Plastic Surgery Unplugged
with Dr. Raghu Athré: Episode 4
We’re back with a brand new episode of “Plastic Surgery Unplugged.” In this podcast series Dr. Athré sits down with a variety of fascinating guests, from patients to plastic surgery professionals, who discuss their insight, tips, and personal stories about the industry.
In episode 4, Dr. Athré chats with patient Marie Berdugo, an active businesswoman working in beauty and real estate. Marie talks with Dr. Athré about her process of undergoing a facelift, and they discuss the psychological side of the facial surgery process.
Listen on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, or Google Podcasts—and don’t forget to check out our incredible interviews with Dr. William Silver on episode 1 and episode 2, and patient Aura on episode 3.
Don’t forget to subscribe and share with friends and family. Here’s episode 4: “The Psychology of Facial Surgery” Thanks for listening!
[Audio transcription via Rev.com]
Dr. Raghu Athré:
You are listening to “Plastic Surgery Unplugged with Dr. Raghu Athré.”
Dr. Raghu Athré:
All right. I think we are live. So to the listening world out there, I think if I’m not mistaken, this is podcast session four, if I’m not mistaken. So hello world. And I’m introducing Marie. And I’m going to give her a chance to introduce herself.
This is our second podcast episode with actual live patients. So prior to this, my podcast sessions had one of my professors on there, Maria. We were discussing the history of various procedures, how certain procedures have changed over time. The good, the bad of surgery, all this kinds of stuff. So I’m going to let you introduce yourself. Tell the world who you are, what you do, and why you’re here.
Marie Berdugo:
Okay, great. My name is Marie Berdugo. I am in Houston, Texas. I am 51 years old. I am a hairstylist and—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
You do not look 51. I wonder why?
Marie Berdugo:
Yes, yes. And I’m getting into the real estate industry. What was so important to me is that I had so much energy as a young girl but I noticed that age was taking a toll on me on my face. And the things I wanted to do in life, I needed a more youthful look. I needed to attract a lot of the younger crowd like my energy does. So I noticed a lot of drooping in my face. So I came to Dr… How do you pronounce your last name?
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Athré.
Marie Berdugo:
Athré, I think I was saying it wrong the whole time, Athré.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
It’s okay, it’s okay. [crosstalk 00:01:51] Hey, I accept any pronunciation except “dumb ass.” So other than that, I’m down with anything.
Marie Berdugo:
Yes, yes. I came to his office for facials, for chemical peels. I’m thinking maybe that would do the job. Maybe that will tighten my skin up. So I went to his office and I started to get facials. I started to get chemical peels. I started to realize that as I was looking at my clients and as I was looking at a lot of women, we almost had that same aging look. So I realized it was age. It wasn’t so much having to get facials or chemical peels.
So I had a consultation with Dr. Athré. [inaudible 00:02:37] now as long as I don’t say “dumb ass,” Athré. And I liked everything he said. I was going to that office quite a few times on my visits for facials.
Marie Berdugo:
So I got very familiar and very comfortable. So when I had a consultation with him and he was pointing out things, it was the same things that I was pointing out. So I knew he knew what he was talking about. Not only was he a professional, he also knew what I was wanting to fix too.
So I thought about it for a little bit, and as I thought about it after my consultation, I realized, “You know what? I’m going to take this jump. I’m going to take this jump.” This is really major for me. I haven’t had any major surgeries in my life, especially in my face. So it was really important to me that I look young the way I feel young because of the business I am in. So I said, “You know what? I thought about it.”
Marie Berdugo:
I think it was about a month I thought about it. I said, “You know what? I’m going to take it. I’m going to take it.” So I had this fire in me that said, “Go for it, Marie.” So I called, I made an appointment, I came in, I was a little nervous.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
So what did you have done? So tell the world what you had done.
Marie Berdugo:
Okay. What I had done on my face, what I had done is what I really needed done. What I had done was I had a neck lift. My neck was sagging. It was hanging. And I noticed I had these fat pockets right here. And I noticed on every woman my age or older, they had the same fat pockets. So I knew it was age, it had to do with age. We all looked the same. And so I hated it. I couldn’t stand it.
So my neck was kind of saggy, I could pull my skin out. So I knew my skin was getting really saggy. And so I had a neck lift, I had my neck tightening, I had the muscles cut and sewn together to make a really tight look on my neck here.
Marie Berdugo:
I had fat taken out. I had a facelift right here. And, which I really didn’t realize but I’m so happy he pointed it out in the beginning of our consultation, I had an eyebrow lift. So I was so happy that everything now is getting back into place like I wanted it and like it was in my 20s and 30s.
So during the consultation I felt really confident. I said, “You know what? He knows what I need. He knows exactly what I need. He didn’t sell me anything extra or sell me anything less. He hit the points, everything I thought about in my head is what he was pointing out. So yeah, this is great.”
Marie Berdugo:
Now this is now I’m talking about when I went into my surgery date. Yes, I was nervous and I had to keep looking at myself in my phone and say, “Man, I’m ready for a new look. I’m nervous—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
I want to tell you something. I think everybody is nervous, okay? And that’s normal, right?
Marie Berdugo:
Yes. It is normal, yes.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
And the other thing is, look, I personally had surgery. I had surgery about a month, month and a half ago. And I was nervous, okay? I think it’s a normal human emotion. And it’s so normal that I don’t give you medications. I didn’t give you any medications to take the night before to “zonk you out” because I want you to kind of feel all of that, right? Because it’s kind of our check to make sure we’re all on the same page, we’re human, we feel, we touch. It’s like I don’t want to just zonk you out and you show up like, “Uh,” and then do surgery on you.
Marie Berdugo:
Yes, yes. It is so important that every person experiences their feelings while they’re going down this road here. It’s so important that way you could actually share your feelings with somebody else that doesn’t know what’s on the other side of the mountain. So it’s really important.
I was nervous for a lot of reasons, first of all I was nervous because I wasn’t going to be put to sleep. But that was a good thing though, I liked that part though. I was nervous—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Tell everybody about that. So tell them what it feels like, okay?
Marie Berdugo:
Okay. So when I was just going to get a local and I wasn’t getting put to sleep, I liked that part. It was good for me because I’m a person that runs a lot of things in my life. I need a lot of control. When I’m put to sleep and someone’s doing something to me, I feel like I have no control. I feel helpless.
So for me to be awake and to see the steps that are going on with me made me feel like I was participating in it, made me feel I was a part of it, and made me feel like I could speak if I needed to speak. And not feel like I’m asleep and nobody doesn’t know what I’m going through.
Marie Berdugo:
So I liked that part there to be awake and to be able to communicate and to be able to see what’s going on and to be able to feel like I wasn’t… nothing serious is going to happen. So to see what was going on and to have a conversation while I’m getting this done was actually really comfortable for me.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
I think you’re not the only person. I think this is kind of the standard, what I’ve been hearing from my patients in retrospect. When you jump in, there’s this fear, right? Because you don’t know what’s going to happen. And the cool thing about it is that you get to actually see it. It’s not like I come with you with a syringe and say, “Okay, night night. No one’s home, boom.”
Here it’s like, “Hey, Marie. This is what we’re going to do next. You cool with that? All right cool? Can you tilt your head for me a little bit?” And so—
Marie Berdugo:
Yes, that was really important to me. And I know it’s important to a lot of people because I know with my clients that had surgery or my clients who want to have surgery, the part that they’re scared about is being put to sleep. I hear from everybody, “Well I’m scared I’m not going to wake up. I’m scared, I don’t know what’s going to happen.” When they hear from me that I wasn’t put to sleep, that I was awake, that lightens up their eyes. And they’re like, “You know what? I didn’t know they did that. I didn’t know that happened. I like that idea. I like the idea that I could be awake and talk.”
Marie Berdugo:
So it actually is a really big eye opener to a lot of people knowing that they don’t need to be put to sleep to get this facelift procedure done. Which I think for a lot of women, when they know that, or a lot of people when they know that, they’re going to become more interested in making changes and trying to get more of a youthful face because a lot of people nowadays, they have two or three jobs.
They have a career, then they have a side gig, they’ve got to go to sports, they’ve got to do this and that. And they have the energy to run around because they’re taking care of themself but their face is aging along with the days that keep going by, your face is aging. They’re like, “Man, I look old but I sure don’t feel old.”
Dr. Raghu Athré:
50 is the new 20, right?
Marie Berdugo:
Yeah, I think it is. I really think it is. I think it is turning around, things are going backwards, the older you get, the younger you feel. I think that’s how it is.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
So I think a couple things have changed. We’re all getting healthier, right? So most of us today, we know a lot more information about staying healthy, eating healthy stuff. So our life is a little longer, right?
Marie Berdugo:
Yeah.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
So as our lives are longer and we do stuff for a longer period of time, then what happens is that we have the energy inside of us and we’re like cranking and I hear this from all my patients. I have a patient, Marie, she’s 80 years old, she’s over 80, okay? And she has a full time job. She works 40 hours a week, okay?
Marie Berdugo:
Wow.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Exactly. And she’s like, “Listen. I am doing everything that I’ve done forever. But this, what I see in the mirror, doesn’t match what I do on a daily basis.”
Marie Berdugo:
Yes, I agree.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
“And I’m not asking to look 20. But I just want there to be a little bit more simpatico between the two.” So what you’re saying to people, I’m putting in words in your mouth, but I think that’s what you’re trying to say.
Marie Berdugo:
Yes, exactly. Nowadays it’s different. People are changing their lifestyle, they’re going vegan. Back in the days, we didn’t know what vegan was. We didn’t know what keto was. Now there are new different types of ways of eating. So there’s vegan, there’s vegetarian, there’s keto. So a lot of people are turning to these types of lifestyles which are actually making their body feel better. And it’s making their body stronger and making their body feel younger. But the face is still looking a little older. So the thing is people want their look and their face to match how their body feels. That’s when they’ll want to go ahead and say, “Well maybe I’ll need a little bit of this, maybe I’ll need a little of that.”
Marie Berdugo:
But they’re not sure exactly where to go and they’re not sure exactly what the procedure is like. And what the steps are like. So that kind of stops it from taking that initial step right there. Yes.
But when I went in, the day of my surgery, yes, I was nervous. I was nervous because I didn’t really know what was on the other side of the mountain. When you don’t know where you’re going to step but you know you’re going to step, you want to step carefully. So it makes you a little nervous. But everybody was so kind, everybody was so understanding. It made me feel more relaxed.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
When did the nervousness come down? When did you feel like… Because I’m sure even during surgery like there’s probably stages, right? So the first stage you’re like, “Okay, it doesn’t hurt. I got past that point.” Then you get all bundled up and you’re going home. So when does it feel like, “I’m on the other side of the mountain. I’ve already done it. And now I know what I’m going to look like.”
Marie Berdugo:
Yes. When my nervousness was starting to calm down is when you did my first eye lift.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Really?
Marie Berdugo:
Yes. When you did the first one and I think it was like… I’m not sure 100% but I’m going to guess… it felt like 20 minutes.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Okay, no, that’s about right, that’s about right.
Marie Berdugo:
Okay. It felt like 20 minutes. When you were done and you said, “Okay, we’re on to the next one.” I was like, “What? He’s done and there’s no problem? It was that easy?” I’m thinking, “Is it really done?” But I’m like, “I know he has to see it’s done.” And I’m like, “Okay.”
Marie Berdugo:
Okay, when you did this one here and you were done with that one, I was like, “Wow. This is how easy it is? This is how fast it is?” It didn’t even hurt. I didn’t even feel anything.
And I was like, “Oh my gosh. When I do color on somebody’s hair, I take two and a half hours, poor them. This is surgery and it took maybe an hour total.” And I was like, “Wow, this is an in and out job.” That was—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
That was for the eyelids only though.
Marie Berdugo:
The eyelids. When that happened I was like my nervousness was going down. And then the thing is I didn’t really feel hardly anything. I was kind of drifting off and on to sleep because I was relaxed. And so my nervous system was going down.
When you started to work here, I kept telling myself, “This is what I want. I don’t want the way it looked when I came in. I don’t want that. No, I want this to be gone. I want this to be tight.”
When I started thinking about how much I wanted to look better, my nervousness started to go down. And then when you were finished with this here and you were on to this, I was like, “Golly. That’s fast.”
Marie Berdugo:
And I kept thinking what I’m going to look afterwards when I’m completely healed. So I kept staying focused on the amazing look that I’m going to get once everything’s healed. But my nervousness started to go down as you were starting to work on my face because I really didn’t feel any pain at all. When I didn’t feel any pain, I started to feel better.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
So okay, we go through the surgery, your nervousness comes down during surgery. Now when we’re done and you get to go home that first night, does the nervousness go back up?
Marie Berdugo:
No.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
So what do you feel like? What is that feeling like between the point at which I tell you it’s done and then you get to see me the next day and then I unwrap everything? What goes through your brain at that point?
Marie Berdugo:
Oh my gosh. Well, first when I was leaving the office, I was just, “Oh my god. I can’t believe I did this. This is what I’ve been wanting to do and I actually did it. I didn’t just prolong the thought for months and years. I actually did it. I’m so excited.”
I was so excited I started to laugh because I was so happy. I was so excited. I wasn’t nervous. I felt really confident and I feel in my heart that I knew everything was going to have a good outcome just because of the way you were handling me, the way you were talking to me, your hand was so gentle and so soft I had actually no worries in my heart and my spirit during surgery, I felt like I was in really good, confident, knowledgeable hands.
So I didn’t have any fear of having you working on my face. I had absolutely no fear. I had full confidence because you have a spirit of confidence that—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Thank you.
Marie Berdugo:
You work on people so I knew everything was going to be okay. I was just [crosstalk 00:16:39]—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
It’s the confident juju juice that I put on in the morning.
Marie Berdugo:
Right, right, yes. And I was just so excited. I mean, I couldn’t wait to come back the next day to take it off so I could actually see how things were looking. The thing is I had no pain at all. I had no pain. It was just a little bit different sleeping because I had this on my head and I’m a crazy sleeper. So I’m used to doing all this when I sleep. And then I had to sleep real still. And that was kind of like a little different.
Pain wise, no. Maybe discomfort a little bit because I had felt like maybe some of the numbing was going away so I felt a little discomfort but I didn’t feel any major pain at all. I didn’t cry, I didn’t moan, I didn’t complain. I was just up taking a bath, moving around with this huge thing on my head.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
The Teletubby?
Marie Berdugo:
Yes. And the thing is when I checked into a hotel, I had this big Teletubby on my head. I wanted everybody to see. I didn’t even care. I wasn’t even embarrassed. I want people asking me, “What’s going on?” And I had a conversation with the man at the front desk too when I was checking in and when I was checking out. It was the same man. And I told him and he goes, “Is everything okay?” I said, “Man, everything is wonderful. I just got a facelift.”
And I had this huge thing on my head having a conversation with him. And me and him were having a conversation about him having his veneers and then I was having a conversation about me having a facelift with this big, huge Teletubby [head] right in front of everybody at the desk because that’s how excited I was. And he had a wonderful smile.
Marie Berdugo:
And he would tell me, “Yeah, my veneers cost… ” I think he said like 40,000 dollars. And I said, “Well your 40,000 dollars turned into a million dollar smile.” And he says, “You know what? You’re going to have a million dollar face.”
And we were just talking like this because I was so excited. And then I went back to your office and, man, I was just so excited to get that off and to look. I mean, I couldn’t even explain to you when I… I didn’t care about all these markers on my face. I wasn’t even seeing that when [crosstalk 00:18:56]—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
So by the way, to everybody else in the world, I take a sharpie. And I use a sharpie and I draw all over your face and I have Xs and I’ve got lines and I got cross hatching.
Marie Berdugo:
Yes, yes. I loved it though. I took a lot of pictures and stuff because I’m going to put a journal together and these markings, to me, all these sharpies, they meant something to me. They meant something. It was a map to my happiness. It was a map to—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
That’s a good way of looking at it. I like that.
Marie Berdugo:
Yeah it—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
It’s a map to happiness. For me, it’s a map to surgery. So for you, it’s like perspective.
Marie Berdugo:
Yes, yes. See the thing is too like when I do hair, I create a map on the hair too so I can find direction. I call it a roadmap and—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Really?
Marie Berdugo:
Nobody understands that roadmap but me.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Exactly. You hit the nail on the head. Nobody understands my markings except me but it tells me what I need to do next.
Marie Berdugo:
Exactly. And I have a lot of my clients and they’re like, “I’ve never had my hair sections like this before.” And I say, “Because nobody’s done your hair like the way I’m going to do it.” I said, “This is my roadmap to create what I need to create to be able to achieve the look that you wanted to wear.” I said, “No one’s ever going to understand my formulas because they’re my formulas. And no one’s ever going to understand my roadmap because it’s my roadmap. No one understands anything I do but me because it’s my creation that I created.”
And I said, “It’s my signature.” So everybody could try to copy but they’re never going to get it exact. That’s what I tell my clients.
Marie Berdugo:
So when I saw all these markings on my face. They were like blessings to me because it was a map to my happiness. And so I took all these pictures and my daughter’s like, “Mom, take that off.” I said, “No, let it wear off on its own,” because I liked it.
It was a roadmap to my happiness. It was out of the depressing aging look into a more happier, youthful, tight look, the way my heart feels. So when I took it off, I just kept looking, I was so happy. I didn’t know whether to cry, I didn’t know whether to laugh because I had so many crazy emotions because this is exactly what I wanted. And now it’s the healing process. So—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Okay. Do you remember the book I gave you? The little post op book?
Marie Berdugo:
Yeah.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Okay. In there, there’s like a roller coaster diagram, right? Of what you feel? It’s on the back of one of the pages and it shows you the excitement, then the down, then the up. So what point in this process… Okay, so you’re talking a lot about this excitement when you get all this stuff off, then there’s kind of this little slow down, right? As you’re kind of healing and all this stuff.
What point in that process do you finally look in the mirror and go, “Wow, I’m done and boom shaka laka”? When does that happen?
Marie Berdugo:
Yeah. I think I want to say I swelled on the third and fourth day a lot. And I knew that was going to happen because you did tell me that was going to happen and I knew that was going to happen.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
I call it the bowling ball.
Marie Berdugo:
Yeah, that’s exactly what it was. You will swell up like a bowling ball. And I was like, “Oh my gosh, I can’t [inaudible 00:22:24] like me and I can’t wait for the fifth day, I can’t wait for the sixth day.” I wanted the swelling to go down.
But I think when the swelling was going down, I think it was probably… I don’t know, maybe about a week and I started to see a defined look. And I was like, “Wow. It’s only going to get better.”
As long as you take care of yourself and you listen to the doctor’s instructions and don’t think you know everything, everything will be okay. Healing will heal up good. You won’t have any problems.
Marie Berdugo:
I always feel like this here, you could go on the internet, you could do all this kind of stuff. But I feel like listening to your doctor is the golden key. Whatever he says is what you’ve got to do.
So I listened to all your instructions. I listened to you how things were going to heal and what did you want me to do and what did you want me to drink and how did you want me to sleep and all… So I did everything. And I think that’s what really helped me heal. It healed me well. So I think I want to say the third and fourth day is when I was like, [crosstalk 00:23:32]—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
“O-M-G.”
Marie Berdugo:
I think that was my down time because I was like a bowling ball. I think that’s when the scalp went woo was on my third and fourth day. But I told myself, “As the days go by, it will go right back up.” So I think it went back up on the sixth day.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Sixth day. So for me looking at you, I think I go through the same set of emotions. People don’t understand that I’m a human too. So I go through the same type of thing that you go through. I do it with you, okay? I just don’t talk about it with you because I’ve got to have my confidence juju juice on me, right?
Marie Berdugo:
Yes, yes.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
So during surgery, I’m all pumped up. And you can feel it, you’re in the music. You’re like uh, uh. And then when you’re done with surgery, there’s this immense, “Oh my god, I created this.” And then I see you on day one.
So between you going home and you coming back to see me post op day one, there’s nervousness for me, okay? My heart’s like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom because I’m ready to open everything, make sure that nothing… There’s no problem, no things. So there’s that nervousness on my side.
And then when almost all my patients will call me back day three, day four, and be like, “Oh my god, I know you told me bowling ball but this is really normal, right?”
Dr. Raghu Athré:
So I go through the same thing. And for me, I’ve seen it so many times I can talk you out of it and say, “Okay, look. I’ve seen all these people. That’s normal. Just push through.” Right?
Marie Berdugo:
Yeah.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
But I think it’s the two week point when you come to get all your sutures and staples out at two weeks, that’s when I see the result as well. And I can see the smile on everybody’s face and it’s very contagious, right? It’s very infectious because you’re all pumped in that emotion at that point and that’s when I really get back on that roller coaster upswing again.
Marie Berdugo:
Yes, yes. I was really excited to get the staples out. I was so excited. I was really excited. I feel like, “Oh, I think I need them out now. I think I need them out.”
Dr. Raghu Athré:
By the time that day comes, you’re like, “I want it out.” There’s nobody who’s like, “Yeah, leave it in an extra day.”
Marie Berdugo:
Oh yeah, you’re ready. You’re ready to get them out. “I think in about a week we can have… ” You’re like, “Okay, I’m ready to get them out.” Because I think what it is when the stitches and the stapes are out, now it’s your time that you know everything’s going to heal up right.
You still feel fresh out of surgery while you have all those staples and stitches in. So you feel really delicate, you feel real tender. You feel like there’s still some restrictions on you. But once you get the staples and stitches out, you feel free, you feel like you can run and do what the heck you want to do now because all it is is healing time and the more time that goes by, the better you heal. You feel more free to wash your hair, to blow dry your hair. You feel like—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
And you did awesome. You kept everything so clean. That was another reason why I think you kind of healed very quickly because not only did you follow the instructions but there’s some people who were super scared to get in there and clean it and everything. And I mean, it was spotless.
Marie Berdugo:
Yes, yes. I couldn’t wait to shampoo my hair. And when you said, “You can shampoo.” I was like, “Yes.” I have nails on now but remember I took my nails off?
Dr. Raghu Athré:
I told you to, yeah.
Marie Berdugo:
Yeah. I took my nails off so I don’t poke anything—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Scratch it. Yep.
Marie Berdugo:
Or damage anything. So it was so much easier when you have your nails off and you are kind of just tender, just real gentle, you’re not going to hurt anything, you’re not going to pull anything off. You’re not scraping nothing. You’re just with the tips of your fingers, you just put the shampoo into your hair and you’re getting everything cleaned up. I feel like when you do that, things can heal better.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
And you feel better. It’s like looking good, feeling good and you’re like in that zone of healing.
Marie Berdugo:
Yes. And you feel cleaner when your hair is clean. At least I know women when your hair is clean, you feel so much better. And then when you clean all the dried up blood and stuff—
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Right, the crusties.
Marie Berdugo:
Yeah. It makes you feel so much better, it’s not stuck in your hair. And so, yeah, I think a lot of times you’re scared or something. But I wasn’t scared. I was like, “If anything happens, I’ll just call you and say I took out a staple.” I knew it was going to be okay and stuff. I wasn’t scared. But I did it real gentle and I stayed in the shower for about 20 or 30 minutes so just kind of washing my hair real gentle. And then putting some conditioner in it. And then you told me to not blow dry it or no heat. So I was so careful. I said, “Okay, this is what I do for a living so I know what to do.” I was like that. So the top part, the back part, I blow dried it with heat. But on the sides right here, I did it with cold air.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Cool setting, yeah.
Marie Berdugo:
Yes, I did it with cold air. It took longer to dry. But I did it. I kind of put the blow dryer out a little bit and kind of shook it around with cool to kind of dry this up right here on the sides where I have my stitches and where I have my staples. And it worked. I was like, “Man, it worked. Everything is great. Most of my hair is dry.”
Because when my hair dries, it dries real wavy and curly and I didn’t like that part. So I said, “Okay, we’re going to have to dry it a little bit so it’s a little straight.” Yeah, I mean it worked for me. I have no problem. I figured it out. And I figured out the combination and I said, “Okay, I’m going to do the same thing the next day.”
Marie Berdugo:
So every day, yeah, I washed my hair to make sure that I kind of loosened up any type of dried up blood or any type of scabs that needed to fall out of my hair. Sometimes they’ll get stuck in my hair and I had to shampoo it and condition it out to make sure it stayed clean. So I had absolutely no issues and no problems doing that myself.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
That’s awesome. Well, Marie, I really want to thank you for your time and sharing your feelings and what you went through. I think that all of us, we’re all on that journey. And many times one thing that you don’t know that you’ve really contributed here to is you have really contributed to people understanding this journey of this thing of the way you feel, and what prompts you to kind of seek a procedure.
And I love your energy about how you said it: “What I saw in the mirror and what I did every day just didn’t go. They were fighting each other.” And said you want this a little bit more cohesive what you see is how you feel on the inside.
You have an awesome result and I’d love to be the person, thank you for the compliments but it’s not just my work, okay? First of all I have a whole team back here that are freaking awesome at what they do.
Marie Berdugo:
Yes, they are.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
And a big contributor in this whole thing is you, okay? I’m going to say a little something about you. You were an awesome patient. You did everything like you were supposed to do. You were so awesome. I’ve referred you to three patients that are coming up because they were all worried about how to clean their hair and stuff.
And I was like, “Listen. I’m going to make it real simple. I have somebody who is a hairdresser who’s gone through the procedure herself. She did awesome. She knows what it feels like, what it looks like. So just go see her. And that’ll take that worry off the table.”
Dr. Raghu Athré:
And so you, from every aspect from the patient standpoint, you took it to the next level. And it’s kind of like I feel like when we’re a team and we’re all working towards the same goal, it’s like we get to win the NBA championship. It takes all five players on the team.
Marie Berdugo:
Yes, yes.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
So thank you so much for sharing your story. I really appreciate it. So I’m going to put a plug in for you. Marie is a phenomenal hairdresser. How do people get in touch with you if they want to make an appointment with you?
Marie Berdugo:
Yes. They can always call me on my business number. It is 979-480-3057. And I’m located in Houston around the Gallery Area.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
There you go.
Marie Berdugo:
Tongue twister.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
If you have any questions, also I think people can call you up because you are a person that I think you really take inventory of how you feel. Some people, like I’m not that kind of person, I just kind of march through stuff. But you like to feel it and so if you want to talk to Marie about her experiences and her thoughts and definitely just… Even if you have a facelift someplace else, you need help with your hair, whatever, go look at her because she knows exactly what to look out for, what to see, what to do, what not to do. So thank you, Marie.
Marie Berdugo:
You’re welcome.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
All right. Love you. And you look hot. You look awesome.
Marie Berdugo:
Thank you. Appreciate it.
Dr. Raghu Athré:
Thank you.
