonies for chap and swept
and live therapeutic essential oils and xceress is fabulous.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Do you realize has anyone ever asked to go inside
your brain?
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yes, they've asked me to donate it to the Smithsonian.
And so what I'm doing is I'm I'm memorializing my brain.
So I have a textbook alexiadis Cosmetic Therminologic Surgery. It's
the first and only disorder based textbook in my industry.
It takes you down a decision tree to help my colleagues, residents,
medical students, and even lay people understand the first, second line,
(24:48):
third line treatments for each disorder so they're not led
astray and choosing the wrong device for the wrong thing.
And now I just finish my second textbook, which is
on photonemic therapy that has the specialty of mind that
has more to do with skin cancer and my papers
of course, but most importantly my patents. Because doctor mccrean
Actives is forever. My cream is always cutting edge because
(25:11):
it's updated regularly. I have criteria for inclusion of the
world's best active ingredients that fulfill the different categories of
skin aging that I published almost twenty years ago. It
was published in the JAT. It's using countless clinical FDA
trials by other companies to validate their treatments. So what
I have done now is working in a genetics component
(25:33):
to identify the genes that are responsible for skin aging.
That's why Macrene Actives is so good. I'm actually restoring
the skain back to the way it was, so it
makes me live on forever. It's my legacy. And then
there's the mission of the brand, which is to clean
up the earth, you know, replacing toxins, replacing procedures, and
eliminating plastics.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
It's really, it's really unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
You are truly extra. I'm so glad that I met
And I remember when I met you, I felt like
I had met you already but we hadn't. And I
just remember giving you this big hug and I was like,
I literally have felt like I've known you and talked
to you, and just so connected, but I'm so impressed
by you.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
I am so I am. I don't believe that anything
is an accident. Everything that happens is because of the
accumulation of it, not just energy and decisions and values,
but it's what brings people together. And you and I
instantly were connected because our values aligned. And I wanted
(26:36):
to get back to something you said about fashion. I
have studied a lot of philosophy, and Plato talked about
the forms, which are basically the entities that make up
our existence, and how beauty is the highest form. It's
what the gods in the heavens look down on us
and smile about. And that's what you were talking about.
(26:57):
When you with your work. When you do you adorn
the body with garments that are beautiful, you're enhancing beauty
as an artist when I restore your natural beauty, and
people know true beauty when they see it. Plato also
talked about the imitation of beauty, the imitation of art.
(27:19):
We know that when we see it, and that's true,
whether it's fashion or whether it's what I do.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
So I believe that.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Coming full circle. Yes, I could have been in the
lab curing cancer indirectly, I have been working on that
through photonamica therapy.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Yeah, I'm sort of thinking about that. I'm like, what
do we do with this brain? She needs to cure cancer?
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Like stat Yes, I've been working with photodonamic reraphy, so yes,
I've been working on that as well. But at the
same time, a world without art, without music, without beauty
is not a world worth living in. So our missions
in our lives, which also align us, is what gives
joy to the world, and there's so much value in that.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
And confidence, which truthfully, I think without that we can't
really flow through life properly.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Absolutely. I was just saying to my daughter yesterday. Confidence
is what gives you the belief to achieve your.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Goals to move forward, because I think, in all honesty,
if you don't actually believe it of yourself without sounding
the cliche of like you got to believe in yourself,
like you actually if you don't believe, and you know
that's for me, the most genuine thing coming from you
is how strongly you believe in every single step you've taken.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Why, how, and then how you landed here. It is very.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Interesting though that even with all of that, what I'm
stuck on and I think it's just still a little
bit naive of me because I hear it every day,
but it's still hard for me that when there is
someone who has accomplished what you what you have, what
you did at such a young age, that even still
and even still today is we see.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Men just look at you like no different. It's like,
actually no better, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
And I think, like at the end of the day,
you know, I think you I'm so excited to see
you continue doing all of what you do. And I think,
you know, there are so many issues now with like
you know, I hear every day someone with skin cancer
or like you know, there there are so many things.
(29:28):
And as I'm sure the first thing you say to
people every day is skin is your largest organ.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
You get right?
Speaker 1 (29:35):
That was actually my youngest son reminded me of that,
you know, when he was young, mommy skin is there?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Like is that brilliant? Actually, episode of my Spotify podcast,
it's about how the skin is our largest organ. It
is our protective organ. It's what filters the toxins, the radiation,
the free radicals that come in from the outside world
to protect our inner or from the outside world. So
it is terribly terribly important, and.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
I don't think anyone thinks that.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
I think everyone just thinks of it as this like
layer of protection that you could beat up all the time,
like you can scrape it, you can burn it, you
can you know, I think, I mean, I think it's
actually the last organ most people think of until they're
like a teenager with acne or something.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Right, absolutely, and therefore, with my my Spotify podcast really focused.
The first episode is really about teaching people about the
structure and function of the skin. The second is really
about antioxidants and how they work to protect us from
free radicals, and the third is about DNA repair. And
that's why I know I'm right. We can actually repair
(30:40):
the DNA back to the way it was before it
sustained these injuries from outside exposures. It's very logical, and
I'm doing it with plant to ride back this, which
is why it's so healthy.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
I want to ask you about lasers because I know
you're your big advocate for lasers, and I know I
personally love lasers because I I think anything that's non
invasive is always preferred, And I want to talk about
what your thought is, like, what's your theory on lasers
versus like because I think there were seeing such unbelievable
(31:13):
progress in that and I feel like it really works,
whereas I don't think it used to. I think now
it used to be just it looked like your face
was like bacon after something like that, and I don't
think it's.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
That way now. Brilliant. You know, It's so interesting because
I started as a dermatologist full fledged, if you will,
in page two thousand, when I've graduated residency, and lasers
were at their nascency then, so I happened to be
at the forefront of the development of the whole new
genre and had a hand in every single technology that
(31:45):
has been developed since the inception of lasers. So I'm
very fortunate. But also I've been very strategic in my
involvement in device development to make sure that I had
a hand either in protocol development, device with the engineers
developed meant publication, scientific or clinical studies. And what I
can tell you is this, lasers have been around since
(32:07):
the nineteen sixties, and what we've done is we've honed devices.
And that's why my skin agent classification scale was so important,
because prior to that, we just had scales that kind
of lumped all of aging together because they used to
burn the skin off with resurfacing the bacon approach and
lump together wrinkles with brown spots, et cetera. We became
so specialized in the last twenty five years that my
(32:29):
skin classification scheme separates laxity from wrinkles, from brown spots,
from redness, from tellergic, et cetera. So that you can
target different categories with different devices, different injectibles, and yes,
different actives, which is why mcreen actives is so good.
I target all categories now with respected devices. You're right,
(32:50):
there was a period of time where some of these
devices were like the Emperor's new clothes. Don't you see
the difference? I don't know, do lie? And you know
that sort of thing. So what I'm done is I've
introduced objective, quantifiable criteria to the industry. It's one of
the things I've been known for, and we've gotten way
past that because I demand results on every single patient.
(33:13):
And I would say that I was quoted in my
household to say the other day, I wish they would
apply my standard to every field of medicine. Wouldn't it
be nice if psychiatrists only get paid if you get better.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
I really like to be would it be nice like
we have rather than them being enablers half the time? Right?
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Well, No, what I'm saying, like McCrea alexiad, is like
I demand that those brown spouts go away. They don't
go away. I'm gonna eat this white coat, you know.
I demand results on every single intervention, so I photographically
catalog and make sure that the patient sees it, I
(33:56):
see it, and everybody else sees it. And by holding
myself to that standard, I have pushed the efficacy of
my treatments so that I get one hundred percent response rate.
And that's one of the things that I've really pushed
for from the beginning in my field. So now devices
really do get a guaranteed result in large part due
to my work. One of the things I introduced was
(34:17):
real time feedback, meaning that we put temperature sensors impede
its measurements real time feedback from the tissue, so you
could be assured one hundred percent that you're going to
get a result.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
It's really unbelievable. I mean, I wish you kind of
lived with me. I feel like I'd look so good.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
You look gorgeous and I.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
C a room here in my house for you when
you come to La.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
Okay, I'm covering, I come.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
You are the best. This has been so much fun.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
I literally feel educated, like I actually feel like I
maybe just went to Harvard for an hour.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
I want to say one last thing, thank you for
the compliment. My daughter said we look like sisters, so
that you said I'm beautiful.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Maybe that's a compliment to me. I love that. Please
say hi to her. I'm so happy to have had you.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
I learned so much. I know my listeners learned so much.
And I mean, doctor mccrean, I don't even know what
to say. I can't wait for you to come here,
and I just love what you're doing. You're so impressive.
Keep shattering all the seals you.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
Thank you, and I will be in La soon, so
hopefully i'll see you. And if your listener's ever interested
in a giveaway, I'm happy to support on it.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
They want it, trust me, I'm going to answer for them.
Here we go, coming soon, giveaway, Let's do it. Thank
you so much to doctor mccrean for coming on the
pod today. I truly feel like an hour with her
(35:51):
first of all, is not enough. But I actually think
I just went to Harvard Medical School for about an hour.
That was one of the most exhilarating experiences. I actually
am on a high. I feel like I have this
plethora of information in my system now that I just
want to keep rerunning and replaying, and I just want
(36:15):
to go now, have dinner and have doctor mccrane move
into my home. One so I can wake up looking
amazing every day. And two because she is such a
wealth of knowledge. I literally don't think I've ever spoken
to anyone like her, who just is like this walking
book of facts and knowledge and passion and excitement and
(36:37):
genuine obsession and love for what she does and to
continue bettering herself and the industry and our skin. And
what I found the most interesting is that she's continuing
to almost outdo herself and almost sabotage what she's built
her career on, which is like injectibles and all of
(36:58):
these different things that she's now doing topical treatments that
would eventually, inevitably, I think, eliminate so much of the
invasive things that we do for our scan. So that
was really extraordinary. I love this episode so much. Thank
you so much for listening to Climbing and Heels. If
(37:20):
you haven't already, please subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
the iHeart app, or wherever you get your podcasts. You
don't miss a single episode this season, and be sure
to follow me on Instagram at at rachel Zo and
the show at Climbing Inhaled pod for the latest episodes
and updates. I will talk to you very soon, Muck
Hi everyone, I'm Rachel Zoe and you're listening to Climbing
in Heels for your weekly dose of glamour inspiration and
of course vent.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
There really is just.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Not enough I can possibly say the intelligence and grit
of my guests today. I've never experienced any conversation like
this one. Doctor mccrean is a world renowned dermatologist, cosmetic
and reconstructive surgeon, and skincare innovator, just to name a
mere few of her titles and accomplishments.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yes, MD and PhD.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Her commitment and passion for science and medicine has made
her an absolute pioneer in her very male dominated field.
Her skincare line, mccrean Actives, is truly changing the game,
and her mission to rid not only her industry, but
the world of toxins and plastics is so beyond inspiring.
Let's dive right in with the one and only Doctor
(01:00):
my Cream. So, first of all, I'm so excited to
have you on. I wish I was sitting next to you,
but that's the beauty of Zoom. I've been doing this
podcast for a while now and I've had some pretty
extraordinary women, and I have to say I've had women
on here that have not graduated high school. I have
some that have graduated college. I have a few that
(01:22):
have done more than all of that. You're the most
highly educated person I think I might ever met in
my possible life. And you've also received more awards for
your profession and beyond, but like.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Harvard Harvard, Harvard, Harvard Clinical Professor.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, it's literally two full pages of just what you've done.
You're speaking to someone now who chose not to become
a psychiatrist because I had to go to extra school after.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I graduated college. So I'm so excited to have you on.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Well, first of all, Rachel, I'm so happy and excited
to be here. I loved you the minute I met
you at Gwynne's dinner Gwyneth Paltrow's house, and it's like
we instantly bonded and I feel a sisterhood with you,
and since then our relationship has only grown. And I'm
just so excited to be on your podcast, and I'm
so proud and happy, yeah connected with you, and you're
(02:24):
doing such good in the world and bringing this communication
to everyone out there. Thank you for honoring my life story.
I was very precocious started in science at an extremely
young age. When they honored me at Harvard with the
Fay Prize, which is the highest undergraduate honor, they told
a story about how I.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Was suddenly laughing because I'm like, these are things people
like joke about, like I was going to get this honor,
but you actually it's not.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
I mean, it's never enough. And you know in this
podcast it will probably come out that you know, I
so related to Hamilton where he was never satisfied. You know,
anybody who saw Hamilton on Broadway, that's like me. I
just have an I have an unsatiable appetite for life.
And when I was three years old, I was like
following ants in the garden and putting little sticks to
(03:14):
follow their path. I was before I went to preschool,
so my parents think I was around three. And it
turns out that when I sat in my Harvard biology class,
like all those years later, they had just discovered that
there were these invisible sense that ants had left for
the path between the Krum and the Anhill. So I
was like a scientific mind from a very young age
(03:36):
and went into lab at twelve after reading Rachel Carlson
Silent Spring and was hell bent on replacing toxic pesticides
with plant based alternatives, and that's what got me my
start in science and university lab. And then I skipped
two years and went to Harvard at sixteen after winning Westinghouse.
And once I got to Harvard, I worked first in
(03:57):
sech biology, then plant like robology, and that's why when
I ultimately and then I got a full bride, and
then when I ultimately did the mdphd and became a dermatologist,
I immediately applied that entire predecessor life of like plant
molecuro biology to replacing toxins and skincare. Hence clean beauty
(04:17):
was born. I was first to formulate clean at a
very early juncture, replacing toxins with clean formulation, and I've
since gone beyond that and I'm working on clean packaging
and manufacturing practices, all because of my love of the
earth and my love of science.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
That is so extraordinary. It's extraordinary that you remember all
of it. It's extraordinary that you've done all of it.
But I want to talk about because cleming in heels
is really about digging into the journey, and I want
to really understand because it's clear obviously your obsession with science, right,
(04:56):
and ultimately what led you to dermatology.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
But it's interesting because I.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Always wonder as a female in such a male dominated industry.
Certainly at the time that you were coming up, I
imagine it was mostly men.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
How at what point were you like?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I am obsessed with this and this is my because
when I meet like med students and science students, it's
always like, what lane are you going to choose?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Because there's thousands?
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Right, How what made you say dermatology versus like neurosurgeon
or right?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
You know, that's how interesting that you bring that up,
because it's you know, one of the reasons I ended
up in dermatology was because I was given kind of
a I will call it a choice at a critical
juncture in my career because I was actually very interested
(05:52):
in nurse surgery as well as plastic surgery. I was
an artist from a young age. The other thing besides
following ants is I was really good at portraits. So
I started doing portraits when I was really little, and
my parents used to have parties in their home and
the guests used to line up for me to do
their portraits. So I was struggling as to whether I
was going to become an artist or a scientist for many,
(06:14):
many years, but my mother didn't want me to be
a starving artist, so I went into the sciences and
it was a man's world and still is a man's
world because these institutions were built by men. And so
I've been famously quoted as saying, to puncture the glass ceiling,
you have to build your own house. So that's what
(06:34):
I've done, because I've noticed that even within the departments,
you could be one could be the most highly published,
highly cited author in their department for twenty years running,
and still they will block advancement, they will find a loophole,
and that is an issue to this day.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Do you mean because you're a woman.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
I believe that that plays a huge role, because I've
noticed that in many of these instances, men keep receiving
awards that are purely discretionary. They still hold the dominant
number of positions of power in our organizations, in our world, yes,
(07:17):
and they hold onto those reins and it's very hard
to get through. So that's why I've built my own practice,
my own little microcosm. If you will not just the
clinical practice of dermatology in my institute in New York,
the Hamptons and in Europe because I'm, as far as
I know, the only dual certified in medicine, surgery and
dermatology in the europeion as well as the United States,
(07:41):
and working on even furthering that certification to be global.
But also within the skincare brand that I've established, which
is doctor mccrean Actives.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Which I am obsessed with.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Thank you, and does it work? Says You've got to
get behind the brand because it really works and it
really works.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
So you said that to me this summer.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
You said, Okay, I need you to try this, this,
this because all your treatments are going to last longer.
You're going to need.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
This less like da da da da da.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And honestly, I don't think I've really even touched my
face since I've seen you, you know, so you find it,
it's really effective, and I want I want to talk
about that after as well.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
So thank you for saying that, by the way, because
the only way our world is going to be saved
from toxins plastics is if you actually put your dollars
as a proxy for your vote for your future and
So if you put your dollars to doctor mccrean Actives,
you're putting your dollars towards clean formulation with plant based
(08:45):
ingredients that replace toxins that are highly effective to replace procedures,
and clean packaging which my goal is to eliminate plastics
for the industry, and clean manufacturing practices. And it does
yourself a favor because it frees you of the shack
of having to do either plastic surgery or injectables or lasers,
(09:05):
because that's my area specialty and I've translated that into actives.
But you're right, I was very interested in NEU surgery.
I was very interested in plastic surgery. But after doing
everything I had done at full Bright, an empty and
a PhD in genetics at Harvard, three Harvard degrees, I
fell in love. I was engaged to be married, and
I was putting in my applications for residency and I
(09:27):
was told, well, either you're going to be a surgeon
or you're going to have a family. And I was like, oh,
my yes, And that's what happened to me. And I'm
not saying it's one. I think it's true for a
lot of women, and it may be conversations that are
had at the dinner table, they're valid conversations because and
(09:48):
I'll tell you what, they're valid conversations because the most
precious commodity we have is our time, and neurosurgery is grueling.
It was going to be eight years of training on
top of what I had done every other night of call.
This was before the Bell Commission, guys. I only got
five weeks of maternity leave when I was a resident.
(10:10):
I had to take all my call before I delivered.
It was brutal. And then my first job as a dermatologist,
it was unpaid leave, and I was expected to take
call during my unpaid leap on any of my patients
for follow up. So it was a grueling time in
history where women were not treated with respect when they
were delivering. So it was hard enough as it was,
(10:35):
and frankly, choosing dermatology was I was giving it up.
My mentor at Harvard Medical School, Robert Godwin, he was
like the godfather of plastic surgery. He was the editor
in chief of the Annamals of Plastic Surgery for twenty
some more years, the chairman of the department at the Brigham.
I was his prodigy. He had me closing his cases.
(10:57):
As a medical student, I was sowing his cases shut.
I realized, like I got much older. How rare and
unusual that is. Medical students usually don't touch the patient,
They just watch. I was actually sewing. We were comparing
my breast to his, and he was like, wow.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
So now I have a question with the plastic surgery
that you were doing.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Question I have.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
There's cosmetic plastic surgery, and then there's like trauma, right,
there's I don't know what you call it in a
good point, so plastics.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Yeah, it's plastics in reconstructive surgery, and that does encompass, uh,
repairing wounds due to trauma. Uh, you know, birth defects,
major issues all over the body, and they're sort of
the aesthetic plastics, which is sort of facelifting necklip homy talks,
et cetera, and a lot of you know, it's obviously
(11:51):
for more financially viable to be doing plastic surgery that's
in the aesthetic sphere than to beyond paul in the
emergency room when somebody splits by.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
The way, because that makes sense, right, like what is
the irony right right?
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Right? But in my case, it was just because I
was artistically gifted in my brother's resurgeons were just very
good surgically in my family. And he was very upset
when I made that decision, because he said to me
in his office, maccree, you're a thoroughbred. You need to run.
You're a stallion, you need to run. You don't want
I don't want you in the corral. And he understood
(12:26):
my reasons, he accepted it. We stayed friends for until
the end of his life. And but what I did
once I got into the dermatology was I'm one of
the pioneers in my field. I started in lasers and
devices in two thousand and I've been involved in the
device development of every class of technology that's been born
(12:50):
in the last quarter century, as well as pharmaceutical trials
for things like botox fillers. I was the lead author
and lead investigator on the most recent advance in fillers,
the first new filler in dozens of years, a lead
investigator and lead author on the first f day proved
laser for acne, the appic clearing the JAD. I have
(13:10):
done such groundbreaking work in my life.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I was gonna say, okay, so you.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Get lemons you make lemonade. So like life is fractal,
so we as women may be set told we can't
go through this door because X, Y, and Z, so
we go in through an other door. And guess what.
When you walk through a new door, life is practical
A myriad of new opportunities emerge. So with in that
door of dermatology, I was able to apply all of
(13:37):
my skills. So I don't look back and regret. I
look forward with opportunity.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Well, also, I don't I think a long time ago,
if you said dermatology or skin that was like, oh,
it's a vanity thing. I don't even look at it
like that anymore, Like I actually don't like, yes, of
course there's that element. We all want to look twenty
years younger than we are, sure not all, but most,
(14:04):
and we can thanks to you, and you know, and
I think at the end of the day, you know,
it's like when people used to say to me, but
clothes are just it's like an it's like an exterior thing.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
It's like superficial.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
It's like it also really informs how we feel right
and really can hide things that we may want to
hide on any given day, and also lift us out
of something that might feel rather dark. What you're doing
is the very high stakes job.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
When I think about it. It's funny because I always said, like.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I don't even know if I'd want to be a
hair colorist, because if I messed up someone's hair color,
when you're dealing with someone's face, I mean, it's a
thing that typically matters most of people, right outside of
their obvious health.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
But how many children? Do you have?
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Two children too?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
So I think when you were having your children, you
were clearly building your career at the same time. And
I think it's just the question I always have to ask,
because I think everyone deals with it differently. But how
were those years, in those moments where did you ever
have to turn down jobs?
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Did you ever have to?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Like? How did that work?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Because doing what you do, despite the fact that it's
not neurosurgery, you still have a very high demand of
your time and an urgency.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Yes, yes, these are such amazing questions. Well, when I
was looking for my first job with my pedigree, I
was groomed to be because I'm a physician, scientist, the
chair of the department. Okay, that's really what I was
being groomed to be, but to do that you need
(15:40):
to take what's called a tenure track position or a
position in academia that is by definition of full time job.
And I went around, I shopped myself at the very
I happen to know I was ranked number one in
the country because Erwin Friedberg told me at NYU that
I was ranked number one when I applied to dermatology,
so that was like not a secret. So when it
(16:01):
was time for me to look for a position, I
knew where I ranked. And yet not a single chairman
I spoke to would allow me to work four days
a week while I was having children and still qualify
to get back on a tenure track for full professor.
And when I got back, and I'm not talking about
clinical because that's outside. I'm talking about full professor within
(16:24):
the universe. So basically I was iced out. That is
the leaky pipeline. Guys listen to crazy like.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Even if they're like there's women in the room, or
of course we're meeting with tons of women.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
The leaky pipeline is this, they will not allow you
to continue towards career goals if you take time out
while you're having children. And that is the leaky pipeline.
So I was very offended when a former president of
Harvard University tried to comment that the aptitude of females
(16:57):
wasn't as good as males for theis I'm obviously living
proof that that is absolutely untrue. But it's the leak
and the evidence they use is, well, look at how
many professors we have who are female versus mess That's
what if you're not going to allow me to work
in a university and on a tender track position, because
(17:17):
at four days a week, which is not asking for
a huge sacrifice, how would I ever make it there?
So that was the reason why I started private practice.
I started my own practice and chose to be a
clinical faculty on a voluntary position at Yale instead of
being a full time clinician within a university setting.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Interesting and also I would actually argue to say that
anyone who is using their hands for a living should
probably only be on call four days, you know, because
the last thing you want is it's an exhausted person
with their hand, right, I mean, truthfully, And when I
(18:00):
think about that, I think about so many doctors on
call and surgeons even in the er and everything like
I do think about that a lot. If they're doing surgery,
emergency surgery at three am or four am, like there's
got to be some you know, and especially if you're
on call right like you could be coming from a
dinner you had, whatever it is. It's like, I always
think about that, and I think about this type of
(18:22):
thing where you know there's such precision involved. But I
do think that starting your own and I do know
from that because I've worked for myself since I was
twenty five, you know there are pros and cons along
the way of that, because there is no one to
cover for you. There is no one to call on
sick too, and you do end up working ten x
harder when you're working for yourself.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Right, Yes, I feel like I'm an Olympic athlete. That's
what I hope because I demand the absolute best ten
out of ten with every single case I see every day.
You have to have excellent physical, mental fitness. And I
(19:02):
love what I do with such a passion. I have
boundless energy for it. But to your point, not everyone's
like me, no, okay or and so to perform at
my level requires a lot of different elements, not just
innate God given talent because I was given this artistic
(19:24):
gift and technical skill, but also the intellect and the
physical ability to expit.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
You have to know what to do with it.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Then the organizational skills. I mean, there isn't a move
I make all day that doesn't have a purpose. That
is something that only Olympians really understand. They can't make
one false move when they're on those slopes or they're
running crack.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It's true, that's true.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
That's how I function. But to your point, the secret
in medical circles, medical families is you want to be
the first case of the day. Right.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
No, it's true.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Acres world, the grease world, it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
That whether So let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I want to talk about that because on a very
small scale as a stylist, I found the biggest challenge
for me was delegating to people that I could trust
to execute on my vision. Now, with what you do,
that's a hundred acts, because.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Do you have associates you train to cover for you?
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Because you do have Europe and Hampton's and New York
hopefully LA.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
And You're going to love what I'm going to tell
you because it's going to just blow your mind.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Open that you don't let anyone else do it.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
I'm an artist, a intellect, scientists, the schools. I have
the vision I have the second I see a face,
it populates in my mind. I see exactly what needs
to be done to restore their natural beauty. Contrast me,
who does everything myself, to someone who has a bunch
(21:02):
of technicians doing things for them. It's a different model.
And I look at it like I'm Michaelangelo. I'm Michaelangelo.
And then there's you know, I guess I don't know.
You could get Andy Warhol prints made. You don't have value, sure,
but they're all the same, sure, whereas mine are masterpieces.
(21:27):
And that's why I take care of the world's most
famous and cherished faces who we all know love and
we need to see them in their natural beauty. And
those are my patients, and I feel like I'm doing
an honor to the world by restoring them. But it
is true that I'm one of a kind in that regard, right.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
And it's funny because I'm sure so many people said, well,
how do you scale that, You're like, I don't.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I make products. So what I realized early on was, Wow,
I can do this because I be genetics. I've actually
with my formulas, which are a combination of peptides MICROCAPSULEIY
high learning acids so that replaces botox and filler and
then DNA repair, which actually restores the skin back to
the way it was, plus antioxidants, brighteners, et cetera to
(22:17):
replace lasers. That I actually am restoring the skin back
to the age of roughly twenty five before it starts
to deor it making myself obsolete.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Well, by the way, I was going to say, are
you cannibalizing yourself?
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Aren't you salvage? I mean, think about progress. You know,
progress is a wonderful thing. I am. I'm fearless, right,
I'm never afraid because this is wonderful that I can
give people freedom like you you had freedom from needing
injections or anything else. I'm doing that for the whole world.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
So funny, I left your office this summer and I
was like going through something and I was like, I need,
like I just need whatever you think, and I think
we just did botox, but I remember you saying to me,
bing you my products, You're not even going to.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Need botox after this, And I was like what I
was like, great, so you're trying to tell me I
just have you in a jar. Now, it's that what
you're saying.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Yes, And my invention, my patent is.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
That also is how you scale because ultimately then everybody
in the world can have can have you in a jar.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Basically yes, because what I do that's different is some level. Yes, no,
on all levels, because what I'm telling when I see
the patient is I'm not putting my stamp on you.
I'm bringing out the natural beauty of rachel' zwe period.
I'm bringing out the natural beauty of whoever my patient is,
and many of them are very famous, and I just
see the beauty. It's like when I paint a portrait,
(23:43):
I bring out their natural beauty in the subject. It's
a gift. So by bringing your skin back to twenty five,
it's your natural beauty. Your natural beauty is your best beauty.
You don't have to change that. And yes, it's a
little mother's little helper because my lip plumper actually does
plump the lips permanently, so you do get a little
bit of what I call mother's helper. And that's the
(24:03):
great thing.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
It's like you plus, wait, held, I'm not sure I
have that. Can I order that? Please?
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Send that to you. It's gonna fabulous. It replaces a
jectable filler because it's the best microcapsulated hyalonic guess in
the world. Peptides for collagen, ceremonies for chap and swept
and live therapeutic essential oils and xceress is fabulous.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Do you realize has anyone ever asked to go inside
your brain?
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yes, they've asked me to donate it to the Smithsonian.
And so what I'm doing is I'm I'm memorializing my brain.
So I have a textbook alexiadis Cosmetic Therminologic Surgery. It's
the first and only disorder based textbook in my industry.
It takes you down a decision tree to help my colleagues, residents,
medical students, and even lay people understand the first, second line,
(24:48):
third line treatments for each disorder so they're not led
astray and choosing the wrong device for the wrong thing.
And now I just finish my second textbook, which is
on photonemic therapy that has the specialty of mind that
has more to do with skin cancer and my papers
of course, but most importantly my patents. Because doctor mccrean
Actives is forever. My cream is always cutting edge because
(25:11):
it's updated regularly. I have criteria for inclusion of the
world's best active ingredients that fulfill the different categories of
skin aging that I published almost twenty years ago. It
was published in the JAT. It's using countless clinical FDA
trials by other companies to validate their treatments. So what
I have done now is working in a genetics component
(25:33):
to identify the genes that are responsible for skin aging.
That's why Macrene Actives is so good. I'm actually restoring
the skain back to the way it was, so it
makes me live on forever. It's my legacy. And then
there's the mission of the brand, which is to clean
up the earth, you know, replacing toxins, replacing procedures, and
eliminating plastics.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
It's really, it's really unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
You are truly extra. I'm so glad that I met
And I remember when I met you, I felt like
I had met you already but we hadn't. And I
just remember giving you this big hug and I was like,
I literally have felt like I've known you and talked
to you, and just so connected, but I'm so impressed
by you.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
I am so I am. I don't believe that anything
is an accident. Everything that happens is because of the
accumulation of it, not just energy and decisions and values,
but it's what brings people together. And you and I
instantly were connected because our values aligned. And I wanted
(26:36):
to get back to something you said about fashion. I
have studied a lot of philosophy, and Plato talked about
the forms, which are basically the entities that make up
our existence, and how beauty is the highest form. It's
what the gods in the heavens look down on us
and smile about. And that's what you were talking about.
(26:57):
When you with your work. When you do you adorn
the body with garments that are beautiful, you're enhancing beauty
as an artist when I restore your natural beauty, and
people know true beauty when they see it. Plato also
talked about the imitation of beauty, the imitation of art.
(27:19):
We know that when we see it, and that's true,
whether it's fashion or whether it's what I do.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
So I believe that.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Coming full circle. Yes, I could have been in the
lab curing cancer indirectly, I have been working on that
through photonamica therapy.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Yeah, I'm sort of thinking about that. I'm like, what
do we do with this brain? She needs to cure cancer?
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Like stat Yes, I've been working with photodonamic reraphy, so yes,
I've been working on that as well. But at the
same time, a world without art, without music, without beauty
is not a world worth living in. So our missions
in our lives, which also align us, is what gives
joy to the world, and there's so much value in that.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
And confidence, which truthfully, I think without that we can't
really flow through life properly.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Absolutely. I was just saying to my daughter yesterday. Confidence
is what gives you the belief to achieve your.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Goals to move forward, because I think, in all honesty,
if you don't actually believe it of yourself without sounding
the cliche of like you got to believe in yourself,
like you actually if you don't believe, and you know
that's for me, the most genuine thing coming from you
is how strongly you believe in every single step you've taken.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Why, how, and then how you landed here. It is very.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Interesting though that even with all of that, what I'm
stuck on and I think it's just still a little
bit naive of me because I hear it every day,
but it's still hard for me that when there is
someone who has accomplished what you what you have, what
you did at such a young age, that even still
and even still today is we see.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Men just look at you like no different. It's like,
actually no better, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
And I think, like at the end of the day,
you know, I think you I'm so excited to see
you continue doing all of what you do. And I think,
you know, there are so many issues now with like
you know, I hear every day someone with skin cancer
or like you know, there there are so many things.
(29:28):
And as I'm sure the first thing you say to
people every day is skin is your largest organ.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
You get right?
Speaker 1 (29:35):
That was actually my youngest son reminded me of that,
you know, when he was young, mommy skin is there?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Like is that brilliant? Actually, episode of my Spotify podcast,
it's about how the skin is our largest organ. It
is our protective organ. It's what filters the toxins, the radiation,
the free radicals that come in from the outside world
to protect our inner or from the outside world. So
it is terribly terribly important, and.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
I don't think anyone thinks that.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
I think everyone just thinks of it as this like
layer of protection that you could beat up all the time,
like you can scrape it, you can burn it, you
can you know, I think, I mean, I think it's
actually the last organ most people think of until they're
like a teenager with acne or something.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Right, absolutely, and therefore, with my my Spotify podcast really focused.
The first episode is really about teaching people about the
structure and function of the skin. The second is really
about antioxidants and how they work to protect us from
free radicals, and the third is about DNA repair. And
that's why I know I'm right. We can actually repair
(30:40):
the DNA back to the way it was before it
sustained these injuries from outside exposures. It's very logical, and
I'm doing it with plant to ride back this, which
is why it's so healthy.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
I want to ask you about lasers because I know
you're your big advocate for lasers, and I know I
personally love lasers because I I think anything that's non
invasive is always preferred, And I want to talk about
what your thought is, like, what's your theory on lasers
versus like because I think there were seeing such unbelievable
(31:13):
progress in that and I feel like it really works,
whereas I don't think it used to. I think now
it used to be just it looked like your face
was like bacon after something like that, and I don't
think it's.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
That way now. Brilliant. You know, It's so interesting because
I started as a dermatologist full fledged, if you will,
in page two thousand, when I've graduated residency, and lasers
were at their nascency then, so I happened to be
at the forefront of the development of the whole new
genre and had a hand in every single technology that
(31:45):
has been developed since the inception of lasers. So I'm
very fortunate. But also I've been very strategic in my
involvement in device development to make sure that I had
a hand either in protocol development, device with the engineers
developed meant publication, scientific or clinical studies. And what I
can tell you is this, lasers have been around since
(32:07):
the nineteen sixties, and what we've done is we've honed devices.
And that's why my skin agent classification scale was so important,
because prior to that, we just had scales that kind
of lumped all of aging together because they used to
burn the skin off with resurfacing the bacon approach and
lump together wrinkles with brown spots, et cetera. We became
so specialized in the last twenty five years that my
(32:29):
skin classification scheme separates laxity from wrinkles, from brown spots,
from redness, from tellergic, et cetera. So that you can
target different categories with different devices, different injectibles, and yes,
different actives, which is why mcreen actives is so good.
I target all categories now with respected devices. You're right,
(32:50):
there was a period of time where some of these
devices were like the Emperor's new clothes. Don't you see
the difference? I don't know, do lie? And you know
that sort of thing. So what I'm done is I've
introduced objective, quantifiable criteria to the industry. It's one of
the things I've been known for, and we've gotten way
past that because I demand results on every single patient.
(33:13):
And I would say that I was quoted in my
household to say the other day, I wish they would
apply my standard to every field of medicine. Wouldn't it
be nice if psychiatrists only get paid if you get better.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
I really like to be would it be nice like
we have rather than them being enablers half the time? Right?
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Well, No, what I'm saying, like McCrea alexiad, is like
I demand that those brown spouts go away. They don't
go away. I'm gonna eat this white coat, you know.
I demand results on every single intervention, so I photographically
catalog and make sure that the patient sees it, I
(33:56):
see it, and everybody else sees it. And by holding
myself to that standard, I have pushed the efficacy of
my treatments so that I get one hundred percent response rate.
And that's one of the things that I've really pushed
for from the beginning in my field. So now devices
really do get a guaranteed result in large part due
to my work. One of the things I introduced was
(34:17):
real time feedback, meaning that we put temperature sensors impede
its measurements real time feedback from the tissue, so you
could be assured one hundred percent that you're going to
get a result.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
It's really unbelievable. I mean, I wish you kind of
lived with me. I feel like I'd look so good.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
You look gorgeous and I.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
C a room here in my house for you when
you come to La.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
Okay, I'm covering, I come.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
You are the best. This has been so much fun.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
I literally feel educated, like I actually feel like I
maybe just went to Harvard for an hour.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
I want to say one last thing, thank you for
the compliment. My daughter said we look like sisters, so
that you said I'm beautiful.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Maybe that's a compliment to me. I love that. Please
say hi to her. I'm so happy to have had you.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
I learned so much. I know my listeners learned so much.
And I mean, doctor mccrean, I don't even know what
to say. I can't wait for you to come here,
and I just love what you're doing. You're so impressive.
Keep shattering all the seals you.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
Thank you, and I will be in La soon, so
hopefully i'll see you. And if your listener's ever interested
in a giveaway, I'm happy to support on it.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
They want it, trust me, I'm going to answer for them.
Here we go, coming soon, giveaway, Let's do it. Thank
you so much to doctor mccrean for coming on the
pod today. I truly feel like an hour with her
(35:51):
first of all, is not enough. But I actually think
I just went to Harvard Medical School for about an hour.
That was one of the most exhilarating experiences. I actually
am on a high. I feel like I have this
plethora of information in my system now that I just
want to keep rerunning and replaying, and I just want
(36:15):
to go now, have dinner and have doctor mccrane move
into my home. One so I can wake up looking
amazing every day. And two because she is such a
wealth of knowledge. I literally don't think I've ever spoken
to anyone like her, who just is like this walking
book of facts and knowledge and passion and excitement and
(36:37):
genuine obsession and love for what she does and to
continue bettering herself and the industry and our skin. And
what I found the most interesting is that she's continuing
to almost outdo herself and almost sabotage what she's built
her career on, which is like injectibles and all of
(36:58):
these different things that she's now doing topical treatments that
would eventually, inevitably, I think, eliminate so much of the
invasive things that we do for our scan. So that
was really extraordinary. I love this episode so much. Thank
you so much for listening to Climbing and Heels. If
(37:20):
you haven't already, please subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
the iHeart app, or wherever you get your podcasts. You
don't miss a single episode this season, and be sure
to follow me on Instagram at at rachel Zo and
the show at Climbing Inhaled pod for the latest episodes
and updates. I will talk to you very soon, Muck
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