Plastic Surgery Unplugged
with Dr. Raghu Athré: Episode 5

We’re back with a brand new episode of “Plastic Surgery Unplugged.” In this podcast series Dr. Athré leads conversations on industry secrets, plastic surgery procedures, and personal stories by professionals and patients.

In episode 5, Dr. Athré is coming to us from sunny Tulum, Mexico to debunk some of the most common myths about plastic surgery.

Don’t forget to subscribe and share with friends and family. Here’s episode 5: “Plastic Surgery Myths” Thanks for listening!

[Audio transcription via Rev.com]

Dr. Raghu Athré:

Hey everybody. This is Dr. Athré with another episode of “Plastic Surgery Unplugged.” You are joining me right now from sunny Tulum, Mexico. Absolute paradise here.

In the first several episodes, you saw me in a sweater due to the fact that we introduced this series out in the middle of the winter. I have decided now to do a little bit of a destination podcast. I decided to talk about five plastic surgery myths that I’m going to debunk here.

Dr. Raghu Athré:

So, the first one that I decided to talk about is that plastic surgery is only for the rich and famous.

So, this is a total myth when you consider that the vast majority of plastic surgery patients are actually from the middle income groups. They’ve done several studies looking at what the average income and household income, so on and so forth is of plastic surgery patients. And the vast majority of plastic surgery patients fall into the 40% to 75% or 80% of the wealth categories when you look at it.

Very few patients actually fall into the rich category. So, most of the patients actually are normal schmoes. So, that is a real myth that I guess we can just cross straight off the list.

Dr. Raghu Athré:

Second thing that I hear very frequently in my office is that plastic surgery will make you look fake. This is a humongous myth.

Well done plastic surgery should make you look refreshed, natural, maybe a little bit enhanced but the types of responses that your friends should give you or people who see you are, “Have you done something a little different? Maybe you’re doing your makeup a little differently. Maybe you’ve gotten a good night’s sleep.” Those are pretty much most of the things that patients should say.

Dr. Raghu Athré:

This is what my patients normally tell me. I asked this question to a lot of my patients. “What did people say? What did your coworkers say?” And some of my patients will actually even tell me, “My mom didn’t know that I had surgery done.” That is probably one of the best compliments that I can actually get from a patient.

Dr. Raghu Athré:

So, myth number three. “Plastic surgery will completely change your appearance.” We’ve all seen “Queen of the South” and all these narco movies where we see people go to South America and get a new face. This idea has been around since James Bond. Plastic surgery won’t do that.

Well done plastic surgery should be completely hidden. Should be something that you don’t actually have to reveal to people unless you feel like revealing that information. It should make you look natural. It should make you feel better about yourself but it shouldn’t change the person you are. It shouldn’t change what you look like. That only happens in the movies.

There are very few times when I actually tell a patient, “Hey, listen. I’m going to do something that does change your overall appearance.” A very good example of this is a chin implant. There are patients for example, that are very recessed with respect to their chin. And in those patients, when you do a chin implant, it does significantly change their overall facial appearance and brings a little bit more harmony to that. So, that’s number three: myth.

Dr. Raghu Athré:

Number four. “Plastic surgery is trendy.” I cannot tell you how wrong this actually is. There have been trends in plastic surgery but if you actually look at it, overall over time, the idea of beauty has been approximately about the same.

So, for example, let’s say in the late seventies, early eighties, if you’re talking rhinoplasty, the in rhinoplasty trend was the super ski slope. Well, really good rhinoplasty surgeons didn’t really do that. They still gave people a very natural appearing nose rather than an over sculpted nose. Just a few years ago, the lip craze came in and people were doing all sorts of stuff to get these enormous lips.

Dr. Raghu Athré:

And then a few years later, there was this huge article out that Kylie Jenner removed all of her lip filler. So, if you look at the guys that are really good in the field, they don’t jump on trend bandwagons. They jump on things that stay the test of time and give people that natural look, but just a little bit refreshed and enhanced. I think those are the best adjectives that I can use.

Dr. Raghu Athré:

The last one I think is a really good myth. “It’s really hard to find a good plastic surgeon.” One of the problems I think in 2021 is the fact that you have so many avenues for people to advertise, whether it is TikTok, whether it is Google reviews, whether it is Instagram. And again, the really good guys, they would stand the test of time.

If you actually look at it, the vast majority of our patients come to us by other patient referrals. That’s how patients come to us. So, that’s a good gauge, realistically, to look at how a surgeon really is. And that’s a good way to actually, on the other end, try and find a good surgeon. Ask your friends.

Dr. Raghu Athré:

If you’ve known someone who’s had really good work done, ask them. Don’t be afraid. What’s the worst they’re going to say? Deny it? Okay. Walk away. I wouldn’t jump on the TikTok bandwagon or the Google review bandwagon.

I know some excellent surgeons who fly underneath the radar. They’re busy and they don’t need to do Instagram marketing. So, I think that this is a quick little synopsis of five surgery trends or plastic surgery myths that have been debunked. And remember, you can always hit us up. Check out our website at www.athrefacialplastics.com. [Our] phone number [is] (281) 973-2464.

Dr. Raghu Athré:

And till next time on our video cast. I’ll pick that another topic that I think will interest all of you and I’ll try and shoot a few more topics from sunny Tulum because it’s a lot more fun than sitting in my study.

Dr. Raghu Athré:

All right. Hope you guys are having a great day out there.