May 26, 2025 • 35 mins
Ever wondered how social media is reshaping our perception of beauty? Dr. Daniel Kaufman, a board-certified plastic surgeon, takes us on an eye-opening journey through the complex relationship between social media, beauty standards, and self-acceptance.
In this compelling episode, Dr. Kaufman explores:
The double-edged sword of social media's influence on beauty ideals
Why teens are particularly vulnerable to unrealistic beauty standards
The importance of parental guidance in developing healthy body image
How to make informed decisions about plastic surgery
The balance between self-acceptance and self-improvement
Dr. Kaufman shares invaluable insights on navigating modern beauty ideals while maintaining psychological well-being. He emphasizes the significance of choosing board-certified surgeons and building trust-based relationships with medical professionals.
Ready to challenge your perspectives on beauty standards and learn how to foster healthy self-image in the digital age? Tune in to this transformative episode that goes beyond surface-level discussions of beauty and delves into the heart of self-worth and acceptance.
In this compelling episode, Dr. Kaufman explores:
The double-edged sword of social media's influence on beauty ideals
Why teens are particularly vulnerable to unrealistic beauty standards
The importance of parental guidance in developing healthy body image
How to make informed decisions about plastic surgery
The balance between self-acceptance and self-improvement
Dr. Kaufman shares invaluable insights on navigating modern beauty ideals while maintaining psychological well-being. He emphasizes the significance of choosing board-certified surgeons and building trust-based relationships with medical professionals.
Ready to challenge your perspectives on beauty standards and learn how to foster healthy self-image in the digital age? Tune in to this transformative episode that goes beyond surface-level discussions of beauty and delves into the heart of self-worth and acceptance.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What do you do when the world around you constantly
bombard you with images of ideal beauty.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Leaving you questioning your own self worth.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Today on Life Jack The Resilience Podcast, I am speaking
with doctor Daniel Kaufman, a board certified plastic and reconstructive
surgeon in Miami, Florida, who not only excels in his field,
but also understands the profound impact that social media has
on body image, especially for teens. With a background in
(00:31):
biomedical engineering and a passion for merging science with artistry,
doctor Kaufman has dedicated his career to not just performing surgeries,
but also to educating young individuals on the importance of
self acceptance and resilience.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Join us as we explore his insights on.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Navigating the challenges of modern beauty standards and fostering a
positive self image in a digital age.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Sometimes life gives us lemons, Sometimes it gives us lemonade.
Other times it gives us something entirely out of left
field that makes us say w t F. But no
matter what obstacles come, there is most often a way
out on the other side, and we are once again victorious.
(01:28):
My name is doctor Row, and you are listening to
my podcast about resilience. Every guest shares a tragedy to
triumph story to give listeners like you the inspiration to
push through every single day. Listen now as my next
guest shares how they were like Jack.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Hi, doctor Kaufman, welcome, Thank you so much for me
a guest on my show.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
How are you good?
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Good? Hey, doctor row nice to nice to be on
your show. Thanks so much for the invitation, and yeah,
looking forward to what should be a great conversation, an
important one for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Absolutely so, Doctor Kaufman. There are many varying opinions on
plastic surgery and exactly what it is, and of course
there are some negative and some positive. So can you
actually share what it is that you do when it
comes to plastic surgery.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Specifically, I help people achieve their dream bodies, become more
confident in their own skin, in themselves, and increase the
quality of their lives.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Now, doctor Kaufman, can you share your perspective on how
social media influences young people's perception of beauty. I remember,
of course I'm old enough to not you know, we
didn't have social media and so it was really images
on the television screen and then magazines, but now we
have these images online through social media. So can you
(02:53):
kind of explain how social media influences young people's perceptions
of beauty there and then how can it lead to
their interest and plastic surgery.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Well, I'm actually old enough to remember those days as well.
So social media has influenced plastic surgery in major ways,
especially in terms of becoming the most dominant aspect of
education and motivation for plastic surgery. And not only that,
but just like newspapers and other print media, movies and
film movies and television in their times, digital social media
(03:25):
has completely transformed our perception of esthetics and beauty standards
as well. So social media is both completely new and
at the same time it's just the natural progression of
society and culture. Now, this can be a very positive
thing if it helps you in achieving those goals of
your full potential and getting to that dream body, but
(03:48):
unfortunately it can also be detrimental, especially when we start
comparing ourselves to unrealistic ideals and essentially losing who we
are as as people. So, like everything else in life,
there's always good and bad, you know, to the influences
of social media and the Internet as a whole on
plastic surgery.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
So now I know there's a lot of you know,
interest around plastic surgery particularly, there are a lot of
celebrities that and that's the main people that we know
of who participate in plastic surgery. And then there's all
these different shows, whether they're reality based or scripted about
plastic surgery. But you know, what do you think leads
(04:29):
people's interest into having plastic surgery specifically? And can you
kind of give some positive aspects and then of course
the negative aspect.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Yeah, so you know, plastic surgery, I do get it.
It does get a lot of bad press out there,
partly because it's sensational, partly because it's a bit sallacious,
and you know, obviously we can all you know, there
is an element of gossip to it about the various
celebrities who have gotten plastic surgery, and that's just an
unfortunate kind of thing. But I'll tell see what, you know,
(05:00):
looking at the positives in my practice and in many
of my colleagues practices as well, we see the beauty
of plastic surgery. We actually get to see how it
helps uplift people's spirits as they undergo major, major body transformations.
And it's the reason that it's definitely the reason why
I went into plastic surgery. It's just the joy of
(05:21):
helping people achieve their true potentials in their bodies and
in their minds. Now, obviously, you know, when we you know,
when we concentrate on the negative and focus on all
the bad stuff out there, yeah, then you know, people
are going to click on that and it's going to
attract attention. But again, that's just an unfortunate thing because
(05:41):
you know, what I see on a daily basis is
I see just the you know, the sheer joy and
happiness of people overcoming so many obstacles in their lives
and and just in making the decisions to have better
health habits to you know, just you know, get more
out of life, get more to the you know, closer
to their true potential in life. And you know, that's
(06:04):
the you know, that's the real deal in plastic surgery,
that's what we see so often on a daily basis,
and a lot of that gets missed by the you know,
the lay media out there, and because you know, because
it doesn't you know, some of it doesn't sell quite
as well as maybe some of the more as they said,
some of the more sillacious or kind of you know,
(06:25):
slander or stuff that we could say out there. So again,
there's there's good and bad in there, but I like
to focus on the positives out there and that's what
keeps me going and makes my job just a sheer
joy to come to on a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Thank you so much for that answer.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So, you know, with the the number of celebrities, because
sometimes we see the celebrities and they've had so much
plastic surgery, they've had so many changes in reconstruction that
they almost look like a totally different person. And so
I wonder, or you know, what is that connection psychologically
(07:03):
in people who are not okay.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
With their bodies?
Speaker 1 (07:06):
And just like you know, we were talking earlier about teams,
you know, who are being influenced by social media and
wanting to look a certain way, then you know, what
is that correlation between the psychological effects and then this
need to change you know, yourself, whether it's your faith,
(07:27):
it's your body.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
You know, what do you think about that?
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Yeah? So, for sure, teens are being bombarded with or
exposed to a lot more imagery regarding bodies in the
general sense than you know, people like let's say my
age were ever exposed to back then, and that's just
a sign of the times. So in one way, it's
a lot different than Yes, there are a lot more
(07:51):
pressures on young minds today to look and be a
certain way and yeah, and unfortunately a lot of those
standards are completely unreasonable and yeah, and they can drive
a lot of negative emotions within developing young minds. This
can lead to all kinds of bad effects on life,
(08:11):
like feelings of inadequacy and insecurity, low self esteem, angst anger, jealousy,
even resentment, and even some you know, in extreme cases,
even some behaviors of self harm. And again that's a
very unfortunate thing. But I think that in light of
all this exponential expansion of social media and the body imagery,
(08:36):
and you know, a lot could be said about the
responsibilities of all the different parties involved in this matter.
But ultimately, I think it's up to good parenting to
help children form healthy body images that lead to stable
mental health conditions in life and essentially help you promote
good health habits. So so much of this goes back
(08:58):
into just developing the relationships. If you're a parent out
there just developing your relationship with your children and helping
them arrive at the best body image that they can
not only at the time that they're developing their young
minds and their adolescent and teenage years into young adulthood,
but as they continue on in their lives. Because you know,
(09:21):
as I always tell people, you know, all my patients,
your body is always a constant work in progress, none
of them. You know, from the day you're born till
the moment you died, your body is always changing, adjusting,
maturing to the environment that you put it in, and
just you know, the general you know, flow of life.
You know where the universe moves in one direction, and
(09:41):
that's forward. So we're all aging and we're all you know,
kind of changing with our bodies. If we can understand
how our body image changes as we go through life
and make it the healthiest one that it can be,
then that's, you know, that's the best way to kind
of move forward and avoid or or negate the next
the negative effects of the internet and social media.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
No, absolutely, because I know the body I have in
my forties is definitely not the body that I had
in my twins.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
That's for sure.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Now, I want to talk about the most famous surgery
that a lot of people, especially women and there are
some men who do it too, which is this VBA. Right,
that's the traditionally titled the Brazilian butt lift, but a
lot of people get it right to get that coke
bottle figure and sometimes with men it's the to make
(10:37):
sure they get the y shape type figure.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
So for anybody out there who is considering this type
of surgery, what advice did you give them to what
to look for in a doctor so that they're so
that they're safe out there? Right, because some people are
traveling overseas and and because it's teeth and they're coming
back and they're having medical problem.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Oh yeah, yeah. And and not only that, I mean
there's obviously you know, other horrible outcomes that have been
noted out there. And again they've been put out there
in the lay media because it you know, because it sells,
and you know, that's that's that's the news media. But
as far as the BBL is concerned, yes, it's you know,
(11:22):
in terms of BBL in specific because it is a
very common operation that's done out there, but also in
any kind of cosmetic plastic surgery that we're talking that
we could be talking about like Tommy Tucks, breast augmentations,
lifts and so forth. You first and foremost want to
make sure that you work with a qualified surgeon. Now
what that means is a plastic surgeon who's certified by
(11:45):
the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Now to be able
to say that when you ask a surgeon, hey, are
you certified by the American Border Plastic Surgery, it should
be a very quick yes or no answer, and you
know you could tell right there what essentially their level
of education and training is in providing this kind of service. Now,
beyond that, that's the initial step that you always got
(12:06):
to look for. Beyond that, you want to look at
their record in terms of their before and afters, and
you want to ask a lot of the questions that
would make sense. Well, for example, how many of the
BBL or Tommy Tuck, whatever surgery you're interested in, how
many have you done in your career? How many have
you done in the past year or the past month.
(12:28):
And obviously the answers to those questions should be substantial numbers,
and you want to be able to be confident in
the fact that your surgeon has done many of these operations,
obviously doing just a few. I'll tell you from personal experience,
that never gives you the appropriate level of experience, because
you got to do a whole bunch of these cosmetic
surgeries to really refine your techniques and to you know,
(12:51):
to get the best results. Now, when you look at
the body of work, and most surgeons would be happy
to show you the body of works, showing the before
an actors on their websites, on their social media pages.
Beyond all that, the board certification and the proof of
the work that they've done, you've got to make sure
that you actually like your surgeon. You know, you have
(13:12):
to go on at least a few consultations, and these
days it's made easier than ever. You can do virtual consultations.
I know that in my practice, I do them all
the time. We meet over zoom calls, you know, Google
meets whatever digital media we choose to And a lot
of my surgeons also, or a lot of my my
patients rather they follow me on social media and they've
(13:33):
already watched a lot of my educational videos, so that
they've learned so much about the things that I do
and the way that I am. But that final meaning
that you know, face to face consultation. Remember, this is
going to be an effort that's not going to be
done in one day. Rather, it's going to take a
process of preparation for the surgery, the actual performance of
(13:54):
the surgery, the actual recovery from the surgery, which is
never exactly as perfect as we wanted to be. There's
always little you know, lumps and bumps are a little
you know, things along the road that maybe we didn't expect.
And you've got to make sure that the person that
you're working with that you actually like them and that
you can have that leader of the team that could
(14:15):
take you across the finish line. If you got those
things nailed down, you make sure that you got the
qualifications and for the surgeon, the of course, the certification
by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. You have seen
their body of work, and again, just as important as
anything else, you actually like the person that they are
and you find that you can work with them in
(14:36):
getting to that you know, that dream body that you
want to get to. If you got those things down,
BBL tummy tucks, light persuption, any procedure that you'll want
to do likely you're going to have a great result.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
I love how you said that you actually have to
like your surgeon and build a relationship with your surgeon,
because I think that's not something that people think about.
I think people are just so focused on the results.
They just think, I know the results that I want
to get, and so that seems to be what the
focus is.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
So, you know, thank you for.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
That advice, because I never even thought about that either,
that you might want to pick somebody that you liked.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah, and you get to know right because they are
changing your body, right.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
And to add to that, Doctor Row, it's you know,
a lot of the surgeries that I do actually are
staged in a manner that we end up doing a
lot of different surgeries over a period of time. Let's say,
if you've lost a lot of weight, for example, and
you have a lot of excess surplus skin and a
lot of aspects of your body and your tummy, in
your breast, your arms, your thighs, we can't just go
(15:41):
in and do all of it in one shot. And
especially when we're talking about ambulatory surgery, meaning surgery that
you walk in and out of from the surgery center
and don't spend time in the hospital for a week
or so. So we end up breaking the surgeries into
a lot of parts, which means that I operate on
people over of several months and even years at times.
(16:03):
So developing that relationship with my patient that's something that
I really revel in in, at least in the in
the aspects of plastic surgery that I do on a
regular basis. And yes, I do have, you know, a
relationship that I developed with my patients, and they do
end up liking me. I end up liking them, you know,
we end up talking about a lot of personal views
(16:23):
and yeah, and you know, it's not just that I'm
working on their bodies, but I'm helping them achieve their
you know, just their their inner dreams. You know, changing
the body really changes your life as a whole. And again,
just the fact that we have a relationship with between
the doctor and the patient, that's a super important thing that,
as you said, it's so often overlooked in terms of, oh,
(16:46):
I just want to see the results of the bbls
and let me see how many he's done. You got
to make sure that you can work with the doctor
as well.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
No, most definitely.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Now, I know you've spoken about the importance of body
positivity and media little Yeah, so as parents, you know,
I'm sorry, as teens are on social media seeing TikTok,
seeing Instagram, watching you know, because they still somewhat have
music videos that are out there, and you know, all
(17:15):
of the different awards shows for you know, music and film.
So how can parents play a role in guiding their
teams forward a healthier self image Because a lot of
times it seems like people are getting classic surgery because
they don't like how they look. It's not just because
you know, they had some type of accident and now
(17:36):
they need some type of reconstructive surgery or there's some
type of kind of medical problem and now they need
a reconstructive surgery.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
So how can.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Parents, you know, help teams, you know, have a more
more healthy.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
And positive self image of themselves.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Yeah, well, parents can do a lot. As a matter
of fact, I think they are the ultimate and fine
safeguards against the negative influences of the internet and especially
social media. Now, in my practice these days, I only
do surgery on adults. I don't do any surgery elective
cosmetic surgery on teenagers, and I have done plenty of
surgery on teens and adolescents, mostly as you mentioned, reconstructive things.
(18:19):
Let's say rhinoplasts or no jobs after patients who had
collect lifts or palettes or even breast reductions on what
we call gigantomascia or a condition where you know, young developing,
young ladies get enormous breasts and we have to help
them out, obviously from a reconstructive aspect, not only cosmetic outlook,
(18:39):
but in terms of helping parents help their children get
to a positive body image. I like it to break
it down into two elements, and that's self acceptance and
self improvement. And a nice, you know, kind of a
fun way to remember that is the influence of AI.
You know, everyone's talking about artificial intelligence and how it's
(19:00):
permeated it self into our lives, into our lives. Well,
AI can also be incorporated into the image of the self.
So the A is self acceptance and the I, of
course is self improvement. Now, with self acceptance, we can
teach as parents. And I know you're a mother of
three so and I'm a father of three. Of course,
I think your kids are just a little bit older
(19:21):
than mine. But you know, we can teach our children
that in one way, we are made the way that
we are, and there are certain things in our bodies
and in ourselves as a matter of fact, that we
can never change. Now, this actually helps embody positivity in
acknowledging the permanence of certain aspects of our body. It's
(19:42):
just things in certain aspects are the way that they
are now. Self improvement, on the other hand, means that
we can also teach our children that there are always
things that we can do to help change our bodies
and in fact the quality of our lives. And that
means incorporating the best health habits that we all know
kind of what the good things are to do. And
(20:03):
if we want, as you know, if we want plastic
surgery as part of that self improvement, then by golly,
let's let's do it, and we can do it in
a safe way, we can do it in a judicious way.
And this helps our body image by motivating and encouraging
and even inspiring our children to always be at our
(20:23):
best and always put the maximum effort into our daily
lives and get those health habits going. Now, if you
take those two elements in mind, as a parent in
talking to your children about their bodies and they're developing
bodies into adulthood. In my opinion, self acceptance and self improvement,
those two concepts are the best ways that parents can
(20:46):
help children in developing the healthiest body image. As I
said earlier, not only at a time when they're developing
into their bodies, but as a foundation for how to
be in your best body, that constant work in progress
throughout your life.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Now, I know you just gave advice for parents, but
what about for teens?
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Now? I don't have any listeners who are teenagers, at
least I don't think I.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
Do, but never know.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
You're right, you never know.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
But for those of us who in the listeners out there,
who were perhaps educators or work with teen focused organizations,
what advice could we give teens that may be feeling
pressure to conform to unrealistic beauty standards that are presented
on social media? Because I know there are a lot
(21:35):
of you know, like skin pigmentation, right, some people don't
want to be dark skin. I was very fortunate that,
you know, when growing up, it was never an issue
in my family that I was significantly darker than the
rest of my family. But out in the world there
will always be these comments of you're pretty for a
dark skinned girl, right, and so all these weird fummins
(21:58):
that don't make any sense.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
And then I'll of course there are a lot of
teens that are being faced with, you know, wanting it
to be sin and so they go through end up
having anorexia or bolimia because they're feeling pressure to be sin.
You know, So what advice could we give the teams?
Speaker 4 (22:18):
So there's there's actually a great question, and there's a
few pieces of advice out there. And again this is
not just for teens, but for if the teens are
listening to this, I hope that they're listening with their
parents because this advice could be applicable to all people
listening right now. So number one, first and foremost, limit
your screen time. This goes as much for teens as
(22:40):
you know. I could even give this advice to myself.
And you know, my wife often gives it to me,
Is it right? Which touch with me when I'm on
the screen? Right? So, you know, the internet is just
a captivating thing we can we all spend way too
much time on it already. The less time you spend
on the screen. Yes, the more time you have for
interactions with the people that you love, the important people
(23:01):
in your life. So that's number one, first and foremost.
Number two, Recognize the pervasive use of filters and computer
editing software, all these kind of tricks of the trade
out there that there are just there are so many
things that are popping up now and so many more
that will pop up in the future. You really got
(23:23):
to educate yourself on media literacy. Understand how so much
of the imagery that we see out there is not
only filtered and kind of you know, produced in a
way that makes it much more you know, accessible, and
much more plausible. And just that life is just so
beautiful on the internet. Realize that in reality things are
(23:45):
obviously much different. Another piece of advice is follow body
positive and authentic creators, and that touches to the you know,
the thing that what you just said about now about
different skin tones being considered you know, prettier, more attractive
than others. I want people to embrace the differences between
ourselves in the you know, in the human race, we
(24:07):
have so many different body types and skin tones and lifestyles.
I want everyone to appreciate the beauty and diversity and
embrace the differences. The you know, within us, the idiosyncratic things,
the things that make us exactly who we are are,
you know, are to be embraced and and should embolden
our image of our body. We shouldn't they shouldn't detract
(24:31):
from us. And you know that's the you know, going
back to that kind of comparison that that we do.
You know, comparison is the thief of joy. You keep
comparing yourself to to to others, and you know that's
that's it's a recipe for disappointment in the least, and
and and much worse at worse, you know, worse than that.
Here's another piece of advice. Focus on what your body
(24:52):
can do, not just on how it looks. That can
be an immense help in terms of what you think
about your body. Remember, your looks do not define your
self worth. You are not only the way that you look.
You are also the way that you are, the way
that you think, the things that you do. So if
(25:13):
you cultivate your own talents, your passions in life, it
will help you out in realizing just how beautiful you
are on the inside, how much beauty there is in
the things and the other things that you are other
than your looks. And then here's probably the lasting, kind
of best piece of advice that I could give young
adolescents and teens. Give yourself a little bit of a break,
(25:37):
be honest with yourself, have a little bit of self compassion.
You know, we all strive to, you know, to look
and feel our best in life, and that's a good
thing in essence. But if it is so, if it
puts so much pressure on our life to you know,
to just be, you know, someone that we're not and
(25:58):
kind of change our way into doing things that are
not really conducive to a good quality life, then you
got to abandon that. You got to just give your
your body a little bit of a break, realize that
it's okay to be who you are, and that's just fine.
Now having said all that, if you do want to
change something about your body, if you're motivated enough to
(26:22):
do that, then go ahead, get educated, get find out
about all the options, make the best choices, figure out
who you want to be your surgeon, what kind of
surgeries you want to get done, and if you do
all those things, then yeah, plastic surgery can be an
absolute wonderful thing in your life if you want to
use it in that manner, But again, give yourself a
(26:43):
little bit of a break. That's probably the best advice
I could give young teens wonderful.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Now, are there any particular reasons why a person could
not consider having plastic surgery on their body?
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Well, there's obvious contraindications to a certain surgeries. You know,
if let's say, if people want to change certain things
that are just not changeable, then yeah, you have to
understand that when the expectations from surgery are unrealistic, then yeah,
plastic surgery is not the right thing to do. If
you're trying to also change so much at any one time,
(27:22):
and I know we see these kind of massive overhaul
transformations on TV shows as you mentioned earlier, in social media,
you have to realize that, well, that could be also
detrimental to you. You know, you're gonna when you do
a lot of things to the body at any one time,
then yeah, certain things can go wrong. And that's a
great reason why I've decided to make my practice almost
(27:45):
completely ambulatory surgery based, So I break down all my
surgeries into bit you know, bite sized chunks chunks that
we can do surgery in and make sure that the
patient that I said walks in and out of the
ambul Toy Surgery center. So you know, that's kind of
the things that we can do in terms of helping
(28:06):
patients and you know, doing the safest kind of plastic surgery.
I think when plastic surgery is done in a safe
and judicious manner, then yeah, you can you know, even
patients with you know, different medical problems, we can manage
those problems. We can control different issues related to your body,
and we can have successful plastic surgery. The contraindications obviously
(28:28):
to plastic surgery have to be taken seriously. But again,
when you do your homework, when you cross all the
t's and dot all the eyes, then the vast majority
of patients out there can have excellent plastic surgery and
really derive only benefits from it.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Now, I'm not here and you aren't here either to
convince people one way or the other whether plastic surgery
is good or bad or or whatever. But I do
appreciate even though that you, even though you are a
plastic surgeon, that you still you know, want to encourage
parents to talk to teams about having a positive body
(29:05):
image and learn how to love yourself right. You know,
of course there are sometimes when plastic surgery is absolutely needed.
But then also to for us to recognize that we
are totally fine as God made us.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And I think if you again, there's
a way to reconcile all of those things. And that
goes back to again the issue of self acceptance and
self improvement. They are not mutually exclusive, and in fact,
they don't contradict each other as some may think. I
think they can be used. Those two concepts again of
the acceptance of your body and the willingness and the
(29:40):
motivation to improve on your body and your quality of life.
I think those two concepts can be used synergistically to
help improve your body image and again just improve the
general quality of your life. That's what I'm about, and
that's what plastic surgery should be about, you know, in
all honesty, Yeah, that's you know, that's just again it's
just focusing on the positive and acknowledging the negative that's
(30:03):
out there. But you know, we can all do something
to always help improve our condition in life.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
And finally, doctor Kaufman, as we bring this interview to
a close, What do you believe is the best way
for individuals to build resilience against those external pressures, whether
it be social media, family, friends, you know, other images,
print and media regarding their appearance.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
That's a great question to end on, but I feel
like I could. I could talk about this for hours,
but I'll bear it down to kind of like the
necessities here. I think it's super important to know that
your looks did, not, do not define your self worth.
You are more than just your physical appearance. There's so
(30:49):
many aspects to who you are as a person, and
your looks, as important as they are, are just one
aspect or one part of your life. Now. At the
same time, I want everyone listening to this podcast and now,
I want all of my patients and potential potential patients
to be motivated, be empowered, and be inspired to know
(31:10):
that if you want to make a change in your body,
no matter how small or no matter how big or
small it could be, you can do it. You can
get educated, you can find out what options you have,
you can strategize on how the best to refine your
body and how to improve the quality of your life.
I want everyone to never be ashamed of wanting to
(31:32):
get plastic surgery. There is nothing wrong with that. That's
just you know, that's just fine if that's what you want,
And never be ashamed of wanting to look and feel
better in your life. It's your right. As a matter
of fact, it's your duty to do that to your body.
You know, the best, the life that's best lived is
(31:52):
the life that recognizes the gifts that we that we have,
but also realizes that there's always something to do in
terms of improving our quality of life, improving the condition
that we can find ourselves in. I want everyone to
feel empowered to know that they can do something about
their body and do something to make their life better.
(32:14):
That's probably the best message I could give anyone who's listening.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Well, thank you, doctor Kaufman for sharing your invaluable insights
with the listeners today on Life Jack the Resilience Podcast.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Your dedication to.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Educating both teens and parents and your patients and anyone
out there who is considering plastic surgery about body positivity
and inform decision making in the world of plastic surgery
is truly inspiring and I am absolutely grateful for you,
who is medical professional.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
In this field. So how can listeners find and connect
with you?
Speaker 4 (32:49):
All Right, So all my social media can be found
on my through my website. That's doctor Daniel Kaufman dot com.
That's d R D A. N I. E. Kau Fson,
Frank m An dot com, Doctor Daniel Coofflin dot com.
That leads to all my Instagram and my social media sites.
I live and work in Miami, and I work in
(33:10):
Miami Life Plastic Surgery. It's a fully accredited ambulatory surgery
clinic and we're in the neighborhood called Sunset, right in
the heart of Miami, not too far from the airport.
I actually have patients coming to see me from all
over the United States, all over the world. And yeah,
that's where you can find me. And that's where I
do all of my surgeries. As I said, all my
(33:30):
surgeries these do I that I do these days are
ambulatory surgery. People come in and they walk out. We
do all my pre opts and follow ups there and yeah,
as I said, I do virtuals and yeah, that's where
you can find me.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Any last words of encouragement for the listeners.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
Yeah, you know, just don't be afraid to decide that
you want to make a change in your life. That's
you know, being like that, having that, having that kind
of apt towards yourself and your condition in life is
probably the best thing that you can do. Realize that
there is always something that you can do about your
(34:09):
lot in life. Nothing is ever you know the same,
you know, and it's up to you to make that
change that you want in your life. And if you
do that, it helps you out in every aspect of life.
It makes you stronger, it makes you smarter. Dare I say,
it makes you more resilient to face you know, everything
that life can bring towards you.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Doctor Kaufman.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
I appreciate the insights you've shared and look forward to
seeing how you continue to help others. Remember that resilience
is built on a foundation of self acceptance and understanding.
But there's nothing wrong with a little self improvement.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
I hope the.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Listeners take away the importance of fostering healthy self perceptions
within themselves and the younger generation. I with you and
your family nothing but blessings and abundance in.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
This coming year. Please take care. Thank you so much,
doctor Daniel Kaufman.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Everyone be sure to join me next time for more
uplifting stories and insights on resilience. Until then, keep pushing forward,
embrace the journey, and remember that every setback can lead
to a greater comeback, Doctor Rowe signing off.
What do you do when the world around you constantly
bombard you with images of ideal beauty.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Leaving you questioning your own self worth.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Today on Life Jack The Resilience Podcast, I am speaking
with doctor Daniel Kaufman, a board certified plastic and reconstructive
surgeon in Miami, Florida, who not only excels in his field,
but also understands the profound impact that social media has
on body image, especially for teens. With a background in
(00:31):
biomedical engineering and a passion for merging science with artistry,
doctor Kaufman has dedicated his career to not just performing surgeries,
but also to educating young individuals on the importance of
self acceptance and resilience.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Join us as we explore his insights on.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Navigating the challenges of modern beauty standards and fostering a
positive self image in a digital age.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Sometimes life gives us lemons, Sometimes it gives us lemonade.
Other times it gives us something entirely out of left
field that makes us say w t F. But no
matter what obstacles come, there is most often a way
out on the other side, and we are once again victorious.
(01:28):
My name is doctor Row, and you are listening to
my podcast about resilience. Every guest shares a tragedy to
triumph story to give listeners like you the inspiration to
push through every single day. Listen now as my next
guest shares how they were like Jack.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Hi, doctor Kaufman, welcome, Thank you so much for me
a guest on my show.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
How are you good?
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Good? Hey, doctor row nice to nice to be on
your show. Thanks so much for the invitation, and yeah,
looking forward to what should be a great conversation, an
important one for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Absolutely so, Doctor Kaufman. There are many varying opinions on
plastic surgery and exactly what it is, and of course
there are some negative and some positive. So can you
actually share what it is that you do when it
comes to plastic surgery.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Specifically, I help people achieve their dream bodies, become more
confident in their own skin, in themselves, and increase the
quality of their lives.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Now, doctor Kaufman, can you share your perspective on how
social media influences young people's perception of beauty. I remember,
of course I'm old enough to not you know, we
didn't have social media and so it was really images
on the television screen and then magazines, but now we
have these images online through social media. So can you
(02:53):
kind of explain how social media influences young people's perceptions
of beauty there and then how can it lead to
their interest and plastic surgery.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Well, I'm actually old enough to remember those days as well.
So social media has influenced plastic surgery in major ways,
especially in terms of becoming the most dominant aspect of
education and motivation for plastic surgery. And not only that,
but just like newspapers and other print media, movies and
film movies and television in their times, digital social media
(03:25):
has completely transformed our perception of esthetics and beauty standards
as well. So social media is both completely new and
at the same time it's just the natural progression of
society and culture. Now, this can be a very positive
thing if it helps you in achieving those goals of
your full potential and getting to that dream body, but
(03:48):
unfortunately it can also be detrimental, especially when we start
comparing ourselves to unrealistic ideals and essentially losing who we
are as as people. So, like everything else in life,
there's always good and bad, you know, to the influences
of social media and the Internet as a whole on
plastic surgery.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
So now I know there's a lot of you know,
interest around plastic surgery particularly, there are a lot of
celebrities that and that's the main people that we know
of who participate in plastic surgery. And then there's all
these different shows, whether they're reality based or scripted about
plastic surgery. But you know, what do you think leads
(04:29):
people's interest into having plastic surgery specifically? And can you
kind of give some positive aspects and then of course
the negative aspect.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Yeah, so you know, plastic surgery, I do get it.
It does get a lot of bad press out there,
partly because it's sensational, partly because it's a bit sallacious,
and you know, obviously we can all you know, there
is an element of gossip to it about the various
celebrities who have gotten plastic surgery, and that's just an
unfortunate kind of thing. But I'll tell see what, you know,
(05:00):
looking at the positives in my practice and in many
of my colleagues practices as well, we see the beauty
of plastic surgery. We actually get to see how it
helps uplift people's spirits as they undergo major, major body transformations.
And it's the reason that it's definitely the reason why
I went into plastic surgery. It's just the joy of
(05:21):
helping people achieve their true potentials in their bodies and
in their minds. Now, obviously, you know, when we you know,
when we concentrate on the negative and focus on all
the bad stuff out there, yeah, then you know, people
are going to click on that and it's going to
attract attention. But again, that's just an unfortunate thing because
(05:41):
you know, what I see on a daily basis is
I see just the you know, the sheer joy and
happiness of people overcoming so many obstacles in their lives
and and just in making the decisions to have better
health habits to you know, just you know, get more
out of life, get more to the you know, closer
to their true potential in life. And you know, that's
(06:04):
the you know, that's the real deal in plastic surgery,
that's what we see so often on a daily basis,
and a lot of that gets missed by the you know,
the lay media out there, and because you know, because
it doesn't you know, some of it doesn't sell quite
as well as maybe some of the more as they said,
some of the more sillacious or kind of you know,
(06:25):
slander or stuff that we could say out there. So again,
there's there's good and bad in there, but I like
to focus on the positives out there and that's what
keeps me going and makes my job just a sheer
joy to come to on a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Thank you so much for that answer.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So, you know, with the the number of celebrities, because
sometimes we see the celebrities and they've had so much
plastic surgery, they've had so many changes in reconstruction that
they almost look like a totally different person. And so
I wonder, or you know, what is that connection psychologically
(07:03):
in people who are not okay.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
With their bodies?
Speaker 1 (07:06):
And just like you know, we were talking earlier about teams,
you know, who are being influenced by social media and
wanting to look a certain way, then you know, what
is that correlation between the psychological effects and then this
need to change you know, yourself, whether it's your faith,
(07:27):
it's your body.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
You know, what do you think about that?
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Yeah? So, for sure, teens are being bombarded with or
exposed to a lot more imagery regarding bodies in the
general sense than you know, people like let's say my
age were ever exposed to back then, and that's just
a sign of the times. So in one way, it's
a lot different than Yes, there are a lot more
(07:51):
pressures on young minds today to look and be a
certain way and yeah, and unfortunately a lot of those
standards are completely unreasonable and yeah, and they can drive
a lot of negative emotions within developing young minds. This
can lead to all kinds of bad effects on life,
(08:11):
like feelings of inadequacy and insecurity, low self esteem, angst anger, jealousy,
even resentment, and even some you know, in extreme cases,
even some behaviors of self harm. And again that's a
very unfortunate thing. But I think that in light of
all this exponential expansion of social media and the body imagery,
(08:36):
and you know, a lot could be said about the
responsibilities of all the different parties involved in this matter.
But ultimately, I think it's up to good parenting to
help children form healthy body images that lead to stable
mental health conditions in life and essentially help you promote
good health habits. So so much of this goes back
(08:58):
into just developing the relationships. If you're a parent out
there just developing your relationship with your children and helping
them arrive at the best body image that they can
not only at the time that they're developing their young
minds and their adolescent and teenage years into young adulthood,
but as they continue on in their lives. Because you know,
(09:21):
as I always tell people, you know, all my patients,
your body is always a constant work in progress, none
of them. You know, from the day you're born till
the moment you died, your body is always changing, adjusting,
maturing to the environment that you put it in, and
just you know, the general you know, flow of life.
You know where the universe moves in one direction, and
(09:41):
that's forward. So we're all aging and we're all you know,
kind of changing with our bodies. If we can understand
how our body image changes as we go through life
and make it the healthiest one that it can be,
then that's, you know, that's the best way to kind
of move forward and avoid or or negate the next
the negative effects of the internet and social media.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
No, absolutely, because I know the body I have in
my forties is definitely not the body that I had
in my twins.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
That's for sure.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Now, I want to talk about the most famous surgery
that a lot of people, especially women and there are
some men who do it too, which is this VBA. Right,
that's the traditionally titled the Brazilian butt lift, but a
lot of people get it right to get that coke
bottle figure and sometimes with men it's the to make
(10:37):
sure they get the y shape type figure.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
So for anybody out there who is considering this type
of surgery, what advice did you give them to what
to look for in a doctor so that they're so
that they're safe out there? Right, because some people are
traveling overseas and and because it's teeth and they're coming
back and they're having medical problem.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Oh yeah, yeah. And and not only that, I mean
there's obviously you know, other horrible outcomes that have been
noted out there. And again they've been put out there
in the lay media because it you know, because it sells,
and you know, that's that's that's the news media. But
as far as the BBL is concerned, yes, it's you know,
(11:22):
in terms of BBL in specific because it is a
very common operation that's done out there, but also in
any kind of cosmetic plastic surgery that we're talking that
we could be talking about like Tommy Tucks, breast augmentations,
lifts and so forth. You first and foremost want to
make sure that you work with a qualified surgeon. Now
what that means is a plastic surgeon who's certified by
(11:45):
the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Now to be able
to say that when you ask a surgeon, hey, are
you certified by the American Border Plastic Surgery, it should
be a very quick yes or no answer, and you
know you could tell right there what essentially their level
of education and training is in providing this kind of service. Now,
beyond that, that's the initial step that you always got
(12:06):
to look for. Beyond that, you want to look at
their record in terms of their before and afters, and
you want to ask a lot of the questions that
would make sense. Well, for example, how many of the
BBL or Tommy Tuck, whatever surgery you're interested in, how
many have you done in your career? How many have
you done in the past year or the past month.
(12:28):
And obviously the answers to those questions should be substantial numbers,
and you want to be able to be confident in
the fact that your surgeon has done many of these operations,
obviously doing just a few. I'll tell you from personal experience,
that never gives you the appropriate level of experience, because
you got to do a whole bunch of these cosmetic
surgeries to really refine your techniques and to you know,
(12:51):
to get the best results. Now, when you look at
the body of work, and most surgeons would be happy
to show you the body of works, showing the before
an actors on their websites, on their social media pages.
Beyond all that, the board certification and the proof of
the work that they've done, you've got to make sure
that you actually like your surgeon. You know, you have
(13:12):
to go on at least a few consultations, and these
days it's made easier than ever. You can do virtual consultations.
I know that in my practice, I do them all
the time. We meet over zoom calls, you know, Google
meets whatever digital media we choose to And a lot
of my surgeons also, or a lot of my my
patients rather they follow me on social media and they've
(13:33):
already watched a lot of my educational videos, so that
they've learned so much about the things that I do
and the way that I am. But that final meaning
that you know, face to face consultation. Remember, this is
going to be an effort that's not going to be
done in one day. Rather, it's going to take a
process of preparation for the surgery, the actual performance of
(13:54):
the surgery, the actual recovery from the surgery, which is
never exactly as perfect as we wanted to be. There's
always little you know, lumps and bumps are a little
you know, things along the road that maybe we didn't expect.
And you've got to make sure that the person that
you're working with that you actually like them and that
you can have that leader of the team that could
(14:15):
take you across the finish line. If you got those
things nailed down, you make sure that you got the
qualifications and for the surgeon, the of course, the certification
by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. You have seen
their body of work, and again, just as important as
anything else, you actually like the person that they are
and you find that you can work with them in
(14:36):
getting to that you know, that dream body that you
want to get to. If you got those things down,
BBL tummy tucks, light persuption, any procedure that you'll want
to do likely you're going to have a great result.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
I love how you said that you actually have to
like your surgeon and build a relationship with your surgeon,
because I think that's not something that people think about.
I think people are just so focused on the results.
They just think, I know the results that I want
to get, and so that seems to be what the
focus is.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
So, you know, thank you for.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
That advice, because I never even thought about that either,
that you might want to pick somebody that you liked.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah, and you get to know right because they are
changing your body, right.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
And to add to that, Doctor Row, it's you know,
a lot of the surgeries that I do actually are
staged in a manner that we end up doing a
lot of different surgeries over a period of time. Let's say,
if you've lost a lot of weight, for example, and
you have a lot of excess surplus skin and a
lot of aspects of your body and your tummy, in
your breast, your arms, your thighs, we can't just go
(15:41):
in and do all of it in one shot. And
especially when we're talking about ambulatory surgery, meaning surgery that
you walk in and out of from the surgery center
and don't spend time in the hospital for a week
or so. So we end up breaking the surgeries into
a lot of parts, which means that I operate on
people over of several months and even years at times.
(16:03):
So developing that relationship with my patient that's something that
I really revel in in, at least in the in
the aspects of plastic surgery that I do on a
regular basis. And yes, I do have, you know, a
relationship that I developed with my patients, and they do
end up liking me. I end up liking them, you know,
we end up talking about a lot of personal views
(16:23):
and yeah, and you know, it's not just that I'm
working on their bodies, but I'm helping them achieve their
you know, just their their inner dreams. You know, changing
the body really changes your life as a whole. And again,
just the fact that we have a relationship with between
the doctor and the patient, that's a super important thing that,
as you said, it's so often overlooked in terms of, oh,
(16:46):
I just want to see the results of the bbls
and let me see how many he's done. You got
to make sure that you can work with the doctor
as well.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
No, most definitely.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Now, I know you've spoken about the importance of body
positivity and media little Yeah, so as parents, you know,
I'm sorry, as teens are on social media seeing TikTok,
seeing Instagram, watching you know, because they still somewhat have
music videos that are out there, and you know, all
(17:15):
of the different awards shows for you know, music and film.
So how can parents play a role in guiding their
teams forward a healthier self image Because a lot of
times it seems like people are getting classic surgery because
they don't like how they look. It's not just because
you know, they had some type of accident and now
(17:36):
they need some type of reconstructive surgery or there's some
type of kind of medical problem and now they need
a reconstructive surgery.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
So how can.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Parents, you know, help teams, you know, have a more
more healthy.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
And positive self image of themselves.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Yeah, well, parents can do a lot. As a matter
of fact, I think they are the ultimate and fine
safeguards against the negative influences of the internet and especially
social media. Now, in my practice these days, I only
do surgery on adults. I don't do any surgery elective
cosmetic surgery on teenagers, and I have done plenty of
surgery on teens and adolescents, mostly as you mentioned, reconstructive things.
(18:19):
Let's say rhinoplasts or no jobs after patients who had
collect lifts or palettes or even breast reductions on what
we call gigantomascia or a condition where you know, young developing,
young ladies get enormous breasts and we have to help
them out, obviously from a reconstructive aspect, not only cosmetic outlook,
(18:39):
but in terms of helping parents help their children get
to a positive body image. I like it to break
it down into two elements, and that's self acceptance and
self improvement. And a nice, you know, kind of a
fun way to remember that is the influence of AI.
You know, everyone's talking about artificial intelligence and how it's
(19:00):
permeated it self into our lives, into our lives. Well,
AI can also be incorporated into the image of the self.
So the A is self acceptance and the I, of
course is self improvement. Now, with self acceptance, we can
teach as parents. And I know you're a mother of
three so and I'm a father of three. Of course,
I think your kids are just a little bit older
(19:21):
than mine. But you know, we can teach our children
that in one way, we are made the way that
we are, and there are certain things in our bodies
and in ourselves as a matter of fact, that we
can never change. Now, this actually helps embody positivity in
acknowledging the permanence of certain aspects of our body. It's
(19:42):
just things in certain aspects are the way that they
are now. Self improvement, on the other hand, means that
we can also teach our children that there are always
things that we can do to help change our bodies
and in fact the quality of our lives. And that
means incorporating the best health habits that we all know
kind of what the good things are to do. And
(20:03):
if we want, as you know, if we want plastic
surgery as part of that self improvement, then by golly,
let's let's do it, and we can do it in
a safe way, we can do it in a judicious way.
And this helps our body image by motivating and encouraging
and even inspiring our children to always be at our
(20:23):
best and always put the maximum effort into our daily
lives and get those health habits going. Now, if you
take those two elements in mind, as a parent in
talking to your children about their bodies and they're developing
bodies into adulthood. In my opinion, self acceptance and self improvement,
those two concepts are the best ways that parents can
(20:46):
help children in developing the healthiest body image. As I
said earlier, not only at a time when they're developing
into their bodies, but as a foundation for how to
be in your best body, that constant work in progress
throughout your life.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Now, I know you just gave advice for parents, but
what about for teens?
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Now? I don't have any listeners who are teenagers, at
least I don't think I.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
Do, but never know.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
You're right, you never know.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
But for those of us who in the listeners out there,
who were perhaps educators or work with teen focused organizations,
what advice could we give teens that may be feeling
pressure to conform to unrealistic beauty standards that are presented
on social media? Because I know there are a lot
(21:35):
of you know, like skin pigmentation, right, some people don't
want to be dark skin. I was very fortunate that,
you know, when growing up, it was never an issue
in my family that I was significantly darker than the
rest of my family. But out in the world there
will always be these comments of you're pretty for a
dark skinned girl, right, and so all these weird fummins
(21:58):
that don't make any sense.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
And then I'll of course there are a lot of
teens that are being faced with, you know, wanting it
to be sin and so they go through end up
having anorexia or bolimia because they're feeling pressure to be sin.
You know, So what advice could we give the teams?
Speaker 4 (22:18):
So there's there's actually a great question, and there's a
few pieces of advice out there. And again this is
not just for teens, but for if the teens are
listening to this, I hope that they're listening with their
parents because this advice could be applicable to all people
listening right now. So number one, first and foremost, limit
your screen time. This goes as much for teens as
(22:40):
you know. I could even give this advice to myself.
And you know, my wife often gives it to me,
Is it right? Which touch with me when I'm on
the screen? Right? So, you know, the internet is just
a captivating thing we can we all spend way too
much time on it already. The less time you spend
on the screen. Yes, the more time you have for
interactions with the people that you love, the important people
(23:01):
in your life. So that's number one, first and foremost.
Number two, Recognize the pervasive use of filters and computer
editing software, all these kind of tricks of the trade
out there that there are just there are so many
things that are popping up now and so many more
that will pop up in the future. You really got
(23:23):
to educate yourself on media literacy. Understand how so much
of the imagery that we see out there is not
only filtered and kind of you know, produced in a
way that makes it much more you know, accessible, and
much more plausible. And just that life is just so
beautiful on the internet. Realize that in reality things are
(23:45):
obviously much different. Another piece of advice is follow body
positive and authentic creators, and that touches to the you know,
the thing that what you just said about now about
different skin tones being considered you know, prettier, more attractive
than others. I want people to embrace the differences between
ourselves in the you know, in the human race, we
(24:07):
have so many different body types and skin tones and lifestyles.
I want everyone to appreciate the beauty and diversity and
embrace the differences. The you know, within us, the idiosyncratic things,
the things that make us exactly who we are are,
you know, are to be embraced and and should embolden
our image of our body. We shouldn't they shouldn't detract
(24:31):
from us. And you know that's the you know, going
back to that kind of comparison that that we do.
You know, comparison is the thief of joy. You keep
comparing yourself to to to others, and you know that's
that's it's a recipe for disappointment in the least, and
and and much worse at worse, you know, worse than that.
Here's another piece of advice. Focus on what your body
(24:52):
can do, not just on how it looks. That can
be an immense help in terms of what you think
about your body. Remember, your looks do not define your
self worth. You are not only the way that you look.
You are also the way that you are, the way
that you think, the things that you do. So if
(25:13):
you cultivate your own talents, your passions in life, it
will help you out in realizing just how beautiful you
are on the inside, how much beauty there is in
the things and the other things that you are other
than your looks. And then here's probably the lasting, kind
of best piece of advice that I could give young
adolescents and teens. Give yourself a little bit of a break,
(25:37):
be honest with yourself, have a little bit of self compassion.
You know, we all strive to, you know, to look
and feel our best in life, and that's a good
thing in essence. But if it is so, if it
puts so much pressure on our life to you know,
to just be, you know, someone that we're not and
(25:58):
kind of change our way into doing things that are
not really conducive to a good quality life, then you
got to abandon that. You got to just give your
your body a little bit of a break, realize that
it's okay to be who you are, and that's just fine.
Now having said all that, if you do want to
change something about your body, if you're motivated enough to
(26:22):
do that, then go ahead, get educated, get find out
about all the options, make the best choices, figure out
who you want to be your surgeon, what kind of
surgeries you want to get done, and if you do
all those things, then yeah, plastic surgery can be an
absolute wonderful thing in your life if you want to
use it in that manner, But again, give yourself a
(26:43):
little bit of a break. That's probably the best advice
I could give young teens wonderful.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Now, are there any particular reasons why a person could
not consider having plastic surgery on their body?
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Well, there's obvious contraindications to a certain surgeries. You know,
if let's say, if people want to change certain things
that are just not changeable, then yeah, you have to
understand that when the expectations from surgery are unrealistic, then yeah,
plastic surgery is not the right thing to do. If
you're trying to also change so much at any one time,
(27:22):
and I know we see these kind of massive overhaul
transformations on TV shows as you mentioned earlier, in social media,
you have to realize that, well, that could be also
detrimental to you. You know, you're gonna when you do
a lot of things to the body at any one time,
then yeah, certain things can go wrong. And that's a
great reason why I've decided to make my practice almost
(27:45):
completely ambulatory surgery based, So I break down all my
surgeries into bit you know, bite sized chunks chunks that
we can do surgery in and make sure that the
patient that I said walks in and out of the
ambul Toy Surgery center. So you know, that's kind of
the things that we can do in terms of helping
(28:06):
patients and you know, doing the safest kind of plastic surgery.
I think when plastic surgery is done in a safe
and judicious manner, then yeah, you can you know, even
patients with you know, different medical problems, we can manage
those problems. We can control different issues related to your body,
and we can have successful plastic surgery. The contraindications obviously
(28:28):
to plastic surgery have to be taken seriously. But again,
when you do your homework, when you cross all the
t's and dot all the eyes, then the vast majority
of patients out there can have excellent plastic surgery and
really derive only benefits from it.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Now, I'm not here and you aren't here either to
convince people one way or the other whether plastic surgery
is good or bad or or whatever. But I do
appreciate even though that you, even though you are a
plastic surgeon, that you still you know, want to encourage
parents to talk to teams about having a positive body
(29:05):
image and learn how to love yourself right. You know,
of course there are sometimes when plastic surgery is absolutely needed.
But then also to for us to recognize that we
are totally fine as God made us.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And I think if you again, there's
a way to reconcile all of those things. And that
goes back to again the issue of self acceptance and
self improvement. They are not mutually exclusive, and in fact,
they don't contradict each other as some may think. I
think they can be used. Those two concepts again of
the acceptance of your body and the willingness and the
(29:40):
motivation to improve on your body and your quality of life.
I think those two concepts can be used synergistically to
help improve your body image and again just improve the
general quality of your life. That's what I'm about, and
that's what plastic surgery should be about, you know, in
all honesty, Yeah, that's you know, that's just again it's
just focusing on the positive and acknowledging the negative that's
(30:03):
out there. But you know, we can all do something
to always help improve our condition in life.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
And finally, doctor Kaufman, as we bring this interview to
a close, What do you believe is the best way
for individuals to build resilience against those external pressures, whether
it be social media, family, friends, you know, other images,
print and media regarding their appearance.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
That's a great question to end on, but I feel
like I could. I could talk about this for hours,
but I'll bear it down to kind of like the
necessities here. I think it's super important to know that
your looks did, not, do not define your self worth.
You are more than just your physical appearance. There's so
(30:49):
many aspects to who you are as a person, and
your looks, as important as they are, are just one
aspect or one part of your life. Now. At the
same time, I want everyone listening to this podcast and now,
I want all of my patients and potential potential patients
to be motivated, be empowered, and be inspired to know
(31:10):
that if you want to make a change in your body,
no matter how small or no matter how big or
small it could be, you can do it. You can
get educated, you can find out what options you have,
you can strategize on how the best to refine your
body and how to improve the quality of your life.
I want everyone to never be ashamed of wanting to
(31:32):
get plastic surgery. There is nothing wrong with that. That's
just you know, that's just fine if that's what you want,
And never be ashamed of wanting to look and feel
better in your life. It's your right. As a matter
of fact, it's your duty to do that to your body.
You know, the best, the life that's best lived is
(31:52):
the life that recognizes the gifts that we that we have,
but also realizes that there's always something to do in
terms of improving our quality of life, improving the condition
that we can find ourselves in. I want everyone to
feel empowered to know that they can do something about
their body and do something to make their life better.
(32:14):
That's probably the best message I could give anyone who's listening.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Well, thank you, doctor Kaufman for sharing your invaluable insights
with the listeners today on Life Jack the Resilience Podcast.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Your dedication to.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Educating both teens and parents and your patients and anyone
out there who is considering plastic surgery about body positivity
and inform decision making in the world of plastic surgery
is truly inspiring and I am absolutely grateful for you,
who is medical professional.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
In this field. So how can listeners find and connect
with you?
Speaker 4 (32:49):
All Right, So all my social media can be found
on my through my website. That's doctor Daniel Kaufman dot com.
That's d R D A. N I. E. Kau Fson,
Frank m An dot com, Doctor Daniel Coofflin dot com.
That leads to all my Instagram and my social media sites.
I live and work in Miami, and I work in
(33:10):
Miami Life Plastic Surgery. It's a fully accredited ambulatory surgery
clinic and we're in the neighborhood called Sunset, right in
the heart of Miami, not too far from the airport.
I actually have patients coming to see me from all
over the United States, all over the world. And yeah,
that's where you can find me. And that's where I
do all of my surgeries. As I said, all my
(33:30):
surgeries these do I that I do these days are
ambulatory surgery. People come in and they walk out. We
do all my pre opts and follow ups there and yeah,
as I said, I do virtuals and yeah, that's where
you can find me.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Any last words of encouragement for the listeners.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
Yeah, you know, just don't be afraid to decide that
you want to make a change in your life. That's
you know, being like that, having that, having that kind
of apt towards yourself and your condition in life is
probably the best thing that you can do. Realize that
there is always something that you can do about your
(34:09):
lot in life. Nothing is ever you know the same,
you know, and it's up to you to make that
change that you want in your life. And if you
do that, it helps you out in every aspect of life.
It makes you stronger, it makes you smarter. Dare I say,
it makes you more resilient to face you know, everything
that life can bring towards you.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Doctor Kaufman.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
I appreciate the insights you've shared and look forward to
seeing how you continue to help others. Remember that resilience
is built on a foundation of self acceptance and understanding.
But there's nothing wrong with a little self improvement.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
I hope the.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Listeners take away the importance of fostering healthy self perceptions
within themselves and the younger generation. I with you and
your family nothing but blessings and abundance in.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
This coming year. Please take care. Thank you so much,
doctor Daniel Kaufman.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Everyone be sure to join me next time for more
uplifting stories and insights on resilience. Until then, keep pushing forward,
embrace the journey, and remember that every setback can lead
to a greater comeback, Doctor Rowe signing off.
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