Behind the Scalpel Crafting Beauty and Balance - with Dr. Armando Retana

Send us a text

When Dr. Armando Ratana speaks of his journey, it's not just a tale of geographical relocation from Costa Rica to the U.S.—it's an exploration of the transformative power of relentless hard work and dedication. His story, rooted in the sacrifices made by his parents, is a testament to the values that have carried him through a sterling career in oral maxillofacial and cosmetic surgery. In our engaging conversation, Armando doesn't just recount his professional evolution; he opens up about the challenges of balancing a demanding medical profession with a fulfilling family life, ensuring that the latter always remains a cherished priority.

Armando's insight into the impact of social media on the business of cosmetic surgery is as sharp and precise as his surgical skills. He has harnessed the power of platforms like Instagram to not only showcase his work but also to educate and engage with a broader audience. With every shared post-operative photo and every piece of educational content, Armando sees social media not as a trend but as an instrumental tool in building trust with patients and fostering a global clientele. The conversation veers into the importance of adaptability—how the volatility of online spaces necessitates a diversified approach to promotion, including ventures into television exposure and educational dissemination.

As we navigate the intricacies of Armando's field, the discussion touches upon the future of cosmetic surgery, ethical practice, and the crucial role of patient education. Armando's candid thoughts on body dysmorphia and the surgeon’s responsibility in recognizing and managing it are eye-opening, emphasizing the fine line between enhancing one's body and respecting its limits. Wrapping up, we challenge common misconceptions about cosmetic procedures and look eagerly toward the trends and innovations poised to shape the industry in the coming years. Armando's story, rich in both personal and professional achievements, serves as an inspiration for anyone striving in the medical field, or indeed any field, where passion and perseverance are the cornerstones of success.

Dr. Armando Retana IG: @lovethatbodydc

Tweet me @realdrhamrah
IG @drhamrah

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
All right, everyone, welcome to another episode of
the Dario Hammer podcast.
Today I have a good friend andcolleague of mine from
Washington DC, from CapitalCenter for Cosmetic Surgery, dr
Armando Ratana.
He's a native of Costa Rica.
Armando Ratana, he's a nativeof Costa Rica.
He grew up after he immigratedto Maryland, here in the United

(00:31):
States, and pursued a career inoral maxillofacial surgery,
first went to dental school atColumbia University in New York
and then to University ofFlorida, jacksonville Medical
School, as well as residency,and then decided to pursue a

(00:52):
career in cosmetic surgery andfurther continued his journey,
his academic journey in cosmeticsurgery in Tulsa, oklahoma, and
trained with the one and onlyAngelo Cusilaina.
Welcome and welcome, armando,really excited to have you here.
You know we share kind of asimilar journey, similar mantra.

(01:13):
You know, being an immigrant,with having a chip on the
shoulder and having to proveyourself every step of the way,
what was the drive that took youto this point?
I want to start right off thebat with our conversation and
then kind of come back a littlebit, talk about your journey and

(01:38):
your early childhood towardsyour career.
So, first of all, welcome.
And hey, man.
So what is it with you?
What motivated you to do all ofthis stuff and have such a
successful career so early inyour career?

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Well, thank you, dario, for having me on here.
It's an honor.
I think my motivation comesfrom from home, from from family
, you know, just seeing myparents, you know, struggle and
sacrifice and do what they didto put us in a position where we
can be successful.
I'm talking about myself and my, my siblings.

(02:17):
You know, moving from CostaRica to here was a big, a big
challenge and a big sacrifice onboth my father and my mother.
So that was that's basicallywhen I think about.
My main motivation is them.
You know, those days when you,you know, when you're feeling
lazy and you want, you need tostudy for a test or you need to
do something, but you don't wantto get up and you just don't

(02:37):
have the energy to do it, thefirst person that comes into
mind is like you know, know whatyour parents have sacrificed
way too much for you to not getup and not get this done and
study for that chemistry final.
Study for the biochemistryfinal.
Go, take that test, theadmission test for, you know,
for professional school.
So that's my main drive.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
So it sounds to me like it's a typical immigrant
story hardworking, no excuses,there's no such thing as I'm too
tired.
Now, what is the differencebetween that and, let's say,
your children now growing uphere?
I mean they see you workinghard.
I mean you work hard, right,you don't take any excuses, you

(03:21):
put in the reps.
So what do you feel thedifference is going to be for
your children now growing up,having basically everything put
out on a silver plate, and whatdo you think their motivation is
going to be?
The reason why I'm asking youthis question?
Because I'm asking myself thatquestion.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, that's a question I think that we all
have.
I just went on a trip for my40th birthday with a lot of my
friends Happy birthday, by theway.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Thank you, appreciate it.
That's a big landmark.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
And that was a big conversation while we were just
sitting by the resort, by thepool, and talking to ourselves
about that, how we all made itto where we are now.
But then our children they haveeverything, like you said, on a
silver platter and I thinkagain, it just goes back to the
principles of family values,just teaching them that you know

(04:10):
things, that money doesn't growon trees, that you know, yeah,
we do.
Well, but it doesn't mean thatyou know, we're going to spoil
them, Like I don't spoil my kids.
I try to tell them hey, youguys want to earn money, let's
go to the office.
I have books to stack up, Ihave papers to shred, I have
things you can inventory at theoffice and I will pay you for it

(04:30):
.
That's going to be your money.
So now when they go to the store, they're like hey, daddy, I
want these shoes.
Okay, you want those shoes.
Do you have shoes at home?
Yes, I do.
Oh, you want the Jordans.
Okay, how much are the Jordans?
$200.
So for instance, I'll give youan example I pay my children 50
bucks a day, a per diem of 50bucks when they show up to the
office.
So they're like so those shoesare worth four days worth of
work.

(04:51):
Yes, sir, that's not worth itto me.
Okay, great.
So now they make that decisionof like okay, those shoes are
$200.
That means I got to show up tothe office four days.
That means Labor Day, MemorialDay day and two days in the
summer for me to get those shoesright.
So the value of money I'mtrying to teach him, that, me
and my wife, um, beyond thatalso like yeah, my kids don't

(05:14):
like.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
My kids won't love to listen to this podcast.
Man, why not you?

Speaker 2 (05:22):
there's no, yeah, because that's a great.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
No, that's a great.
I'm going to introduce that man, oh there you go Like today.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
There you go.
Yeah, I decided to do that andthey really appreciate that per
diem that they get.
And they start planning aheadand they're like you know what?
I want to get the fancy AirPodsthat are $400.
They're like all right, we'llplan for that, you can buy them
yourself.
I'll give you everything youneed in this life.
You want something fancy?
Go ahead, work for it, justlike you and me.

(05:49):
It's like everybody did.
How old are your kids?
My kids are 16 and 13.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
16-year-old boy 13-year-old girl yeah, that's
exactly my kid's age, I think tointroduce them to that concept
that nothing comes for free,nothing grows up on trees and
nothing comes from nothing.
I mean, you got to put in thework.
Now what inspired you to becomea doctor?

(06:16):
Now I understand.
None of your parents weredoctors, correct?

Speaker 2 (06:21):
No, no, my mom went to school for business
administration.
She became has a master'sdegree in business.
She was always a hospitaladministrator, so her her job
always involved hospitaladministration and so she was
always around doctors and nursesand a lot of people that would
come to the to our house, so wewould get invited to doctor's

(06:43):
houses.
Throughout my life my mombefriended a lot of doctors and
she always said Armando doeswell in school, he likes math
and science.
I think he's going to become adoctor.
At the time I could have been 10, 9, whatever.
I'm like I don't know, mom, I'mjust going through the motions.
At this point in my life I justlike watching soccer, playing

(07:04):
soccer, and yeah, I do likelearning.
I do have a like I like to knowhow things work.
Like if I have a question in mybrain, I'm like how can I find
out how?
I don't know how the moon faceswork or how, how photosynthesis
happens or whatever, right.
So I always had that, but Ijust as as the years progressed,

(07:27):
I just sort of migrated to thesciences and the maths and one
day I met, actually an oralmaxillofacial surgeon who did
surgery on my father, put a lotof implants on him and bone
grafting and sinus lifts and allthat stuff.
So my dad like kind of explainedwhat the surgery was and I said
, oh my God, that sounds like amajor operation.
Like what kind of surgeon doesthat?

(07:49):
And he goes oh, you know what?
This is interesting.
This guy has an MD and a DDSand at the time I was trying to
figure out dental school,medical school what do I do?
I actually went and met thisguy.
His name is John Weiss.
He practiced, he used topractice in Frederick Maryland.
So I took my father to thepost-op appointment with dr
weiss and dr weiss was thecoolest guy ever man he was.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
He was a guitar player, soccer coach, uh, you
know, good, dad had kids I kindof feel all all oral
maxillofacial surgeons are cool,are cool, I agree and I think
because of that I said I want tobe this guy one day, a cool,
cool surgeon like this guy.
How old?

Speaker 2 (08:24):
were you then?
That's amazing.
I was in college, so I musthave been 20 years old, wow.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Isn't that amazing.
Like one experience in yourlife can change the entire
trajectory.
I mean one inspiration, like wewant to emulate the ones that
we look up to, and then thatjust paves the path not of our
career but our entire life.
And how cool is that?
And I really am passionateabout.
Anytime young students come andresidents come, I'm always

(08:57):
excited for the opportunity toinspire them.
And then, if not, that's great.
At least they know they're notgoing to do that, they're going
to have to do something else.
But you got to know it's so hardto find out early in life.
Like I asked my kids what theywant to do, they don't know.
Fair enough, they're 17 and 14.
I don't expect a teenager toknow exactly to figure out their

(09:18):
lives.
But once you get in college,once you get exposed to
different things, I think that'swhere you have enough context
to get inspired, just like youdid.
And at that point it's just.
I guess your drive and yourpassion will continue Now.
So you had it all planned.

(09:40):
So you knew exactly you want tobe an oral maxillofacial
surgeon and you did that.
So why did your career take a180?
How did you end up being to methe best body sculptor in the
DMV area hands down.
It's not even a competitionamongst all plastic and cosmetic

(10:01):
surgeons in the DMV, whichmeans obviously you're talented.
Obviously you're superpassionate about it.
Obviously, you did moretraining than you had to.
You went to Mexico, I know youwent to, like South America,
colombia trained with the best,even after your fellowship
training and you're still outthere.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
I'm still eager to learn more.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
Just improving your craft, like all of us do.
But what inspired you at thatpoint in your career to take a
180 and go to below the neck?

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Well, one of the main things that attracted me to
maxillofacial surgery was thediversity of procedures that
maxillofacial surgeons perform.
It is, yes, a head and necksort of region, but it's so
diverse the trauma, thereconstructive surgery, the
oncology, the cosmetic stuff,the TMJ reconstruction, the

(11:01):
orthodontic surgery, like all ofthose things.
And you know, when I waslooking at the specialty and
when I was going throughresidency, I said you know what
attracts me the most?
The cancer reconstruction, thecancer resection, the, you know.
And then it was always like thecosmetic stuff came up, the
cosmetic and the orthodonticsurgery, cosmetic orthodontic

(11:21):
surgery.
Oh, and also I forgot tomention the pediatric component
to it, the cleft lip and palatesand that kind of thing.
Right, but I was always drawnto the cosmetic side.
So, dr Tirbat Fatahi, who was mychairman, I did a ton of
rhinoplasty with him, a ton offacelifts with him, eyelid
surgeries with him, and I justkept migrating to that kind of

(11:43):
stuff.
And then one day I talked toVitaly and I said, hey, boss, I
don't know, man, I have thisspark, I have this thing where,
like, I want to do full bodystuff, man, like I really love
the aesthetics of stuff and I'mlike, and the face is good, but
sort of in my head it's not.
It's not like good enough forme, like I want to do more body
sculpting.
I've always had a thing for thebody and he's like hey, man, I

(12:08):
have a great friend, angelo, youshould go visit him, angelo
Cosalina, in Oklahoma.
I think you should go early onin your residency and spend some
time with him and see if it'sreally what you want to do,
right, like go see, rule it inor rule it out.
So I did early on Like it was,I think my second or third year

(12:30):
of my residency I went out thereto visit him and I fell in love
with everything he was doingand I said, fatahi, this is it
man I need to.
I need to just line everythingup so I can be a strong
candidate for that, for thatfellowship I think it is the
strongest fellowship in thenation after looking at all the
other ones that's available andI think him and I would match
really well to what I need tolearn for what my vision.
Is that what I want to do afterI graduate fellowship?

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Very nice and then.
So the rest is.
History Was once you were therewere things different than what
you expected.
How was it?
Once you were there Becauseit's hard to I know you went and
visited first and shadowedduring the interview process.
But how would you judge yourfellowship year after the fact?

(13:13):
What and how has it contributedto your career now and the path
you've chosen?
I?

Speaker 2 (13:21):
think it was exactly what I expected.
Actually, it definitelyactually exceeded my
expectations, because I wantedto go to a fellowship that
taught me that had high volume,and with high volume comes
amazing cases that you're like,wow, we made a significant
change in this person.
And with high volume also comescomplications.

(13:44):
Right Like it doesn't matterhow good of a surgeon you are,
you are going to getcomplications.
And if you have, if you're highvolume, there's a percentage of
them that they can getcomplicated, and I wanted to see
that and be able to managecomplications, because once
you're on your own, you are onyour own, and so I wanted to see
as many of those things aspossible, and I also.

(14:06):
The other thing is that I alsowanted it to be just cosmetic
heavy.
I didn't want to do anythingelse besides cosmetics.
In Jacksonville we did a lot ofreconstructive surgery.
We did free fibula flaps, wedid forearm flaps, we did
pectoralis major flaps, we did alot of body work to reconstruct
the head and neck and to methat was an invaluable training,

(14:33):
that was the best and thatprepared me really well for my
fellowship.
So I didn't want anyreconstructive stuff in my
fellowship.
I wanted a full-on cosmeticexperience and high volume, and
I got it.
It was really good.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
I think you're dead on there.
I mean, without a strongtraining in reconstructive
surgery, you will never learnthe anatomy, you will never
learn how to manage thosecomplications, because with
reconstructive surgery, ofcourse, the rate of
complications is much higher.
And when you can manage those,managing complications in

(15:06):
cosmetic surgery is almost likea mini version of the
complications in reconstructivesurgery, and I think that's
where the basis and all thefoundation comes, and I think
that's where people get confusedbetween plastic surgery and
cosmetic surgery, where plasticsurgery is actually more
reconstructive and cosmeticsurgery is more about aesthetics
.
Some people call it aestheticsurgery so, but at the end of

(15:29):
the day they all do the same.
Now, today.
Now how many years have youbeen now in practice since?

Speaker 2 (15:37):
2017.
So I've been out for sevenyears.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
Seven years.
So where do you see yourself inyour career?
Because you're already doingamazing work.
And it's hard to know because Ilook at myself, you know, seven
, eight, 10 years into mypractice I had no idea.
I didn't know anything.
I know now, looking back, as tohow tall the sky is, you know

(16:05):
where the limits are.
Now I understand there'sbasically no limits in what we
can learn and I'm actuallyexcited.
I got to a point where I kind ofwas bored and where I thought I
learned everything I could havelearned.
And now I'm just kind of goingto work and until I decided to

(16:27):
attend more meetings and thenthat's where I learned new stuff
.
That's when I saw people doingthings differently and which not
necessarily me doing it the waythey are doing it.
But I came up with my own ideas, just being inspired by some
new ideas, and all of a sudden Irealized, man, you know, this

(16:48):
is like an endless opportunitywhere we can advance the field.
We can even contribute to it.
We don't have to, just like wedid in training, just read out
of books or just copy what ourmentor did.
We actually have the potentialand capacity to become the
frontier, to be at the frontierand to develop new techniques

(17:09):
that others might have notthought of, and be the engineer
of a new technique.
And so where in your career, inyour development, do you see
yourself now and where do yousee your own future?

Speaker 2 (17:23):
Well, I think it's important to highlight what
you're saying.
Like, I always see myself as acombination, like the way I
operate.
It's a combination of all mymentors and I see it.
I see Dr Fatahi train me, drFernandez and Jacksonville train
me.
I've been to Mexico with mycolleagues in Mexico, my guys in
Costa Rica, my guys in Colombiaand I've picked up little

(17:43):
techniques my colleagues inMexico, my guys in Costa Rica,
my guys in Colombia and I'vepicked up little techniques here
and there from people.
And then it becomes like theblend of all those techniques is
my technique right, because noone else has the same exact
training as I had.
And also, you know, obviously DrCozalina taught me a lot of the
basics of what I do today.
Dr Cozalina taught me a lot ofthe basics of what I do today.

(18:08):
So so yeah, I, I I'm at thepoint of my career where I I'm
still eager to learn so many newthings, new techniques.
There are surgeons in Brazil Iwant to go shadow.
There are surgeons in inColumbia, still that I want to
go shadow and just collaborate.
And a lot of times I go andshadow let's say I'm shadowing
like surgical techniques orsurgical things and I come back,
actually, with a couple ofsurgical things, but I come back

(18:28):
with a bunch of like systemsthat I can implement in my
office.
I've talked to you aboutsystems and I love the systems
you've implemented in youroffice, which I'm trying to see
how I can implement them in myoffice as well.
So I think it's just I'm at thepoint where I'm still building
as a surgeon and as a businessowner.
The other thing I have to beaware is, you know family, you

(18:51):
know staying, staying grounded,and make sure that you, that I'm
present for my wife, that I'mpresent for my kids, because
that's the other component ofour life that we have to, we
have to watch out for, yeah, Idon't want to be the surgeon
that's, uh, yeah, supersuccessful for 30 years, and and
not, uh, you know not, and mychildren say you know, you were
never there, or my wife, likeyou know, would say you were

(19:13):
never there.
So that's another thing that wewe have to work on, um, as we,
as we grow.
I think.

Speaker 1 (19:20):
I think, um, you touched on a very important
topic, which many call work-lifebalance, that is.
I think no one can give oneanother advice on that, because
everybody, I feel, has to figureout themselves for themselves
how to balance that, because wehave different values.
Different things are important.

(19:41):
Everybody's efficiency in whatthey do is different.
It's like you can spend onehour of quality time with your
family versus 10 hours or a weekof non-quality time.
Compare whether they work fromhome or how many days they go to

(20:08):
the office or how many hoursthey spend with their kids is
that's where it gets lost alittle bit.
It's lacking context where weshould be talking about quality
time when we talk about time,and I think everybody has to
figure that out for themselves.
I myself have been almost likefeeling guilty about not
spending enough time with myfamily all these years just

(20:31):
because everybody talks aboutwork than at home.
All my life, you know, when wewere, from the time we were
students, residents, and thenstarting our careers and now
grinding it.
You know you feel like you knowyou kind of feel guilty, but

(20:55):
then how else are you going tobe the best at what you do?
Like you can't be good at whatyou do if you don't put in the
work, but then, well then, wheredoes the family come in?
And I think that's the partthat you can't guilt yourself.
You just have to make sure thatthe time you spend with your
family it's quality time,because you can't just ignore

(21:19):
that.
I have actually done justactually this tomorrow, which is
Monday, is the first Monday ofthe Mondays I'm taking off,
because I've decided to take offevery other Monday to give
myself and my family a three-dayweekend, at least twice a month
, and then hopefully putting itinto transitioning into every

(21:44):
week week, and so I'm reallyexcited for that, and I think
you're absolutely right youcan't forget about life.
I think that is what balancesus, so we can actually perform
better at our work and at ourjobs, and so I think everybody
has to figure out for themselves, and the last thing anyone
should do is to guilt themselves.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
Absolutely.
And also I mean in my case,like I also thank my wife for
everything that she does for thefamily when I'm at work,
because even though she's not astay-at-home mom, she actually
works in my office as well.
She's a nurse injector, a nursepractitioner, and I appreciate
everything she does for thefamily.
That way it frees me up to dowhat I need to do at work.

(22:28):
Like you said, to continue toimprove in our craft, we have to
do repetition and repetitionand repetition.
Look at the greats like KobeBryant, michael Jordan.
What do they do?
They just repetition,repetition, repetition.
And who is behind them was agreat wife who's raising the
kids and all of that.
But also, you can't just belike, okay, you do that and I do

(22:49):
this, no, we have to parenttogether, but we got to give
them you know a lot I thinkthere has to be an understanding
.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
there has to be an understanding and chemistry from
both sides.
I mean, if someone doesn'tappreciate what you do, uh, no
matter what, they're not goingto understand what you're doing
and they're going to resent youfor that and that's you know.
I guess, since your wife is inthe same business and she has

(23:16):
probably a better understandingbecause she understands what's
going into all of this, you knowhow much work it is, because
the other side of what we do iswhat is the business aspect?
Many forget that.
You know, I didn't, for myself,I didn't realize the, the
amount of time, effort andexpertise required to actually

(23:40):
run the business around.
What we're passionate about,which is being in the operating
room, because without a, withouta being able to run a business
or having a business, you can't,at least as a business owner or
having your own service center,you're not going to be in the
operating room, because where'sthe business going to come from?

(24:00):
And that's the part that weweren't taught at all.
I mean, mean, I was taughtduring my fellowship, that's uh,
I learned it there, uh, becauseit was a private practice
environment, and I assume you aswell.
But yeah, where was for you thechallenge, uh?
Where was for you the rudeawakening like, oh shit, you
know, that's, that's, uh, that'sa lot of stuff that I don't

(24:23):
know, and how am I going to dothis?
And so walk us through yourjourney how you got acquainted
to the business aspect ofrunning a practice and how you
got into it and how you'remanaging it now.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah Well early on in my fellowship I understood that
social media was going to bevery important for me to get
patients.
I understood that very early on.
So in my fellowship I startedtrying to get content for my
social media.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
How did you learn that?
Because did the birdie tell you?
I mean, how did you know that?

Speaker 2 (25:01):
You just have to watch the world.
You have to see where the worldis going.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
Right, that's what my question is Can you bring us to
watch the world?
You have to see where the worldis going, right, Like well.
That's why my that's what myquestion is how, what did you,
can you like, bring us to thatmoment?

Speaker 2 (25:09):
Sure, the moment was my aha moment was Dr Miami.
Dr Miami is a plastic surgeonin Miami who started doing
Snapchatting, snapchat's videosof his surgery, his tummyucks,
his bbls and all of this, andeverybody was talking about this
guy.
Didn't matter if you wantedplastic surgery, you didn't want

(25:31):
a plastic surgery.
The the thing they would saywould be have you seen that guy
that's showing like all thiscrazy stuff on snapchat?
And I'm like, oh, let me seethen.
Oh wow, oh wow, he, he takesyou into the operating room.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
That was very early on, right, that was what 2012?

Speaker 2 (25:46):
Yeah, that was 2012, 2011,.
I think so.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
I mean, back then he was a complete outlier by doing
that.
I mean, look at today thisplastic surgeon, dr Roxy,
whatever her name is who losther license of dancing in the
operating room.
This happened now we're talkingabout 12 years ago which he was
the only one.
How did you not cringe or frownon that, on him doing that, and

(26:13):
how did you adopt it?
Because I feel I had adopted itthat early.
I just didn't because I wasn'teven on social media back then,
so I missed that, I missed out.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
So when I first saw that, when I first saw that, I
said this guy is a genius.
This guy's a genius.
He is cracking the code.
He's taking people into theoperating room, whether you like
it or not.
If you like blood, you're likeme Wow, this is amazing.
If you don't like it, like ohmy God, this is disgusting.

(26:43):
But either one of thosereactions gets you talking about
it, and because it gets youtalking about it, it gets you
more and more popularity, andthat's it.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
So I said you know, this makes you.
You know this makes you agenius.
Right by recognizing, byrecognizing another genius.
This makes you a genius becausemany didn't recognize that.
There you go.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
Well, i't recognize that.
There you go.
Well, I just saw that.
I said, yeah, that guy's agenius.
I need to figure out how I cando something like this.
And I was far from going intofellowship, far from going into
private practice, but I said Ineed to figure out between now
and when I go into practice.
My business has to implementsocial media in it for me to be

(27:25):
successful and have patients.
So in my fellowship I started,I asked my fellowship director
hey, is there a way where we canend the consent that we can
have patients sign where I canpost maybe something for an
afters and things like that,maybe not identifiable features
of their body and things likethat?
And then he let me implement it.
And so I took some of thatcontent into private practice

(27:47):
and I was able to, from scratch,start building.
And then, once you startoperating on people, I think
it's just when people trust youand you treat them well, they'll
give you permission to post andthings like that.
And they understand that this is, they understand that you're an
artist Like this is work, thatyou have a talent that other
people don't have and,especially in this region, they

(28:10):
also appreciate that there'ssomeone who speaks Spanish, who
speaks their language.
A lot of times, a lot of mypatients do speak Spanish,
although I have all kinds ofethnicities in my practice, the
people just want to.
That's the way of saying thankyou.
You know, they used to bring uscookies.
They used to bring us cookies,they used to bring us donuts,
but now they're like you knowwhat, dr ratana, go ahead and

(28:31):
post that stuff.
Man, you, you, you, you deserve, uh, to show how much of an
artist you are, and that's whythey consent.
I, I think I only post 50 ofthe work that I actually do,
because the other 50 of peopleare private and I respect that
and I that's fine, and I'mthankful and grateful for all
the people that allowed me topost their results, because I do
want to show what we can dowith different body types.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
Yeah, I think the one myth that I wish I had and
that's why sometimes you justcan't listen to naysayers, man I
mean, the one myth that kept mefrom jumping onto that
ingenious idea was that peopletelling me that first of all
it's a terrible idea online oron social media, which led me

(29:22):
not even to ask the questionuntil I was like man.
I realized the importance ofsocial media and I realized and
I saw others doing it I'm likeman, like how are they doing it?
Let me just ask my patients,until I realized, like literally
I would say, 70% of my patients, if not 80, they actually agree

(29:42):
, and then another five to 10%.
At first they don't agree.
After they see the results,they're so excited, they're so
grateful, they're so proud,they're like you know what?
I didn't want you to share theminitially, but you know,
because I wasn't sure how I'mgoing to look.
But you can absolutely sharethem, I love it and thank you so

(30:03):
much.
And then in hindsight, theyrelease their photos and I think
it goes back to what they saythey're grateful, they're
appreciative, they want to giveback and some of them even say
well, that's how I found you.
So if I can help someone elsefind you through my pictures.
Absolutely, here you go, and Ithink people are more generous

(30:24):
than we think and I wish Ihadn't listened to naysayers
early on.
So that's what makes you agenius and I respect you for
that.
Now, when you now having saidall of that, how much of your
business do you attribute tosocial media?

(30:47):
Now, when we talk about socialmedia, we talk about organic,
which means it's really for free.
It's just your time of postingwhat people don't realize.
People always.
I see all my plastic surgerycolleagues.
They're like oh, instagram hasshadow banned me and this, and
that I'm like maybe because yourcontent is not that interesting

(31:07):
and maybe you should makedifferent content because
there's so many others thatdon't get shadow banned and so
change your content, bring morevalue and, plus, why are you
complaining?
It's for free, so what are youcomplaining about?
So my question now to you again, going back, how much of your

(31:27):
business do you attribute tosocial media, to the organic
which is free?

Speaker 2 (31:32):
So 100% of my patients come from social media.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
Here you have it.
Guys and gals, Did you guyslisten how much?

Speaker 2 (31:41):
100% of my patients come from social media.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
I think we can end the podcast here.
Look, I'm going crazy.
I think we can end the podcasthere.
Look, I'm going crazy.
Like I'm like trying toconvince people or talk to
people about the importance ofit, and everybody, like, when I
go on talks they're like, hey,I'm struggling getting in
business to growing.
I'm like where's?

(32:05):
I look at their social media,they just posted what, like they
had pizza yesterday and like,happy Thanksgiving, that's their
post.
I'm like why would anybody likehow does anybody actually know
what you do or how good you are?
I mean, that's showcasing.
You know, I compare it to ourbefore and afters back in the
old days that we had on ourwebsite.

(32:27):
So that's pretty much obsolete.
I mean, I think unless you're70 or 80 years old, you're not
going on anybody's website.
You're on social media.
There's not enough time in aday now to.
I mean, no one even has alaptop anymore.
You know, I have my laptop here.
That's from 2015.
I haven't even upgraded itbecause I don't need a new
laptop.

(32:47):
I'm rarely on it.
The only time I use this laptopis when I'm doing a podcast.
Yeah, and so, um, so 100percent.
And, and that's amazing.
Now, how many followers did youstart with when?
you open up your social mediaaccount, like the first day you
signed up.
So how many followers did youhave?

(33:08):
So this is what.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
I did so.
I had Instagram when Instagramopened up when 2000.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
Well, same yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
Is it 2010 or 2011,.
2012?

Speaker 1 (33:18):
Yeah, very early.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
Yeah, so I had it.
I even I downloaded that app,thinking it was a photo editing
app.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
Which it was.
It was actually a photo postingapp.
That's what it was?

Speaker 2 (33:28):
it was actually a photo posting app, that's what
it was, and I just thought itwas cool the whole, all the
filters that you could do withit I'm always pretty cool black
and white and whatever right.
I had that.
So I opened that account thenand I just, you know, fought,
you know, just like facebook,followed friends, friends follow
me back, family members, all ofthat.
When I'm going into fellowshipand I'm realizing that I need to
brand myself, I switch mypersonal account that same one

(33:52):
that I've always had and Iswitch it into a business
account and so basically, thepeople that are following me are
just my cousins, my family andmy friends, that's it, and I
just start posting content ofwhat I'm doing.
I start educating people Breastimplants let's talk about
breast implants.
Just start posting content ofwhat I'm doing.
I start educating people aboutbreast implants.
Let's talk about breastimplants.
Silicone versus saline Did youguys know the difference?

(34:13):
No, so just giving educationalvalue to those people who are
looking at it.
And what I find is that thosepeople they're just your friends
, but they have different setsof friends and different sets of
family members, right?
So there's all this network ofpeople that right, that you
think is like oh, my friends arenot going to come to me to get
surgery.
Or my mom is like you know, ormaybe they will maybe, yes,

(34:34):
maybe they won't that theirfriends and their family members
will.
So if you give them value andlet's say you said you that
example I just gave breastimplants silicone versus saline
and you explain it well, in avery, very basic way that
everybody can understand.
You're not talking to yourdoctor friends, you're talking
to your mother or your sisters,right, or your cousins that

(34:57):
don't know medicine, and youexplain it in a good way.
Now, next time they're at abrunch with their friends and
that topic comes on, they'regoing to have something to say,
something to contribute to theconversation because of you.
And now they're going to saywhere'd you hear that?
Oh, my cousin is actually asurgeon.
Let me show you his page.
Boom, boom, boom.
Oh, now you just gained 10followers at brunch, 10

(35:18):
followers that you have no idea,you would have never connected
with unless you made theeducational post.
That's the power of socialmedia.
And then, exponentially, itgrows.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
And, by the way, how many followers did you start off
with day one?

Speaker 2 (35:33):
a thousand probably, just no the first day.

Speaker 1 (35:35):
You just open it up, you just signed in your account
oh yeah, zero, zero followers.
thank you so to all thelisteners.
We all started with zero,because there's not an event
where I talk about theimportance of it and then you
know what the other person says.
Well, it's easy for you to sayyou have hundreds of followers,
hundreds, thousands of followers, okay, and like your point,

(35:59):
like how many did we start with?
It's like no one wants to putthe reps in.
You look at Mr Olympia andyou're like, well, you know,
it's easy for you to say youhave all these muscles, like no
one talks about how he got there.
Yeah, you know, and it'sbecause people, how many hours?

Speaker 2 (36:17):
people are comparing, like you're like.
This is not your end resultyeah, but this is not your day
one, their day, they on day zero.
They haven't even put in thework to say this is my day one
of social media, but they'retalking to Dr Hemra, who's day
number 4,000 on social media.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
Almost 2,000 now.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
There you go.
So you have all these days ofwork and content and stuff, and
they're like, oh yeah, it's easyfor you to say because you have
so many.
Yeah, but we started withnothing.
We started with friends andfamily members just following us
out of courtesy of knowing us,and then you grow.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
Yeah, I mean I talk about when I talk in front of
the audience and try to inspirepeople.
The first thing I talk about isyou know, to be successful in
anything you do, you need tobring in three things to the
table Passion, consistency andhard work.

(37:19):
Okay, without those three, I'msorry.
I mean, like you said, nothinggrows on trees.
One more Discipline, discipline, discipline.
I actually talk about that aswell.
Discipline goes synonymous withhard work.
I mean, in order to be a hardworker, you have to be
disciplined Absolutely.
And to all the young folks thatare listening, as well as all

(37:42):
the older folks that arelistening and complaining that
their business has been slowingdown, all the older folks that
are listening and complainingthat their business has been
slowing down, look at which oneof these three points you're not
contributing to and then youwill have the answer.
And I love the fact that you canbullshit others, but at the end
of the day, you can't bullshityourself when you put your head

(38:04):
on a pillow at night.
All those demons are going tocome and you're going to have to
face them, and so there's manynow, I think, from the older
generation in specific,poo-pooing social media and
demonizing it.
And look at Congress now istrying to ban TikTok, which
they're probably going to do.
It's because they don'tunderstand it.

(38:26):
They just don't understand it,like, they just don't understand
it.
And people that vote for that,you know they're the older
people, you know they're theones that actually go vote,
because the younger people, theyreally don't care, you know,
and it's unfortunate.
I think more of the youngerpeople need to be active and,
you know, raise their voice andhave a say, or else, you know,

(38:51):
we're just going to go back intime again.
I agree.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
I agree, you know there's older politicians.
They don't even know how to useTikTok right?

Speaker 1 (38:58):
Yeah, of course that's what it is here.
Chinese are, it's owned byChinese and we're being
infiltrated.
Being infiltrated and it's like, well, why don't you change
your infrastructure?
Uh, so the chinese can't comeand like lock out the pipelines
or I'll shut down ourelectricity.
You know, you know, if you lookat the it infrastructure of the

(39:18):
government, it's, it's, it'sterrible.
You know, I have people thatare consultants for the
government.
The stuff that they tell methat's going on with the
infrastructure is shocking.
It's like we're talking they'rebehind 15 years.
So, of course, you know all theenemies.
They can go, and you know,someone can just shut off the

(39:39):
electricity of a whole city.
It's, it's like they laugh atus and now they want to ban
tiktok, thinking like that willsolve the problem and so.
But so let's assume they bantiktok.
You know, let's next.
Uh, tomorrow you wake up.
No more tiktok.
What are you going to do?
Are you going to care?
I'm not going to care.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
My most of my business is run through
instagram what if they closeinstagram tomorrow?

Speaker 1 (40:05):
what are you?

Speaker 2 (40:07):
going to do Exactly.
You know what I'm reading abook right now that talks about
what are your next five moveswhen something very, very
critical happens.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
Okay, instagram shuts down, tiktok shuts down.
What are you going to do?
You read that book.
What are you going to do?
You?

Speaker 2 (40:27):
know right now, I don't have those next five moves
thought out.
What are you going to do?
You read that book.
What are you going to do?
You know, right now I don'thave those next five moves
thought out.
I need to sit down and envisionwhat I'm going to do.
If that happens, I'll tell youwhat I think, but I'm going to
do something.
I'm not going to sit here andcry about it.
I'm going to do something.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
Well, what do all these platforms have in common?
What do they bring to the tablein common?
What do they?
What do they bring to the table?
Attention, right, people'sattention.
So if your attention has beenon tiktok and instagram, they
shut, shut down instagram andtiktok.
Where's the attention gonna go?
I don't know, youtube maybe,but somewhere it's gonna go

(41:02):
somewhere else.
Yeah, so if it goes somewhereelse, we're gonna go somewhere
else.
It's like going into a, to a, toa club or a party.
You know you go out at night.
You know you go to yourfavorite club.
You realize, oh shoot, they'reclosed.
You're gonna go to the.
Probably all the people thatwanted to go to that club with

(41:24):
you, they realize the the samething.
So they're going to gosomewhere else.
So you're just going to gowhere somewhere else is.
So I'm not.
So you know, I really don'tcare if they close tomorrow,
because I know that theattention is going to go
somewhere else and I'm justgoing to be there where the
attention is at that time.
So I think we don't have topush the panic button.

(41:45):
We just have to go where theattention is, and these
platforms are all attentionplatforms, that's all there are.
You know A hundred percent, sothat's my take.
So are you doing anything elseother than social media to
promote your business?

Speaker 2 (42:03):
No, Like we don't.
We, when I started, we usedLike newsletters, blogs um
mailers.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
What?

Speaker 2 (42:12):
not.
You know, we are not like whatI'm doing these days.
I'm getting some tv attentionlike, uh, there's some spanish,
uh, some spanish uh stationslike telemundo univision, both
of those have.
Telemundo already did a coupleof things with us.
They did a four-episode serieson cosmetic surgery, post-op

(42:34):
massages, things like that mybiography.
They also highlighted on there,I saw that.
So that was pretty cool andthat's rolling out right now as
we speak.
Then I had Univision.
A representative of Univisionalso saw that on Telemundo.
They thought it was interesting.
They want to take a differentsort of approach and I like
their approach because that'sthe approach I've always wanted

(42:55):
to do, actually, and it's aneducational approach.
The reason why we want to do aneducational approach about
cosmetic surgery in this area inthe DMV is because and maybe
take it national, becauseUnivision is national it's about
educating people on theseprocedures because there's a lot
of corporate or there's a lotof corporate people getting into

(43:16):
the aesthetic surgery aestheticworld.
They know spas are profitable,lipo 360s and BBLs are
profitable.
So all these hedge fund peopleand all this, like all these
people want to get involved butthey don't care about the ethics
of the whole business and so alot of people are getting

(43:38):
botched and they're getting badresults.
Some people are dying becauseit's not being done properly,
and who suffers a lot of timeare the low socioeconomic status
individuals who are.
They don't educate themselvesenough on who's performing this
procedure.
Are these clinics certified ornot certified, like right, and a

(43:59):
lot of times it is the Latinocommunity or the
African-American community, orjust like the low socioeconomic
status people who don't educatethemselves.
So educating people on hey,these are the things to watch
out for.
These are the things to lookout for.
Please do your research.
Don't just give that one bodythat you have.
It's not like you have threebodies that you can change into.

(44:19):
You have one.
Make sure you go to the rightperson.

Speaker 1 (44:23):
I think that's a great idea because, like you
said, most often the low-hangingfruit they get, you know,
become victims of botched, andit's the same in facial cosmetic
surgery.
Most of them are the ones thatare trying to avoid what should

(44:49):
be done and then get basicallysuckered into what sounds too
good to be true, until theyrealize that that was a bad idea
.
And now they have to undo thedamage to get to what they
should have had in the firstplace.
And I think education is alwayskey.
I think the best way for us tocontribute and to make sure

(45:14):
things are done safely and alsobe proud of ourselves is not
just to educate ourselves, butalso to educate our community.
Even if someone doesn't come toyou for surgery, at least they
watch your videos and they canlearn about it.
And if they have it somewhereelse done, at least they're
educated enough to ask theproper question, because someone

(45:36):
might be in a differentgeographic or demographic area,
they might not want to come andtravel even though a lot of
patients come and travel to youbut at least they get the
benefit of your education.
I think that's a great thing.
I think all doctors shouldeducate, primarily because you
know first, do no harm right.

(45:57):
And so how has your practiceevolved?
From a local to now a nationaland international practice
practice?
Walk us through that evolutionof your practice.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
Yeah, um, yeah, the first couple years, you know, my
practice was very just a localpractice.
You know, dmv only maryland dc,virginia kind of clientele, but
with the power of social mediaand the word of mouth that that
that creates, uh, creates, uh,yeah, I've had patients from
Japan, germany, uh, england, uh,several, several areas of the

(46:36):
world, and then also from um,from, from Florida, from Texas,
from California, from, uhWashington state, everywhere, uh
, new York city.
So it is, it is beautiful tosee that.
But I also know what that meanstoo, because you know I, for
instance, I have rules that Ithat I stick to and I'm strictly

(46:57):
about those rules.
And they say, dr Ratana, can Icome there for two, three days?
You do my surgery and I leave.
I said no, absolutely not.
You need to stay here for twoweeks.
That's my rule 14, give me 14days, I operate on you, let me
follow you for 14 days and letme send you back to Japan,
knowing that you, that we'remostly good, we're 90% there,

(47:17):
right, and even then, you knowlike things can arise later on,
things that I can't control.
But at least give me 14 days ofcontrol so that I can sleep at
night, so that you can sleep atnight so that you can say that
you made the right decision,that you chose the right person
that cares about your results.
Like I care about every singleperson I touch, I care about the
results, probably more thanthey care about the results.

(47:39):
I tell people listen, it's yourbody, it's my reputation.
We both have something at stakehere, so please let's team up
and get an amazing resulttogether.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
And how do you, how do you set up these
consultations?
So do you?
I assume you're doing a virtualconsultation first.
How do they kind of find youand how do you set the process,
uh, start the process kind of,for those who are interested in
seeing you kind of walk usthrough that process yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
So it's all done to through.
You know, the first contact,the first point of contact is
social media, right?
So they send a DM and say hey,Dr Ratana, I like your work.
How do I set up a consult?
So there's a link in my biowith a bunch it's like a link
tree with a lot of links in itand one of them is just request
a virtual consultation orrequest a consultation in the
office.
So if you're from the area, youclick on the area that says I

(48:29):
want to request an in-personconsult.
If you live outside this area,then you click on I want a
virtual consult and we do itthrough Zoom, mainly.
That's the app that we use.
So we set you up there.
So basically, what they do isthey send a consultation request
, because I also want to filterout people who are not surgical
candidates.
Right, the main thing is safety, right, and the main thing is

(48:52):
that someone needs to be healthyenough to have surgery.
So I have BMI requirements, Ihave age requirements, I have
medical history requirements orthings that can get them out of
out of being a surgicalcandidate.
So they fill out the wholequestionnaire name, phone number
, everything right and medicalhistory and there's something
there that's a red flag.

(49:12):
That, for instance, a BMI.
If their BMI, their body massindex, is over 32 for me, then
they are not a surgicalcandidate in my office.
They might be a surgicalcandidate with another surgeon
with a different setup.
In my outpatient surgery centerit's 32 or below to be able to
have surgery with me.
So, yeah, after they go throughthat process and send photos,

(49:36):
then we can send a link to themand say, yeah, you do qualify to
have surgery with Dr Retana.
This is the fee and this is howyou book an available date.
They can all do it online.
They don't have to call anyoneand talk to a human being.
They can just do it all online.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
That's fantastic.
I think streamlining things andsetting up system is key for
efficiency.
As it is, it's already hard fora patient to travel across
country, continent or statewherever.
I think that's a great idea tostreamline this, and I think so
in your mind, where is thefuture of cosmetic surgery going

(50:12):
?
You know, seeing these likewhat you just said, seven, eight
years ago was unthinkable.
I mean, we had maybe one or twopatients a year.
Now it's like almost half ofour patients come from out of
town, out of country.
Now, given this trend and thepossibility because of
advancement of technology, wheredo you see the future of

(50:37):
cosmetic surgery?
Do you see yourself opening upor practicing in multiple
locations, or staying in onecentral location and taking
advantage of what you just said?
Because people are traveling tous and many patients ask me
online hey, are you coming toDubai, are you coming to

(51:00):
Barcelona, or it's like no, I'mjust one person.
I can't like split myself infive.
You know many patients.
If they really want ourservices, they come and travel
to us.
So where do you see the future?

Speaker 2 (51:14):
I mean, I see many things in the future, but in
terms of me, what I want to dois I want to maximize the
potential of my office, mymothership, continue to maximize
this potential and yet havepeople come to come to us.
Because you know, one thing isto do surgery here with my staff
.
I call it, like you know, whenyou think about like a sports

(51:36):
teams, like you know you haveyour home arena or your home
stadium.
So playing a game in that homestadium is like amazing.
You have your home crowd, youhave everything you need there.
I like that analogy.
And then if you take it, thenif you go play away in Dubai,
you go play away in Colombia,like you don't have your staff,

(52:01):
you don't have your favoritelead assistant that's there that
knows exactly everything youneed at what time you need it.
You don't have your favoriteanesthetist.
You know all of that, that thematerials could be different,
everything is different.
So performance surgeries outthere can they be done, sure,
but you probably do a better jobdoing it at home.
So that's what patients shouldrealize like, hey, I do want to
go see dr hammer, I do want togo see dr retana at their home

(52:24):
stadium I'm because they'regonna they're gonna slam dunk my
case every single time, likeI've seen it for many, many
times in their social media.
So I think I see that.
I do see that the market isendless.
The market now with socialmedia, it is endless.
People are coming fromeverywhere in the world and I
think that's beautiful.
But as surgeons, we all got tobe careful with those

(52:47):
out-of-town patients.
Those are the ones that worryme the most, because I know I
only have 14 days to watch themand then obviously, I follow up
with them through virtualchannels to make sure they're
doing well and usually, you knowwe have a good network of
surgeons throughout the countrythat we can be like.
You know you're close toOklahoma, I have some friends
there.
You're in Boston, I have otherfriends there that can see you.

(53:07):
They'll do a favor for me andthey can see you.
So because we go to conference,because we continue to network
with people, I believe that wecan also help each other out in
that regard if we ever need to.
So collaborations are key.
So, Daria, I think we're havingan audio issue here.

(53:40):
I can't hear you.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
Can you hear me?

Speaker 2 (53:46):
Hold on.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
Okay, I'm back.
So you know everybody knows bynow is familiar with what's
called body dysmorphia or bodydysmorphic disorder.
How do you, and statisticallyabout, based on what study you
cite anywhere between 10 to 15%of anybody walking through
outdoors has some degree of bodydysmorphic disorder.

(54:11):
How do you screen for that?
And then how do you handle thatwith the patient?
How do you bring it up?
How do you I assume you decidenot to perform surgery on some
of these patients and how do youfirst of all screen these
patients?
And how do you first of allscreen for that?

Speaker 2 (54:30):
and how do you diagnose that?
Um, I've had a few encounterswith that kind of stuff and I
mean, in my training I actuallysaw it.
It was, it was pretty obvious.
Um, I think my approach isalways honesty, um, in terms of
dealing with it.
But diagnosing it it's justjust.
I mean just listening to thepatient, looking at their

(54:53):
surgical history.
You know when, when, like youhave a very beautiful patient in
front of you with an amazingbody, who's talking about every
time I look in the mirror I seea monster, or I see like all
this stuff is like out ofproportion.
Or you know, you're just likewhen you're like, doing this, I

(55:13):
need Botox, by the way, but whenI'm frowning and I'm like, wait
, I don't see what she's seeing,I don't see what she's seeing.
And then you have that feelingand you're like you know what I
need to talk to this patientabout.
I'm like, first of all, youlook amazing.
Give yourself some credit.
And, number two, look at allthe surgeries you've had.
It looks like you've beenhaving I'm just thinking about

(55:34):
this one patient I had recently.
I'm like you've had a surgerylike almost every year for the
past like six years.
Yeah, what is it that you'retrying to achieve.
How can I help you achieve that?
If I see your vision, if yourvision is, I can envision your
vision, then we are good.
We're good to go.
Let's go to the OR.
But if I cannot visualize whatyou're trying to achieve, I'm

(55:58):
the wrong guy for you.
And I don't know if you canfind somebody that could get you
there, because you already lookamazing right.
Or when somebody's had so manysurgeries that they're already,
their body's just not, you know,it's just botched or it's just
disproportionate or something.
Again, I approach it alwayswith honesty.
I say listen, this is what Isee and I don't see how I can

(56:24):
help you.
That's how I end theconversation.
I'm not the right person foryou.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
Do you ever get those patients that we see on the
show botched come to you?
Those extreme cases have youever encountered?
What's the craziest case orpatient you've ever encountered?

Speaker 2 (56:41):
Yeah, like one or two that I've seen that I just you
know I what is?
I think what I told her waslike I said something like you
know, I do a lot of revisionsurgery in terms of body and
BBLs and things like that, andthere and the revision surgeries

(57:02):
that I do take on is because,again, I think I can help those
people get a better result.
But when I see that the damagehas been done beyond repair in
my hands, then I just don'tengage, I can't, I'm not going
to take your money to do nothingor to not improve it to the

(57:23):
level that you want it.
So that's how I approach thosecases too.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
But yeah, it's a couple aside.
It's a very hard conversationto have, you know, I have you
know.
For me it's always difficult.
It's a very because it's asensitive issue.
You don't want to minimizetheir concern, but at the same
time someone has to tell them,like, look, this direction
you're going is not a good one,and just because I'm not going
to do your surgery or I don'tthink you need a surgery or

(57:51):
whatever treatment, that doesn'tmean you should go and seek it
from someone else.
That's what I'm always worriedabout that they don't understand
why I rejected it and that theygo and get botched somewhere
else.
So I always make them aware ofthat and get botched somewhere
else.
So I always make them aware ofthat.
So we're going to have some toround and finish things up.

(58:11):
I love that account.
I can't believe we've beentalking for an hour already.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
Some rapid.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
Yeah, I know some rapid fire questions.
Okay, let's see what we getthrough.
So what's one common myth aboutcosmetic surgery?
You like to debunk One myththat's floating out there?

Speaker 2 (58:49):
that people do BBLs to make their booty look bigger.
That's a myth.
People do BBLs because theywant to change the shape and
maybe the volume of their booty,but not necessarily.
People associate BBLs withvolume, not necessarily.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
That's very, very informative and I think that has
to do also with some trendsthat came and went.
Quickly name the procedure youfind most rewarding to perform.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
Lipo 360 BBL with abdominal etching.
I love that procedure.
It's very rewarding to me yourresults.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
I mean, I'm getting goosebumps just talking about it
.
So, for those of you who don'tknow what I'm talking about,
just uh, um, just check out hissocial media instagram.
Um, if you uh wanna, um, I'llpost the handles of the social
media accounts at the captionfor all of you, um, and so just

(59:43):
go check out his.
I wouldn't call it work, Iwould call it art.
So you will know what, why.
He just said that.
What's the best piece of adviceyou've ever received from
anyone?

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Follow your dreams and don't let anyone tell you
otherwise, don't, you can't like.
Just dream big, dream big andgo get.
Go get your dreams.
I mean and and it's not goingto be easy, the journey is going
to be you're going to fall andscrape your knees and scrape
your face and scrape your elbowsand everything.

(01:00:24):
But that journey is beautifulbecause once you get to the, to
where you want to be, it's, it's.
It's just that much, it justmeans that much to you everybody
hear that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
Everybody hear that.
That's it, that's all there isto it early bird or night owl,
which one describes you best?

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
I, yeah, probably night night owl.
I'm not an early bird, but I,with our profession, we have to
get up early, which I don't mind, but uh, I do like to stay up
at night, uh, yeah all right.

Speaker 1 (01:01:01):
One surgical trend you see rising in 2024 natural
results, natural results, 100.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Most more and more people are just looking for
natural.
You know, I feel like 100, 90s,I feel like back in the night.
When I think of 90s I'm like,okay, pamela anderson, fake
breasts, very large breasts,everybody went with that trend.
Then you go into the 2000s withthe kim kardashians and their
booties being oversized andeverybody went that way and now
everybody's getting actually bblreductions.

(01:01:32):
They want the bbls to bereduced because everybody wants
to look natural.
So, and I love it, the naturalresults are the best in the face
and the body everywhere and I'm100 with you on that one I've
seen actually there's.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
That's why in why in my field, in facial cosmetic
surgery, there's been asignificant incline and increase
in deep plane facelifts becauseit yields the most natural
results and most people arehunkering down, saving their
money, trying to avoid gimmicksand save their money to
eventually get that facelift andsave their money to eventually

(01:02:05):
get that facelift and that trend.
I think last year there wasalmost a 20% rise in facelift
surgery because people want morenatural results.
What's your go-to relaxationactivity after a long day in the
OR doing your 360, bbl etchingand all this stuff which takes a

(01:02:25):
lot of physical work and hardwork?
What's your go-to relaxationactivity after a long day of
work?

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
my go-to is the gym.
I love going to the gym andgetting at least an hour, hour
and a half, of exercising after.

Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
Even though you're tired, you're exhausted.

Speaker 2 (01:02:44):
Your back is hurting, your arm is hurting the thing
is yes, yes, like you know, yeah, like I do a lot of you know it
is physically intensive to dolipos and fat transfers and
tummy tucks and all of that.
And it's also mentally draining, right, because you're
performing at a high level whereyou have to pay attention to

(01:03:04):
every single little detail.
So I'm actually more drainedmentally than I am physically
when I perform surgery and Ifeel like going to the gym
allows me to basically not thinkand just like it's like it's
mental health.
Basically, I think I'm treatingmy mental health at the gym
more than I am my physicalhealth, uh, or maybe both at
this, like at the same time, atthe same level.

(01:03:25):
I just this is one of my happyplaces.
The or is my happy place.
The gym is my other happy place, and then one hobby that I have
that also sort of sets me freeit's golfing.
I like golfing.
I've been, I picked it up in myresidency, nice, uh, and now
I'm picking it up again.
It's a very stimulating game,it relaxes me, it allows me to
be in my other happy place,which is outside, in the sun,

(01:03:48):
with, with, with fresh air, with, and sunscreen, all of that.
Man, absolutely yes.
My wife, my wife would latheruh sunscreen on my face all the
time.
I'm actually, I'm actually notthat good about that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
I need to be better about yeah, once you see like
your skin getting thinner and,uh, these age spots coming up,
you're like, oh shit, you know Ishould.
I should do that because whenyou're young and you don't see
the damage, you feel like, yeah,it's not gonna happen to be,
I'm invincible when you getolder.
Yeah, you see the wrinklescreeping up, you see the skin

(01:04:21):
and the tissues starting to thin.
You're like, wait a second, youknow?
So I think, uh, sunscreen isthe most underrated anti-aging
uh thing because of what we justtalked about.
So maybe something for you tolook after.
Um, one innovation you hope tosee in the field of cosmetic
surgery in the next decade,because you're you're going to

(01:04:43):
be practicing for a long timeyeah, more and more guided
procedures, guided surgery.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
What do you mean by that?
Like, I like the movement that'sthat the bbl has started with
um, with using the use ofultrasound technology.
Because of all the adverseevents that happen in Florida
with fat transfer, you know thesurgeons down there, at least in
Florida, are required to use anultrasound machine to know

(01:05:12):
exactly where their cannula isat all times so they don't get
to the deep veins in the glutealarea which can potentially end
up with fat embolisms.
I do like that, I do anythingthat's guided.
It just gives more sense ofsecurity, more sense of safety
to the patient and to thesurgeon.
Especially, yeah, especiallygood for training to, like you

(01:05:34):
know, you train surgeons.
We've been trained and it isnice to be able to see what your
mentor is explaining to you, uh, with an image, and so I think,
more and more and more guidedtechnology and ultrasound
technology in the field ofaesthetics, with injectables,
like my wife does and me, withfat transfers and same for the

(01:05:56):
face and everything.
I think, uh, I like to see thatsafety increase so that
patients are more confident thatwe're being safer 100%.

Speaker 1 (01:06:07):
And I in my practice use ultrasound-guided guidance
for facial not for surgery, butfor a lot of patients that come
with filler injections, or if Iwant to diagnose the facial
pockets.
If I do fat grafting, you knowthose are invaluable.

(01:06:30):
They make me so much better,more precise.
I think use of technology isvery underrated in the surgical
arena and I think we're learningmore about it, which is very
exciting.
If you weren't a surgeon,armando, what?
What would you be doing?
Um, that, what was the onething.
Did you have a plan b ever?
Or let's assume, even if youdidn't have a plan b, if someone

(01:06:55):
told you, hey, you can't be asurgeon anymore, what would you
be doing for the rest of yourlife?

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
you know, that's a great question.
You know, my kids, my kidsasked me that question a couple
of times.
And the first thing that comesto mind is the one thing that I
wanted to be growing up myentire life.
I always my math teacher.
I had a really good mathteacher and I said like again, I

(01:07:23):
just respected him a lot and Ithought the the guy was super
smart and he was able to explainthings really, really well and
math came very natural to me.
I said, maybe one day I'll be amath teacher.
That sounds like a great idea.
And then I scratched it after awhile.
But maybe I'll be.
I would be a teacher.
I like teaching, so I would besome kind of teacher.
I would you're already teachingon social media.

(01:07:45):
You're teaching your patients,we're teaching our patients in
our consultations.

Speaker 1 (01:07:49):
That's maybe why they can relate well to you, because
you're teaching and you comefrom a point of wanting to help
someone understand something.
You know what, what sometimeswe forget.
We're teaching every day,that's what you're doing.
We teach every day and that'swhat that's the are.

Speaker 2 (01:08:03):
We teach every day and that's what that's amazing I
love about our profession.
Like when I was on vacationlast week, right, I told you I
kind of missed the wholeinteraction with patients,
teaching them things, talkingthem through things.
Uh, so I would.
I would be some kind of teacherI don't know what kind of you
can still do it through here andthat's right and I love it.
And you know, the other thing Ienjoy is like helping my kids

(01:08:26):
with their homework.
I love it.
Well, it takes me back tomiddle school, high school days,
where I am able to teach thingslike that that I still somehow
have in my brain.

Speaker 1 (01:08:35):
It's pretty cool well , maybe one day you're going to
have your own fellowshiptraining program and you can
teach other surgeons.
You know, for me, picking thatup is probably the best decision
I made for my career, whichbrought this breeze of fresh air
into not just my practice, justmy life, and I think you'd make

(01:08:57):
a great, great teacher and Ithink anyone could greatly
benefit from your expertise.

Speaker 2 (01:09:06):
So it's something you might consider in the future
yeah and the and the, the fewtimes I've gotten.
You know I also considergetting on the podium and
teaching your techniques or yourexperience with other people.
Uh, or reviewing the literatureis also a great moment of
teaching.
But when you're teaching andI'm like you know what, out of
that process of teaching thiscourse or teaching this lecture,

(01:09:30):
I learned a ton, Like I learnedmore than I taught, kind of
thing you know.
So that aspect of teaching Ienjoy as well, just being able
to learn more.

Speaker 1 (01:09:40):
Love it, so I'll see you on the podium more often now
, correct?
Yes, sir, I'll see you on thepodium more often now, correct,
yes, sir?
Good Last question.
Is there a question that Ishould have?

Speaker 2 (01:09:53):
asked you and I didn't ask you.
I like to ask that in closing.
I don't know, I think wecovered a lot of stuff.
You asked me the one that Ilike to answer.
That answer that you know, like, what would you?
What would you tell?
What would you tell people?
Um, the other thing issomething we talked about
earlier.
Um, I also I feel the need topay it forward, right, someone

(01:10:19):
you know.
When I asked the surgeon, hey,can I come shadow you?
I want to see what you do on adaily basis?
And he said, yeah, of course,come on by.
And he changed my life.
After me shadowing him for acouple of weeks, I made the
decision that I'm going topursue that career.
I'm going to become a surgeonand I always tell people, no
matter where you are in yourtraining high school, college,

(01:10:39):
beyond college, professionalschool but if what we do sparks
an interest for you and you wantto come shadow us in the office
, dm me, send me an email.
We have ways of getting peoplein, especially in the summertime
.
The number of interns, or thenumber of people that are
interning with us this summer,has grown exponentially, which I

(01:11:00):
love.
Hopefully, we spark a couple ofpeople to become surgeons or to
become nurses or CRNAs.
We've had a couple that came tosee our CRNAs who are now in
CRNA school.
Wow, and so and they you knowthe gratification is they start
DM.
Dr Rattan, I got into my CRNAschool at Georgetown.
Thank you for allowing me toshallow your CRNAs and all of

(01:11:23):
that.
So to me, knowing that that I'mpaying it forward and where I
came from, I just enjoy thatkind of stuff for sure, love it.

Speaker 1 (01:11:35):
Love it.
Armando, thank you as a friendand colleague.
I want to thank you for comingon on the show and you are to me
.
You're the rising star in thefield and keep being inspired
and keep inspiring, and I can'twait to see great things and be

(01:11:56):
on the podium together and teachtogether and learn from each
other, and I'm so grateful tohave you here in the DMV area,
which is a very lonely area tobe in in our profession.
It's because we're certainlynot in Beverly Hills or Miami
and where those hubs are.
So it's good to have someonelike-minded and as talented as

(01:12:19):
yourself, and I think I'm reallygrateful also for our
friendship growing not just thecollegial relationship but also
our friendship, and I'm reallyexcited to witness your journey.
And, dude, thanks for coming onand I love your work.
And for anyone that wants toget in touch with you, what's

(01:12:41):
the best way to get in touchwith you?

Speaker 2 (01:12:44):
My social media.
My Instagram lovebodydc is myhandle DM me.
I still run my social media.
I'm the only one responding toDMs on there, so if you DM me,
you'll definitely get a messageback.
I want to tell you guys thatthe way me and this amazing
surgeon connected was throughsocial media.

(01:13:05):
It was just, yeah, liking ourposts, liking each other's posts
.
I'm like, wow, this guy doessome amazing facial procedures,
true, and that's the thing.
Like I, I refer all myfacelifts and rhinoplasty to him
because, thank you, becauseit's the same sort of philosophy
natural results look good todayand they're gonna look good

(01:13:25):
ages from now.
So we yeah, we became friendson social media.
Look, we are doing a podcast.
We've got conferences together.
We're probably gonna we stillneed to do dinner one of these
days with the wife.
Yes, I mean all that stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:13:37):
We'll do that.
Well, we're still young, I like.
I like to believe and I knowyou.
I got 10 years on you, but Ifeel like I'm 40.
So we're still young.
So the night is young, the dayis young.
So I'm looking forward to it.
Thank you, my friend, thanksfor coming on and thanks for
everybody tuning in.

(01:13:57):
And if you're interested to getin touch with Dr Ratana at
lovethatbodybc on Instagram andall the links to his other
handles will be posted downbelow.
Thanks everybody, until nexttime.
Bye, thank you.