Eva Sheie (00:03):
The purpose of this podcast is simple. We want you to get to know your doctor before meeting them in person, because you're making a life-changing decision and time is scarce. The more you can learn about who your doctor is before you meet them, the better that first meeting will be. There's no substitute for an in-person appointment, but we hope this comes close. I'm your host, Eva Sheie, and you're listening to Meet the Doctor. Good afternoon today on Meet the Doctor, my guest is Feras Yamin. He is a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. Welcome, Dr. Yamin. Would you tell us about yourself?

Dr. Yamin (00:43):
Good afternoon. Thank you, Eva. Thank you for having me here. Like you said. Um, uh, my name is Feras Yamin and I'm a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. I, um, share an office with, uh, two other plastic surgeons. We have a nice big office, uh, on Wilshire Boulevard. I run my own practice separately. Uh, I would like to think of my practice as a small boutique practice. We provide personal care and, uh, more of a personal, uh, touch in addition to the prestigious activities and, uh, services that, uh, we have in the practice. I, um, originally from, uh, Iraq, grew up in, uh, Baghdad, then, uh, traveled to multiple parts of the world, including Middle East, Europe. Lived a little bit in the, on an island in the Caribbean. And then, uh, eventually settled in the United States, uh, where I did my education and training between multiple institutions. Loma Linda University, Texas Tech, and then eventually did my, uh, plastic surgery training in New York with the, uh, Long Island Plastic Surgical group. And embarked after that, uh, with the private practice. Then traveled from New York or moved my practice from New York to Beverly Hills, uh, in the past two years. And here I am, uh, gradually building my practice here and, uh, enjoying living in California.

Eva Sheie (02:14):
You've really been everywhere and crisscrossed, not just the United States, but the globe, it sounds like. And I wonder what is the longest you've ever stayed in one place?

Dr. Yamin (02:24):
That's a very good question actually. I was thinking about it the, the other day, cuz I was trying to think where would I call it home if I would wanna tell my kids, where's home? A lot of my childhood was in the Middle East, but, you know, because of the unrest there and the situation there, we had, you know, my dad had to travel us multiple areas in the Middle East, so there's not even one place in the Middle East that we stayed for, uh, long enough. Beside my dad did his, uh, training and his practice here in the United States. My dad's a cardiologist, so I was here when he was in training as a kid. So, to answer your question, collectively, the longest I've been one place, believe it or not, it's probably the five years I spent on St. Kitts and Nevis. It's a small island in the Caribbean.

(03:12):
At some point in my life I decided after medical school, before training, I loved anatomy so much and I thought I would like to teach anatomy, which I did while I was in, in medical school. But then I thought I would like to continue just teaching anatomy. So I looked for job opportunities and the university down in the, on St. Kitts, they offered me a job and uh, I took it. So it was supposed to be a one year job, but I loved so much living on the island that I stayed for five years. So that's the probably the longest period that I stayed in one place continuously. But collectively probably California between schooling and research and training, and now practice. Now is probably, I'm passing the six, seven years. So California, I've been here the longest, so.

Eva Sheie (04:09):
So what got you to leave St Kitts then?

Dr. Yamin (04:12):
Oh, that's a <laugh>. Yeah. So I truly enjoyed teaching anatomy and passing on this knowledge and the experience to my students. And you know, watching my students grow through, you know, you anatomy is the first subject you get in medical school. So you watch them grow as you're coming as an, you know, undergrad students and then they mature into doctors. And living on the island, you know, was, was amazing. Uh, I was single at that time and, but I think I missed the doctor-patient relationship, which, uh, I was lacking there. And I, for the longest time I felt like I have a, I have a surgical skills in me and I want to be a surgeon. I wasn't gonna be able to do training or to practice over there. So I think I missed the, OR that's why I wanted to go back for training.

Eva Sheie (05:03):
When you teach anatomy, does that involve a lot of cadaver work?

Dr. Yamin (05:07):
Yes, that's actually one of the main reasons that I took that job because, uh, unfortunately, here on mainland USA, a lot of medical schools had got away with the doing cadaver dissection, but that's not how I was trained or how I was educated. We spent many days, hours in the anatomy lab dissecting cadavers and learning how to manipulate tissue, and structures, and organs, and seeing them, you know, firsthand. But with technology advances, technology, a lot of medical schools, they thought it would be easier to teach it electronically. So there will be, you know, electronic cadavers that, uh, will just show images, but it, you will never be able to feel that structure. You know, you see it, you'll understand this, the anatomy structure, but you're not gonna be able to feel it. That's why the school in the, in the Caribbean, they were doing the same old system by using cadavers.

(06:03):
Some of them are fresh cadavers where we do the section there. I like doing that. So that's was main part of, uh, doing. And also we were doing prosections, which meaning, companies all around the world, they will request a certain anatomical structure, maybe an organ, a nerve, artery and they will, well, they would like it to have it prosected, meaning professionally dissected to maintain all the architecture of that, uh, structure. And then as we finish doing it, we'll send it to them. They plastinate it and they, they make it either a plastinated model or they convert it to an electronic model, meaning they will convert it to, uh, a 3D image that will be taught in, in medical school. So that was part of my job, uh, between teaching and doing the prosections. And that was probably the one of the main reasons that I also stayed a little bit longer because, uh, I improved my skills. I, I noticed that with, with time the way I maneuver structures, maneuver tools, instruments around, uh, organs and, you know, anatomical structures, uh, got better and better with time. So I enjoyed doing that.

Eva Sheie (07:15):
I imagine that doing a prosection is extremely delicate. It probably takes a very long time to take those pieces apart.

Dr. Yamin (07:24):
Yes, yes, definitely. It, it could take us about a week to pro sect the structure.

Eva Sheie (07:31):
How many universities around the world actually do that kind of work?

Dr. Yamin (07:37):
I think Europe still does it. I think they still use the old system of teaching anatomy. Some schools, I know some schools in, uh, in US, they are going back into also the older school of teaching anatomy cuz they, they noticed the deficiency in the anatomical knowledge that students have. And at the end of the day, to become a good surgeon, regardless whether you're a plastic surgeon or any type of any type of surgeon, anatomy is the basics. Yeah.

Eva Sheie (08:06):
How do you think that this experience with anatomy has translated into your work now with, with aesthetics?

Dr. Yamin (08:13):
That's actually, I think it's one of my strength and one of the basics that I always fall back into when I'm trying to evaluate a patient, patient needs and also to plan for my surgery. So it's really the essence of plastic surgery and, you know, an aesthetic surgery, uh, we, we are really trying to restore anatomy and augment that natural anatomy. So every time we try to push the, the boundary and go outside where the nature has created the, the anatomical structure, we, we fall into trouble and we, we create something that might not be aesthetically pleasing. So natural looking anatomical landmarks are always aesthetically pleasing. So in, in essence, we are trying to restore that natural looking aesthetic units and we are augmenting certain aspects of the aesthetic units where it becomes more aesthetically pleasing and more prominent and more beautiful, uh, for the human eye.

(09:20):
Otherwise, if you don't respect the basics of the anatomical basics of these aesthetic units, you're gonna create something that's, uh, strange. It's going look weird and awkward for the, for the human eye, for the human eye. And this, you know, like one example might come into head when, when you create a fat grafting into the buttocks and you create this giant BBL that does not match the, uh, the rest of the aesthetic units of the body does not match the, the natural anatomical structures that are around the the buttocks area, you're gonna create something that's not aesthetically pleasing. It's gonna be, it is gonna look awkward, it's gonna look, uh, look strange, and it's not gonna fit in, into the, into the whole picture. And that's one thing that I always fall back into, evaluate the basics of the anatomy of the structure that you're, you're looking at and what are the aesthetic units and how you can work with these aesthetic units in other restoring their nature looking, natural looking or augment that natural looking that, uh, we already have sometimes certain things we only, we are adjusting them by millimeters or sub millimeters in order to produce the look that we're looking into.

Eva Sheie (10:32):
I wonder if you can speak a little bit to the idea of your anatomy background as it pertains to something like rhinoplasty where that delicate level of attention to detail would really be a, an advantage for someone getting their nose, something like that.

Dr. Yamin (10:50):
That's actually what, where most of the anatomy can comes into play. The, the anatomy of the nose is a very complicated structure. It was one of the few structures that we deal with in plastic surgery that has a, a combination of soft tissue, cartilage and bone that are placed in a framework. And that framework is very important not only for the appearance of the nose, but also for the stability of the, of that appearance and also for the functionality of the, uh, of the nose. Sometimes I, I try to explain it to like patients and colleagues, but it's very hard to explain that. The way I think of the nose. It's probably one of these structures in, in our body that, uh, has a almost an extra dimension in it. And the reason for that, because the, there is more dimensions that goes inside that are not visible on the outside, but have an effect on the stability of the structures that we look at the, on the outside, beside the legacy of these tissue and the movements that we're doing.

(11:52):
We're we're changing things by millimeters and they are producing a very big outcome on the outside. Give you an example, changing the location of the, of the septum in relation to the upper lateral cartilages in relation to the nasal bones at the keystone area, which is the area where the cartilages meet the bone. Changing this by millimeters or destabilizing this by few millimeters, can completely change the appearance of the dorsum, the dorsal aesthetic lines, how sleek they are, how parallel they are, and how symmetrical, uh, they are. And the tip will follow. It's, it's amazing how how small changes here, you will notice that the tip completely goes deviated and it's almost as you, as you travel down the nose, the movement and the change gets bigger and bigger. And if it's a small deviation was on top, it'll be a big deviation will be on down there.

(12:50):
And sometimes we lose that perspective of how, how, uh, we're looking at it and we try to evaluate, oh, it's a deviated tip, let's just work on the tip. But no, it's a whole framework that all works. There is nine aesthetic lines in the, uh, aesthetic units in the nose. It's like one, one of the small structures in there, but has nine aesthetic units. Each unit correlates with the other one and each unit moves with the, with the other one. And that's why understanding this and manipulating it with delicacy and supporting that framework with the grafts is so essential, so essential. You know, one of the things that I always hear about in conferences, you know, and more experienced plastic surgeons talk about when they meet like a patient that they did a rhinoplasty on like 25 years, 30 years later, and they say, "Well, all the work we've done is changed.

(13:40):
I don't see, you know, the nose is droopy again, the nose". And there's always arguments, question, why, why, why did this happen? Is it aging? It's not aging. I strongly believe if you create strong framework and you augment that framework and strengthen it with, uh, with cartilages, you'll have a a stable structure. And by the way, when, when I say augmentation, augmentation is not necessarily, I mean making it bigger, when you augment something, you not necessarily, you make it more prominent. And sometimes by making things more refined, it becomes more prominent and more easily visible to the eye as, uh, you know, as pleasing and attractive.

Eva Sheie (14:19):
It sounds like you're extremely, not just knowledgeable, but also passionate about noses.

Dr. Yamin (14:25):
<laugh>. That's true, that's definitely true.

Eva Sheie (14:28):
If I was someone considering nose surgery, what advice would you give me about finding the right kind of surgeon to do that work?

Dr. Yamin (14:39):
So I would initially echo everything that, uh, you know, we hear from, you know, other surgeons and everywhere, you know, on, uh, social media and online when, uh, they, they tell you do your research, make sure the, the background of the surgeon you are, you are working on with making sure that they, they are very well vetted, went through all the, uh, board certification, licensing, uh, uh, they belong to the correct, uh, board, correct society, and they have done this work before. They're able to show you a good variety of, uh, uh, before and afters for their work. And I always say that, and I always say to, to my patients, family members, friends, anybody who's looking for, for a surgeon or any procedure to be done after you already checked all, all the boxes, everything checked, and you wanna make sure that this is the, the surgeon that you're gonna trust your, your body, trust, your face, your nose, whatever you're doing with, with them, and you're gonna go in with the procedure, whatever treatment you're going, that there's one thing that you, you can do and you that can give you the peace of mind that you're doing the right, making the right choice.

(15:49):
Ask for a, a second consultation with, with your surgeon. Uh, it is just pretty simple. Uh, you already met the surgeon, you already done the consultation, they already spend enough time with you, they already came up with a plan. Uh, you then, you know, their staff already discussed with you, uh, numbers and timing and dates and all that, uh, has been maybe done for you. But ask them for a second meeting, a second consultation to go over other questions, concerns, or even maybe ask them to go over the plan, uh, one more time with you. And I can tell you if the surgeon does not have the time for you and the energy to meet with you one more time before operating on you, you can almost guarantee that they won't be available for you during your recovery. And I'm not saying that you're gonna be always needing your surgeon during your recovery or something might, you know, happen that you will need the, some attention or something like this.

(16:50):
But what if, what if that's the, the case? What if you needed something, but you want to have the ability to have the accessibility to your surgeon, your surgeon will, will be responsive, available and able to take care of you. Now if they haven't yet operated on you and they couldn't invest that extra minute to speak with you, most likely they won't invest extra minutes after they have operated on you. But I, I feel like asking for a, a second meeting, a second consultation, go over your questions, go over your, uh, concerns with, uh, with your surgeon, go over the plan again. You know, sometimes, uh, you talk about the plan and you realize that that's not maybe what you are looking for or maybe your surgeon was, uh, did not hear you well or there was a missed, something missed in the, in the communication that maybe you can deliver it better the second time around.

Eva Sheie (17:46):
I think this is brilliant advice. And I also think another one is to bring a friend or bring a family member with you,

Dr. Yamin (17:51):
Correct.

Eva Sheie (17:52):
So that you do have a second set of ears and a another person's perspective and probably not someone who would try to talk you in or out of having surgery, but just an objective, neutral observer.

Dr. Yamin (18:06):
Correct.

Eva Sheie (18:08):
In Beverly Hills, it's not a big town, actually, I think it's big in our minds, but it's really a small town, right? <laugh>. So you have a lot of people who are traveling from other places to see you because they want the best and they know that that's where the best surgeons are in, in probably the world. How do you support people who are traveling when you know that they do need, or if something goes wrong that they will need support and may not actually live in Beverly Hills?

Dr. Yamin (18:39):
So I always structure a recovery plan for all my patients. And I, and I always, when I do consultation with the patient, obviously it goes into three phases, you know, evaluating the patient, listening to them, hear what their story is, what they're coming for, and all that. Then the second phase, we're making a surgical plan. But the surgery is only part of what we are trying to achieve in the end, part of what we are achieving to the goal. And that's what I always explain to the patients. It's a very important part, you know, in that few hours we are in the OR a lot of things we do is gonna affect the final outcome, but the recovery, the recovery is just as important. It's longer and there is a lot of things that you can do in the recovery that make or break your outcome.

(19:24):
So when I discuss with them the, the recovery phase, depending on how big the surgery, depending how complicated the things we, we do, depending how far they are and what's their support system, I always structure a plan for them to maybe be in an aftercare facility near, uh, Beverly Hills. Or maybe they don't need the aftercare facility and they, you know, the extra expense run. Maybe just staying in a nearby hotel that might be enough if they have enough support system and family members that can, can be there with them. And I always assure them that if you are, uh, nearby around Beverly Hills, I can see you more frequently and also I'll be available for you to, you know, stop by and check on you if things, uh, needed. Then the second phase after that, we will plan the, the follow ups and during the recovery period, I always try to structure for them the six week mark, maybe the three month mark to plan a trip to see me in person.

(20:20):
However, for uh, maybe a smaller surgeries that, uh, that has a faster recovery, more consistent and reliable, the support that they can have, we can always do things, you know, virtually. And as the need arises, uh, then I will ask them to come in and be evaluated in, uh, in person. And I've done it, you know, uh, a lot of times, you know, I have, uh, I have patients who followed me from New York and I operated on them in California. They went back in New York and we kept communicating, uh, you know, virtually. And um, but I always have, like, I asked them like, "When is your next trip gonna be to California? I will put you on my schedule on, on that trip". And I try to accommodate them as much as possible. My office is not open on Saturdays or weekends, however, I try to make exceptions, especially for, you know, out of towners.

(21:09):
If they are in town during a weekend, I will see them, uh, during that weekend. And for the, locally for the southern California area, we, we have another location, me and, uh, my partner, we kind of, uh, try to cover that location in the valley every now and then. So I, we have an office in the valley that I try to go there maybe once or twice a month, and I can see patients in that area and hopefully we can go even further more south, maybe to Orange County and can have another location in Orange County, where we can also see people there that they don't have to drive all the way to Beverly Hills.

Eva Sheie (21:46):
Oh, I know one of your mentors gives his cell phone number to every single patient and he swears that it has never been a problem. Is that something that you do too?

Dr. Yamin (21:55):
Yes. So that's how I look at my practice. Like I said, all of us, you know, there's, there's many plastic surgeons around the country and there is many, many of them in Southern California and all of us, we, we provide good care and we provide good results and we are, you know, went through all the training and the boarding and all the, all the stuff that's necessary. But the way I look at my practice that I provide that accessibility and that personal care that all my patients, uh, get. And I did learn it from Dr. Raj and, uh, I do give my cell phone to all my patients and all my patients have direct access to me whenever they need text, phone call. And that availability makes their recovery and makes the transition to more stable recovery, much smoother for everybody. And sometimes they will reward you back. You'll be surprised. You know, like, uh, um, I had patients who are maybe a year or a year and a half out of surgery and they're out there enjoying their, uh, their result and everything and here and there you get a, a, a nice text or a, a picture of, uh, "Hey, I'm very happy with my result and I, you know, look, uh, look great and I want to share this with you."

Eva Sheie (23:08):
I love it. Okay, so my last question is, if I, um, am patient thinking about coming to see you or potentially scheduling a consultation, where should we find more information about you?

Dr. Yamin (23:22):
Yes, so if you Google my name Dr. Yamin, or Feras Yamin, MD or Yamin Plastic Surgery, that's, uh, the name of my practice, you will find that there's a Google business account that lists, uh, my, uh, address in Beverly Hills and the phone number to my office and also the email to the practice that you can reach out through. There's also, my information also will pop up on, uh, RealSelf. I have a simple website, uh, I know I'm falling behind on that, but I will focus more on building my website to be. But the website has a couple of pages that talks a little bit about me, where my background is, and also has a place where you can fill in for a consultation request or a phone number and an email. Majority of my patients, believe it or not, find me through social media. I have an Instagram account, @Feras.Yamin.MD. You know, you can see some of my work, some my, my results. Uh, I, I think I think of Instagram as a kind of a showcase of my work. So it gives you an idea and also it lists my address and phone number and my cell phone number and you can DM me or text me through that. But the, I, I guess the two main site, two main places where you can see me and see some of my work, and you can see some of my reviews through Instagram, shows my work, Google search will, where you can see the Google account and the RealSelf account. And my cell phone is all over those both places.

Eva Sheie (24:50):
I'm gonna start texting you like at midnight on Sunday.

Dr. Yamin (24:53):
Oh, believe me, I actually, uh, have almost like I know wave of my, the text that comes because I know like my California patients will text maybe between five o'clock and eight o'clock, when they are out of work and they're checking some on stuff. And then I will start having my East Coast patients, you know, texting, usually they're, they know that the time difference, so they try to text me early in the morning in my time, which will be like, kind of the time when they're driving to work. So I start getting these texts around like five, you know, in the morning, four in the morning, you know. It's all very welcomed and as much as I enjoy doing the surgery and making everything look perfect in the surgery, making sure the recovery is also perfect and we are, we are achieving the goal together, me and my patients as expected.

Eva Sheie (25:42):
That's what it's all about.

Dr. Yamin (25:43):
Exactly.

Eva Sheie (25:44):
Thank you Dr. Yamin.

Dr. Yamin (25:46):
Thank you Eva.

Eva Sheie (25:49):
If you are considering making an appointment or are on your way to meet this doctor, be sure to let them know you heard them on the Meet the Doctor podcast. Check the show notes for links including the doctor's website and Instagram to learn more. Are you a doctor or do you know a doctor who'd like to be on the Meet the Doctor podcast? Book your free recording session at Meet the Doctor podcast.com. Meet the Doctor is made with love in Austin, Texas, and is a production of The Axis, t h e a x i s.io.