The La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Podcast - With San Diego’s Most Loved Plastic Surgeons

The La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Podcast - With San Diego’s Most Loved Plastic Surgeons

Go beyond the surface with insights from the plastic surgery experts at La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre. Dive deep into the latest advancements, patient stories, and the artistry behind cosmetic surgery from a globally recognized practice, the 12x winner of the San Diego’s Best Union-Tribune Readers Poll, and the 2025 winner of Best Cosmetic Surgery Group in San Diego Magazine’s Best of San Diego Awards. With your hostess Monique Ramsey, we take you inside LJCSC, the place where dreams become real, featuring San Diego’s most loved plastic surgeons as our cosmetic surgery experts. Johan Brahme, MD, Plastic Surgeon: Practicing at La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre since 2004, Dr. Brahme is a double board certified plastic surgeon with a stellar reputation for his kind bedside manner, commitment to safety, and beautiful aesthetic surgery results. Dr. Brahme is a past president of the San Diego Plastic Surgery Society and a member of both the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and The Aesthetic Society (formerly ASAPS). John Smoot, MD, Plastic Surgeon: During his 30+ years as a board certified plastic surgeon in San Diego, Dr. John Smoot has earned a reputation for providing excellent care & beautiful cosmetic surgery results. With an extraordinary depth of skill and experience in plastic surgery, he well-known for advanced scar-reducing techniques with breast lift surgery and the highly effective internal bra technique for revision breast surgery. Dr. Smoot is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and served as Chief of Plastic Surgery at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, where he is also on staff. He’s a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, and the California Society of Plastic Surgeons. Hector Salazar-Reyes, MD, Plastic Surgeon: As a board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Hector Salazar-Reyes has a passion and respect for the field of cosmetic surgery and is well-regarded known for his exceptional patient care. Dr. Salazar completed his general and plastic surgery residencies at the world-renowned Houston Methodist Hospital, where the first silicone breast implants were developed. During this time, Dr. Salazar served as chief resident in both specialties and was recognized with service and most professional resident awards from Houston Methodist Hospital. He is proud to be certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the Board of Plastic Surgery of Mexico—and to be a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS). Luke Swistun, MD, Plastic Surgeon: Dr. Luke Swistun is a board-certified plastic surgeon with a background in visual arts and medical military service. He’s known for his artistic approach to plastic surgery and for the close, supportive relationship he forms with every person he treats. He is known nationally and internationally for his expertise in breast implant removal and his compassionate approach to patients experiencing breast implant illness. Kiersten Riedler, MD, Facial Plastic Surgeon: San Diego native Dr. Riedler brings dedication to all she does here at La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre. Double board certified in otolaryngology – head and neck surgery by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery by the American Board of Facial Plastic Surgery, she prioritizes communication, trust, and building relationships with everyone she treats. Diana Breister-Ghosh, MD, Plastic Surgeon: A board-certified plastic surgeon and San Diego native, Dr. Breister Ghosh delivers exceptional results and care to local women and men. She is known for the personal relationships she builds with her patients and her work to empower women through confidence-building plastic surgery.Though skilled at several types of procedures, she is most known for excellence in performing face and neck lifts, eyelid surgery, feminine rejuvenation, breast augmentation, breast lift, and tummy tucks. With a specialization in loose skin removal, Dr. Breister is passionate about helping people who have lost weight become less self-conscious about the loose skin left over. Send us a voicemail! We’ll answer your question on the podcast. Send us your message at thelajollacosmeticpodcast.com To learn more, go to ljcsc.com or follow @ljcsc on Instagram

Episodes

June 30, 2026 15 mins
The number on the scale went down, so why does everything still feel soft, loose, and unfinished? Monique Ramsey curates the best moments from conversations with the LJCSC team to answer the question that lands in consultations almost every day.

Janelle Robinson, who leads the practice and has used the medication herself, explains who's actually showing up for the medical weight loss program at LJCSC — and it's not peo...
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For a lot of women, the most intimidating part of a cosmetic procedure isn't the operating room. It's the money, and the quiet worry that asking about it makes you look like you can't afford it. LJCSC built its whole intake process around taking that fear off the table long before you walk through the door.

Janelle Robinson returns to show how the LJC team takes the mystery out of the price from the very first phone call. Ba...
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There's a reason a lean, sculpted chest can still carry a stubborn bit of fullness right behind the nipple — and it's the one spot a thousand reps will never flatten. Dr. Hector Salazar-Reyes explains why glandular breast tissue in men sits exactly where it's hardest to hide, and why building up the muscle around it can make it stand out even more.

Across the conversation with hostess Monique Ramsey, Dr. Salazar walks ...
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A woman walks into the office holding her phone, points at a stranger’s before-and-after, and says she doesn’t want that result. Dr. Luke Swistun’s answer is almost always the same: that isn’t you. The photo shows someone with different tissue, different proportions, and usually a different surgery — none of which predicts where her own breasts will settle.

Dr. Swistun is the explant expert...
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Around 48 to 72 hours after surgery, swelling peaks, the anesthesia haze lifts, and a lot of women look in the mirror and feel like they've made a mistake. Dr. Diana Breister has been in plastic surgery long enough to know that feeling almost never means what people think it means. Most of the time, it's not regret — it's chaos.

Dr. Breister, who came to La Jolla Cosmetic after years of reconstructive work at City of H...
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May 28, 2026 27 mins
At ten or eleven years old, Dr. Hector Salazar watched his grandmother step off a plane looking dramatically younger than she had a month earlier. She had quietly traveled out of town for cosmetic surgery, healed through the swelling and bruising in private, and come home presentable. 

That moment redirected a kid who, a few years earlier, had been caping the family dog like a bullfighter — toward seventeen years ...
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Dr. Diana Breister, a board-certified plastic surgeon who has done mommy makeovers in San Diego for over twenty years, joins us to talk about everything that happens after the six-week post-op visit. 

You can do planks, but no crunches for at least a year. The rectus muscles she stitches back together during a tummy tuck stay hyperactive long after the skin looks healed, and trying to fire them up too early can send the...
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Six months after her breast implants came out, a young woman handed Dr. Luke Swistun a full, untouched bottle of Xanax — the same prescription she had been burning through at three to four pills a day before the explant. 

Stories like hers are why Monique Ramsey is marking 230 episodes and five years of the La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast by going back to the archive.

Monique counts down one moment from each of t...
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When breast implant illness support groups started telling each other to ask their plastic surgeon for an “en bloc capsulectomy,” they were borrowing a term from cancer surgery — and asking for something most surgeons knew was impossible. The plastic surgery community didn’t correct them. They listened, and then they renamed it.

Dr. Luke Swistun walks hostess Monique Ramsey through the Breast Surgery ...
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Most patients walk into a breast augmentation consultation hoping to leave with answers. Ella walked in with research, reference photos, and a clear vision — and then made the deliberate decision to trust her plastic surgeon’s judgment in the operating room.

Born and raised on Oahu and a self-described petite, very active person, Ella spent over a year researching plastic surgeons in Hawaii and San Diego before b...
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Filler is an easy first step — quick, pretty much reversible, affordable. But there’s a moment patients know well: you’ve been filling the same area for years, and something still isn’t quite right.

Dr. Kiersten Riedler, facial plastic surgeon at La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre who operates and injects, walks us through the three most common filler-versus-surgery conversations she has in the consult ...
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Nearly four years ago, Janelle woke up from breast explant surgery, placed her hands on her chest, and felt free for the first time in 22 years.

She's back to share what life looks like on the other side: not just the physical recovery, but the emotional unraveling that came with it. A divorce, a new body, a whole new wardrobe, and a complete reimagining of what confidence even means.

Hear how Janelle went from daily ...
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    After his César Awards appearance, the internet decided Jim Carrey might be a clone and honestly, the reaction wasn't totally unwarranted.

    Dr. Johan Brahme, a San Diego plastic surgeon who has helped well over one thousand people refresh their appearance with a facelift, walks us through what actually changed, what worked, and where things went a step too far.

    Find out why brow lift surgery on men almost always backfi...
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    Bigger isn’t always better, and women are realizing it after living with breast implants.

    San Diego plastic surgeon Dr. Luke Swistun talks about the shift toward smaller, more natural-looking breasts. Everyone on social media is calling them “yoga boobs” or “ballerina boobs.”

    Hear why more women are choosing to remove their implants, what they want instead, and how you can still get shape...
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    Lipo or tummy tuck—how do you know which one you need?

    San Diego plastic surgeon Dr. Hector Salazar and Monique talk through the difference between liposuction and a tummy tuck, and why the right choice isn’t always obvious. Skin quality, muscle separation, and deeper layers like fascia all play a role in what will give you the result you want.

    They get into body contouring scars, recovery, why “less...
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    More than half of people who travel abroad for cosmetic surgery end up needing additional medical care when they return home.

    Monique and Hannah discuss the hidden risks of medical tourism, from missing post-operative care and limited follow-up to the financial fallout when complications happen back in the U.S.

    They also talk about why social media is driving more people to consider surgery overseas, what most people ...
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    Dr. Salazar returns to share how HD Lipo has evolved over the last five years and why realistic expectations are just as important as technology.

    Learn about HD Lipo recovery timelines, the importance of compression, how long it takes to see results, and why choosing an experienced plastic surgeon is critical for outcomes that look natural.
    From candidate selection to long-term maintenance, hear Dr. Salazar’s honest...
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    One in seven Americans plans to use a GLP-1 by 2026—and it’s already changing plastic surgery.

    Monique talks with Janelle, COO of La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre, about how GLP-1 medications are reshaping weight loss, surgical planning, and long-term results. 

    Janelle shares her personal experience using low-dose GLP-1s for maintenance, and why they can make weight management feel more sustainable ra...
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    Why does breast implant removal sometimes cost as much—or more—than getting implants in the first place? It sounds backwards… until you hear what actually goes into explant surgery.

    Explant surgery isn’t just about removing implants; it’s often about correcting the changes implants cause over time. While simple removal can be straightforward, adding capsule removal requires far more precision a...
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    Surgery doesn’t end when the procedure is over—and that’s the part most people don’t hear enough about. San Diego plastic surgeon Dr. Hector Salazar explains why what happens after can be just as important as the surgery itself.

    Follow-up visits are a critical part of healing safely and confidently, not just a formality. He walks through what to expect during recovery, why open communication with your...
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