The Cost of Luxury Plastic Surgery (w/ Dr. Neinstein)

0:00Haley: Okay, we all love to romanticize being your own boss, but even when you have a team, you still end up being the bookkeeper, the marketing department, and the person rearranging appointments at 11 p.m. And that work isn't just annoying, it is expensive, and it's especially taxing for businesses that run on appointments. So if you own a business that takes bookings, this one's for you. Gloss Genius is a system that runs the operations for you behind the scenes. Scheduling, payments, admin, handled automatically. Payment processing is a flat rate with zero hidden fees. And check out Rebook's clients on the spot.

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1:14Haley: Cut through the chaos with Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Get a$75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. People used to hide plastic surgery. Everything was hush-hush. Then it was people were open to saying, I had my tummy tuck or I had a facelift. And now it's who did it. This is what I'm wearing. This is who did my jewelry. And this is who did my body. It's part of like, you know, explaining your look. This is Financial Tea.

1:54Haley: What's up, Sippers? Welcome back to Financial Tea. This is a podcast where I teach you how to build wealth with a side of market drama, money scandals, and of course, financial pop culture. And today we are joined by the top mommy makeover expert in the world, Dr. Ninesteen. You guys, this is, I mean, going to you is like getting a Birkin. It is something that people flaunt, is something that people brag about. You did the woman who started Poppy and sold it for a billion dollars. She was posting all over it online. You did Lauren Bostick. I mean, you are the go-to surgeon for some of the most elite names.

2:32Haley: And as we see such a dramatic rise in plastic surgery, I just really wanted to have someone on the financial tee who's on the inside. So I'm so happy that you're here. Flattery will get you everywhere. And thank you very much. It's an honor to be here. I've been looking forward to this. But first, let's get into the MDJ Market Report. Hey, zippers, our first story is about dating because guess what? It now costs$189. That is not a typo. That is not a Coachella wristband. That is a single mother freaking date. And that is up like 12.6 % from$168 last year because apparently inflation looked at all of our love lives and was like, yeah, you know what?

3:09Haley: We're going to hit that too. Gen Z, by the way, is paying$205 per date. And millennials are paying$252, which is a 32 % jump, which I'd like to remind everyone is a bigger raise than most of you got at work this year. So basically your situationship is outperforming your salary. But what's crazy, I was reading all about this, is half of Gen Z and 40 % of millennials now say that dating is interfering with their financial goals, which is a very expensive way to find out you actually don't like brunch that much. More than half of unmarried 22 to 35 year olds said they're not dating at all because of money.

3:49Haley: And 78 % of Americans say a partner's debt is an instant deal breaker. That's insane. Like we've gone from what's your sign to what's your credit score real fast. And honestly, that's on growth. So basically Gen Z invented a name for this. It's called solo maxing. And it's when instead of just being single, you rebranded as a personality trait. And now nearly half of 18 to 34 year olds are talking about how being single feels more peaceful than being in a relationship. And 42 % of them think relationships get in the way of their ambition. And it's cool. I mean, it's very like, I don't need a man, I need a Roth IRA.

4:29Haley: And listen, I respect the confidence. And honestly, I've been there. Like I actually think that I got really far in my career because I didn't date that much. It can be really distracting, especially with these fucktards in New York. But the plot twist that no one's talking about here and the part that nobody's saying at brunch is that, yes, staying single if you're doing it for financial reasons might win you the week, but it will quietly lose you the decade because living with a partner is the single best inflation hedge available to a young adult. And when you opt out of dating, you are opting out of that too.

5:05Haley: Like, I swear America is set up for us to be partnered. They love it. The whole tax code is basically written around one plus one equals two. So let's talk about it because I know we're going to talk about the tax code, but it's more interesting than it sounds. And it really puts us into perspective. Like in 2026, married couples get a standard deduction of$32 ,200, but singles get$16 ,100. Exactly half. And spouses can transfer assets tax-free. and one spouse can literally claim the other's social security. And let's be real, your situationship cannot do any of that for you. Your situationship can hardly commit to like a group chat name.

5:44Haley: But I will say if you can find someone that you actually want to be with, it's very good for your finances. Like healthcare, same deal. You combine coverage under one household plan and premiums drop 20 to 30 % per person. And obviously we're not even talking about housing. a single person paying$2 ,400 for a one bedroom is eating that whole bill alone but you split it with a partner and your fixed costs get cut in half overnight which is money back in your pocket I mean I'm so excited about that I'm moving in with my boyfriend in September and I'm like I love him he's my person but I'm also like hell yeah I'm gonna have all this money back in the bank what am I gonna do with it you know it I'm gonna invest it's gonna be compounding in an index fun instead of just compounding in my freaking rental.

6:27Haley: Here is the math that I want to just end this with. When you skip the$40 dinner for your date or whatever, it might save you$40 this week, but it could cost you the one system that could have cut your biggest expenses in half and doubled your savings rate for the next 10 years. So solo maxing, great plot twist. I'm all about it. I did it for so long, but I will admit it is a terrible financial plan. And our second story is really interesting because, you know, on one hand, I read all these articles about Gen Z millennials skipping the$189 date, but nowhere do I see that we are not spending. We're just redirecting that money to other places.

7:08Haley: And one place that we are loving to lay down the dollars is the plastic surgeon's office. Yes, plastic surgery is not just growing, it is becoming mainstream faster than literally any other consumer category right now. And Gen Z, they can't really afford the surgeries outright yet. And so they're financing their way in, which means like if you met a 24 year old whose face is like lifted to the gods, they've got the Bella Hadid eyes, whatever. And you look at their credit card statement, it will track completely because they're using buy now, pay later and credit cards for that shit. Procedures are up 42.5 % globally over the last four years.

7:50Haley: And Gen Z has upped their cosmetic procedure consumption specifically 41 % in a single year. And what's crazy that this has made Gen Z the most credit reliant generation in history for medical spending. They're not spending it on weddings. They're spending it on medical stuff. 46 % of Gen Z said that they've used credit cards specifically for medical expenses in the past year, which is over four times the rate of baby boomers and 48 % use buy now pay leader just to get by, which is six times the boomer rate. And what's crazy is like you'll hear in today's episode, we talked to this big time Upper East Side plastic surgeon, and he doesn't even take credit cards or buy now pay later.

8:30Haley: He's like, I want wires because he doesn't want patients like this. You know, like if you're going to do your nose and for interest installments like it's a Zara top I think the surgeons are a little scared of you because they're like damn like that just sounds like someone who's maybe not mentally that sound but what's messed up on the other side is that the buy now pay later people love it like a firm has doubled its amount of elective medical providers they're going after Botox injectables they're going after rhinoplasty because a two thousand dollar procedure just fits into their installment model perfectly.

9:03Haley: And even though people are under so much financial pressure right now, the beauty spend still holds. Like over a quarter of millennials said that they would prioritize a med spa appointment over eating out or a haircut, even as one in five people have cut out cosmetic spending because of inflation. So I will just say Gen Z millennials, we're cutting corners ever in the budget. We're cutting the dating, except when it comes to our faces and our bodies because that apparently gets four easy payments, no negotiations. And now let's listen to our episode with Dr. Ninstein. He is a top New York City plastic surgeon.

9:40Haley: He specializes in mommy makeovers, which listen to the episode you'll hear about. It's really crazy. And it was interesting to sit down with him. I think that you will enjoy this episode. It's definitely a whole thing. And it's something, you know, financial tea is all about how the money is moving. So we had to have him on to hear about how people are spending on their bodies and their faces. So without further ado, let's listen to Dr. Ninstein. Don't forget to rate, review, subscribe. It really helps the show. Stay rich.

10:11Haley: Well, we always start with a few rapid fire questions. So first of all, Dr. Ninstein, what are your best and worst purchases of the week so far and how much did they each cost? The best purchase I made this week was getting a custom Knicks jersey for Dr. Alfredo Hoyos in Bogota, Colombia, because I'm sending our newest surgeon down to train with him to learn all the new cutting edge things that the South Americans are doing. So shout out to Dr. Alfredo Hoyos. We are excited for you to wear the Knicks jersey proud. You'll enjoy it. That's the best purchase. And that was$185. What is the worst purchase?

10:52I'll tell you what the worst purchase is I'm trying to eat healthy I'm not sure when this is going to air but you know I bought lettuce and you know it destroyed my stomach so like six bucks worth oh you have the diarrhea? no it has passed and I'm not sure if it was it but I was really something happened something happened with lettuce something happened with lettuce

11:11Haley: yeah but you didn't have the full thing though the worst don't but the worst purchase I've had all week was lettuce and it was like seven bucks damn they got you good Taylor Farms they got me dirty They did you dirty. So I wanted to just start by asking, what does a mommy makeover entail exactly? Like, I think that we hear the term thrown around, but many people aren't actually in the plastic surgery ecosystem and don't know what it is. So if I'm at a dinner party or wherever I am and someone's like, what do you, you're the mommy makeover guy or whatever, what do you do? I'm like, I help moms get sexy and hot again, like zoom out.

11:50And most of the time they're like, I'm in. I don't know what that means. Yeah. But like, I want to feel sexy, hot and look amazing again. Cause like who wasn't? Yeah. Who doesn't? What that really means is we're reversing the changes from pregnancies that cannot be done any other way. So I don't care how many Pilates and peptides and GLP-1s you inject into your body. If your muscles are separated, you got to pooch. If you've been stretched a few times, you have more skin than you need. And the people who take great care of themselves, which these moms do, you know, it's incredibly frustrated when the effort does not equal the outcome, which when the way they feel does not reflect on what they see in the mirror.

12:36Most and one of the reasons I love mommy makeovers is most of these people are not plastic surgery people, they're not trying to look different, you know, like, hey, I just don't like my face, make it look different. It is solving a problem that is impacting their life. They've done, you know, they've had their kids, they've done everything possible to avoid surgery, but like they can't enjoy intimacy. They can't enjoy working out because they can't feel their core. They can't enjoy going on vacation because no matter how much they exercise, they can't stand the way they look in a bathing suit.

13:08So this operation, as long as people keep having babies, will never go away.

13:13Haley: So how much do they cost and what are the actual, like what's the breakdown of the procedures? So I typically break the torso down from the breast. And the reason is most of the time now the procedures have evolved. We used to kind of just fix the muscles in the front, get rid of the skin. But now, you know, the patients are so much more sophisticated and they want their whole body to be in harmony. They're a little looser because of all the GLP ones floating around. So, you know, my operation, which most people don't do because it's just a lot of surgery. It takes a very specialized team, the resources, the aftercare.

13:48We do, you know, we repair the muscles underneath. So your bulge goes flat. So now the inside's flat. We get rid of the extra skin on the front of your stomach. We lift the thighs. We make the waist tight. we lift the bum reshape the bum sculpt the back so it's a full reno you know because a lot of the cases i see are people who've had traditional or legacy tucks which were great operations still a great operation in the right person but they're like hey the front of my body doesn't look like the rest of my body and i want it all to look you know elegant and natural and what we appreciate now and patients actually understand this now minimally invasive non-invasive is gone What they want is if you want to look as beautiful and as natural and as elegant as possible, you have to do the most amount of surgery.

14:38I have to take everything apart and put it all back together to make it look like you never had surgery. When you start doing patchwork, mini this, a little here, a little there, it looks like someone did something. But when you take it all apart and put it all back together, that's when six months later the moms say, I wear whatever I want. I don't think about my body and nobody knows I had surgery. Wow. And that's what we're offering. And that is what is unique about us. So what is the cost of that? You know, price is what you pay and value is what you get. Yes. And then as long as the value is higher than the price, it doesn't matter.

15:15In New York City, it could be upwards of 150, 200 ,000 for the whole kit and caboodle. You know, in a practice like us, where we have lots of surgeons, you can get the same operation, the same system, the same brand, the same swag, the same feeling for$50 ,000.

15:33Haley: So it's like flying premium economy versus first Delta one. If I tell you all Birkins are not priced the same, you get it, but you still got a Birkin. Yeah. If you're staying in the regular room at an Amman resort or the penthouse, you're still staying at the Amman. Yeah. You're still getting the swag. You're still, you know, you're still, you still have the address. You're still putting in, you know, the Amman in your Uber. So the brand speaks for itself. When you think about your patients, is there one patient that you remember who spent like the most money with you on plastic surgeries in your practice?

16:10I'm not going to do anything that I don't think looks beautiful and elegant, but there are people who have had multiple operations over many, many years for various changes in their body that have spent hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. And those people will tell you right now, best thing they ever did.

16:28Haley: I think what's interesting, and you are on the front lines of this, because I mean, even just now, you're comparing the 19 plastic surgery brand to an Hermes Birkin or the Amon. And I think that we've seen this interesting cultural shift where plastic surgery used to be something that you would hide and lie about. And now not only is it embraced, but with the Nineteen touch, it's considered this token of value. So have you noticed this as well? Was that intentional? It's definitely intentional, but also in line and swimming upstream with societal changes. People used to hide plastic surgery. Everything was hush hush.

17:10Then it was people were open to saying I had my tummy tuck or I had a facelift. And now it's who did it? You know, it is Dr.

17:21Haley: Steve Levine for Chris Kardashian. We all know it. One of my good friends. We had dinner last week. And, you know, it's the this is what I'm wearing. This is who did my jewelry. And this is who did my body. It's part of like, you know, explaining your look. The brand of the plastic surgery has, you know, evolved to have, you know, the overlap of the Venn diagram of clothing, travel. you know, there's, there's a reason for better or for worse, the patient demographics, you know, they go to St. Bart's in Aspen, then they go to St. Tropez in the summer, they shop at the same stores, they wear the same, you know, it's, it's all on this kind of same continuum.

18:04Haley: So, I mean, I think that it is definitely seen as a status symbol that sort of symbolizes a certain type of woman. And I was thinking about how with dupe culture, luxury goods are sort of on their way out because anyone can get a dupe of the Bottega bag or the Birkin or whatever. And like, that's not really seen as a status symbol anymore, but there's all these studies about, uh, ultra rich consumers looking towards experiences as being where they want to spend money. Cause that's something that can't be duped. So, you know, do you think of it as a symbol of status to be one of your patients? And in terms of what you do, walk us through like the branding around it.

18:43So this is a great point. And, you know, I always tell people like you can get a great operation anywhere. I don't think I have, you know, some magic gift that no other surgeon can do. We have built our brand twofold. You know, 50 % is we're hyper-focused on surgery. We're going to be super intentional and deep. And then we're going to build an experience, you know, whether it's a mom or someone who lost a lot of weight or whoever wants to come to New York. We're going to, you know what? We're going to treat you like a princess for a week. You're going to be in the plaza. You're going to get all the swag.

19:18You're going to get all the merch.

19:19Haley: Walk us through the whole experience. So like, what is the 19th Plaza? And we wanted, first of all, I want to, you know, create a feeling in people. And second of all, obviously I can't do all the surgery like myself. And you can create a better experience when you have a bigger infrastructure. If you're going to have a bigger infrastructure, You need more, you know, people doing the surgeries to pay for that infrastructure. So, you know, from the moment you call or reach out online or whichever way, most of it's word of mouth. But if you're reaching out, you will see like you'll hear on the on the on the call someone smiling.

19:55You know, we say like we teach everyone who answers the phone. You have to smile when you answer the phone. People can tell. OK, so the branding starts at that call. They'll get to know you or your mom three from Jersey, this, that and the other. let me ask you, let me tell you how I'm going to help get you there. Okay. Let's talk about your travel schedule, summer camp. Like when someone interacts with our office, they're like, these people know what they talk, what they're talking about. And they're a real guide. Okay.

20:22Haley: Wait, let's like role play. So I'm a mom from Minnesota. I see you online. I want to get my body done. Yeah. So I fly to New York. Yeah. What is the whole process? Okay. So, you know, Where am I staying? When am I seeing you? So also, you know, we have access to drivers who can pick you up who are also discreet. They're going to take you to the plaza. So I land JFK. You get picked up. You take it to the plaza. What you're going to notice when you enter one of our partner hotels, not just the plaza. When you say you're a patient. What are your partner hotels? The Ritz, the AKA, and the Pierre. Okay.

20:58But like majority of our patients stay at the plaza. When you get there and you say, I'm a patient with 90 plus surgery, you're going to see there's a shift in the air. Like this is a special moment. They're going to, you know, the plaza is going to, and the other hotels, they're going to treat you special. Okay. Not that their other guests aren't, but they're like, Hey, I know this person's here for an operation. When you go up to your room, there's going to be a signed, you know, card from the manager. There's going to be the 90 plus surgery, teddy bear with the sleep mask and this, that, and the other things that are already going to make you feel special.

21:27You're going to get a call the night before your surgery because people fly in typically the day before from your surgeon, from me, from your anesthesiologist telling you, you know, we're so excited to have you come. We're going to rock this tomorrow. We're going to take the stress and anxiety out. Before you even get there, you're sent a text because that's what people want in blue, not green, meaning it's coming from a human, not automated. Hey, here's where you're staying. These are the cool places that you should order your bone broth, your juice, your coffee from. If you have kids, they should go here.

21:57Like if you have a chance to go for dinner, call this number, go to this place, go to that place. We can set all that up. On the day of surgery, you know, we're going to give you the swag. We're going to make you feel great. We're going to do the operation. And then like that's when the real magic takes over. Because the biggest fear and anxiety people have of surgery is, you know, what happens after surgery. That's where the magic is. So in recovery room, you have your own nurse and your post-op nurse. You're there. There's no rush. you know we're not turning people around quickly while you're in surgery your room is being set up so the medications the supplies everything is being delivered so like you're set up people love that especially husbands and partners who like don't want to be bothered and they want to stay in minnesota or la or two blocks away in their office and not be like running around trying to get stuff and set up a room so everything's done for you the patient's brought to the hotel room when they're fully recovered through the back door or whatever hotel and then they have 24-7 nursing.

22:54So we're doing the massages, the hyperbaric. We have access to blowouts, private shafts. A lot of them on day four, day five, like to go around Bergdorf's in a wheelchair with our private shopper. This is, hey, I had all these kids or I lost all this weight. I work hard or I take care of so many people. It's always about them. Here's an experience. It's all about you. We're going to make this all about you. And you're going to leave hot. Okay. And the partners, husbands, they're happy. They're like, I'm going to send her. See you in a week. Like let her have a great experience and send her home hot.

23:33Like I'm feeling great and happy.

23:35Haley: But I feel like it's like such an intense surgery, you know, even though it's all you can have all of these bells whistles. Yeah. It's still like so serious. That's why we have the 24 seven nursing that has a system based on like a decade of experience. They're analyzing everything, doing the medications, the garments, taking you to the bathroom and the surgeons are coming. Like one of the things I truly believe is big surgery, big responsibility. We go in the morning and see our patients. You know, that's why I get up so early before I go to, you know, to the OR, I could be seeing five, six people in the hotel.

24:10But those are not just to show up and say like, okay, you have no infection. There's no bleeding. That's when you create that bond with someone. That's the brand. It's the feeling.

24:21Haley: This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed Sponsored Jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Get a$75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Support for today's episode comes from Square. It's the system that fixes one of the biggest headaches in running a business. Starting my business was so exciting, but then running it was so much more complicated than I ever expected.

25:03Haley: Like you're juggling payments and inventory and staff and scheduling, but Square brings all of that into one place. And right now, listeners can get up to$200 off Square hardware when you sign up at square.com slash go slash T. That's S-Q-U-A-R-E dot com slash go slash T. Square isn't just fast, it's smart, it's transparent, and it's built for the way people actually run their businesses. So if you're starting a business or running one that deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and grow without slowing down. Right now, you can get up to$200 off Square hardware at square.com slash go slash t.

25:42Haley: That's s-q-u-a-r-e dot com slash g-o slash t. Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today. Break it down because like you're saying the surgery costs between$150 ,000 to$200 ,000, but then you're adding - That's all a la carte. Yeah, they pay for all that. You're adding the, like, do you have a deal with the hotels? The hotel doesn't give our patients a deal. They just treat the better. We have a 24-7 concierge. We want, like, you know, Dr. Ninstein. This is a financial tea. And I think there's a lot of people who, they want the numbers. So walk us through it. Yeah, it could be anywhere from, like,$20 ,000 to$50 ,000.

26:15Haley: Like, how much are you spending on top of the surgery for all that? It could be anywhere. You know, people, sometimes they have a friend. You have an apartment. Or they live here. So it could be less. But sometimes people are spending up to, you know,$50 ,000 extra on their aftercare. But like, you know, this is, like I said, huge surgery. So you leave after what, a week, five days? If they're local, they usually stay three nights, four days. And if they're traveling, they usually stay a week. So then after that, though, it's so much healing that you have to do. And then you're sort of, you're stripped.

26:44We try to get them through, you know, this major phase. You think that's the worst phase? Yeah. I mean, and when they get home, it's wearing the garments. It's doing the scar care and doing massages. And what's amazing, you know, we have strategic partners in Paris, in London, in Dubai, in Beverly Hills that take care of our patients from the lymphatic massage point of view.

27:07Haley: And then so you're saying that you don't do surgeries a la carte. You do full mommy makeovers. So it's really smart for your pricing because you're not doing like a facelift here, a blef there, a lipo here. I'm the neck down, not neck up. But also you're only doing like full. We do. Yeah, we like it's like you're sometimes we do smaller cases, but very it's pretty much like this is the operation we're doing. These are the slots you fill in the slot. Do you do labiaplasty? Nope. And and can you use insurance on this? Nope. And are there any plastic surgeries that your practice just won't do? You know, we don't do anything neck up.

27:45Haley: Yeah. And part of that is strategic because all the facelift surgeons around the country send me their patients. So that's great. And you really just can't like no one will believe you if you say you're really good at like all these different things. It's not possible. How did you end up with this niche of mommy makeovers? Because it's also quite a vulnerable point in a woman's life. Like I think, you know, some people give up so much physically to have kids. Like I know so many women who it's like would like to have kids, but like they're sort of like, I don't know, should I get a surrogate? Like this seems like it's really going to I think we do better.

28:18I think we'll make your body look better than a surrogate. will yeah like we don't just reverse it we'd reverse it and turbocharge it so um listen i think people try to pick an operation they want and you know insurgents are trying to figure out what to do i actually think it's the opposite it's like who are the patients i like you know if you like dealing with like 15 year old girls you should do noses yeah you know god bless you yeah if you like dealing with the aging face you should be facelifts and like you're gonna have an older patient population. I find it very easy to deal with moms because this is the world I know and live in.

28:54You know, I have, you know, most of my patients have kids, my kids age, we speak the same language, we go to the same places, we do the same things, we have the same stresses. So it's very easy to connect. But you were doing this before you had kids though, too. But this was the people in my like cohort going in that direction.

29:13Haley: Oh, like it was like you're like, But the interesting thing is, you know, my patients, you know, five, six years ago, averaged about 35 and now my average patient is 55. Oh, really? Why do you think there was that shift? I think as your practice matures, you know, the older patients who are sophisticated, who've been hanging around the hoop, thinking about it, maybe even for decades, you know, start appreciating that hyper specialty that now isn't just, I just do this, but now I have this huge body of experience. I also think now people are healthier than they've ever been at an older age like I did an 87 year old because she was dating you know like but she got done tummy tuck yeah I see you know the amount of 55 to 65 year olds that look absolutely you know insane because they take such great care of themselves and have such vibrant personalities but they look in the mirror and they're loose as a goose and they just want to be tight because like yeah it's not fun and they want to look cute and so my patient population has gotten, you know, older.

30:15Haley: So what do you say to each woman who comes out of surgery? Well, you're going to have to have surgery to get behind the door. Oh, you won't tell us? No, these are like my, this is the secret sauce. Okay. When people, when women come in, how are they paying for these procedures? Like is it usually their husband's push present wire, push presents? Like do you have people who are taking out loans or maxing out their credit cards to replace their body parts? No, I don't want people, you know. So you don't take credit cards? No, no. Which is sad because it's like I would want the points. Like I would obviously use a card with 2x points for this.

30:48Not with us. No, and we don't want people. Why is that? Because you don't want people financing? This should be an expense that you can absorb. And it shouldn't be the most important thing in your, you know. I don't want you to have too much weighing in on this as if like I don't want you to go into debt because you think it's going to change your relationship or change your job status or change anything like that. So I don't want this to be a financial burden on someone with us.

31:16Haley: Is that unique to your practice? Like most plastic surgeons take care for? Most of the other surgeons in the city feel the same way. They, you know, you don't want someone's whole life to be dependent on the outcome of the surgery because even if it's - And that's a way to sort of solve for it. Like a one barrier for you is to just make sure that it is not a financial burden and because and this is not a negative this is just psychology even if the operation is perfect if it you know if it costs you so much it's probably not going to fulfill what you were hoping it will fulfill yeah and and then you're put in a very difficult situation where someone is unhappy with a perfect operation because hey i went into debt on this hangover.

32:04I went into debt for this and my marriage still sucks. I went into debt for this and I didn't get that promotion, you know, versus it's a nice to have.

32:15Haley: Well, it's funny that you mentioned the promotion thing. Cause like women make 30 % more if they look good. And so it really is this interesting tax of not things to get plastic surgery, but that I think about a lot of like being in the workplace that maybe men don't have to deal with as much. Like you were saying before we started that like male plastic surgery trends aren't even a trend. Cause they're not getting plastic surgery. Well, and you know, social equity for men is still like in their, you know, um, net worth and a lot of social equity for women and is in, you know, their appearance, unfortunately, like that's, I didn't make that up.

32:47That's just the way it is.

32:48Haley: I feel like people don't always consider the upkeep factor of surgeries too. Like if you get your boobs done, now you're supposed to get them redone the implants every 10 years or so. So when it comes to a mommy makeover, do you have to get any of it redone? You know, we want patients who are living a life where they're taking great care of themselves because that is really the upkeep, right? Like after the operation, not really going to have extra skin, not really going to have extra fat. The muscles are where they're supposed to be. Like eat well, exercise and like enjoy your life. You know, tummy tucks, you know, unless you need a revision for whatever reason and about a third of my patients are revisions from elsewhere, it's one and done.

33:28Haley: And how long is the recovery? So I tell people, you're going to hate me for three weeks, then you'll love me the rest of your life. The first week, I'm going to knock you down like it is house arrest. Like the first week, and I try to make it. You're going to be on a lot of pills, right? No, not so much. But I really try to scare people because I want them to take it seriously. The first week is, you know, the first few days, the first week you're kind of out of commission. It takes you about two weeks to be able to drive, two weeks to be able to walk normally, and about a month until you feel like you're normal to go out and do like go to dinners go to events go to activities so like a real month i'm like but that's just part of it you're not going to notice most of the results for six weeks because your body's swollen month and you're still how long to wear the gear for most of them are wearing it for a few months two or three months but now you know the gear is like closed like you know a decade ago we had like one garment now skims spanks there's a million companies like our nurse practitioners are like they're like your personal shopper they're like oh get this for when you work out get this for when you go to that bar mitzvah get this when you ski like there's a million things but you know i tell people it's a week of real downtime this is a full-time project for a month you're not going to really love this for about six weeks and at three months most of the swelling will come down and i'm like i tell them all the negatives it's expensive there's risk the downtime sucks but you're gonna look hot forever and it works 100 % of the time so what does your business model look like now like can you talk us through your profit margins like if you have if you're charging someone 150k for surgery how much of that do you keep because it's expensive to be you like you live at the plaza you have all these people working for you it's a company no it's a company but I'm saying like you know how much do you make yeah I mean, listen, the margins are different depending on the operations, the time involved and things.

35:25But, you know, it could be 30, 30 some odd percent. Yeah. Low 30s. Like it's expensive to run these operations. We have, you know, we don't have cheap equipment. I have almost 50 people on staff.

35:39Haley: But in terms of like how many bodies though you're doing a year? So in our practice, we do about a thousand operations. Wow. Wow. So how many is that usually like per week? So remember there's four surgeons. So, you know, break down the numbers, but I typically do one, maybe two a day. Wow. Three days a week. Wow. And then the rest of the time you're running the business. Yeah. And seeing patients, you know, um, one of my personal goals is I love running the business. You know, I read a million books. I'm always trying to find mentors to learn, you know, outside of medicine you know the most you know the most beneficial things I've learned for the our practice have not come from anyone in medicine yeah dive deeper and spend more time with the you know as our team grows spend more time with people and you know less time in the operating room and also like my job is you know like Da Vinci says shame on like the master whose pupil doesn't outshine him I keep wanting to bring on new surgeons they bring new inertia new energy new ideas and I want to help them, you know, rise up.

36:40Haley: And when it comes to like new in plastic surgery, I mean, you've really got your ear to the ground. So what are, you know, is there surgery that people are getting that is less widely covered? It's the experience. I mean, people, you know, whether going to me or the famous facelift surgeons, it, they want an experience, you know, And the second thing, which is I'm really excited about, longevity and functional medicine is here to stay, and it is entering plastic surgery practice. Not just hyperbaric oxygen, but the peptides. Many of our patients are on peptides before and after surgery to help them heal, but also to make them feel better.

37:25Haley: So you believe in peptides even though they're not FDA cleared yet? Yes. So you recommend them to people? Yes. Which ones? BPC-157, anti-inflammatory. It's going to help you heal. GHKCU. I like the Wolverine stack and the Glow stack before and after surgery. I take them. I think it's incredibly helpful. And the future is, you know, stem cells. My longevity doctor. Shout out Dr. Kuo. Jonathan Kuo. Dr. Kuo. We love you, Dr. Kuo. And the stem cells, especially the Muse Duzawa stem cells from Japan, are going to be an absolute game changer. They're in seven states right now. And what do they do? These are...

38:08Haley: So how do you use them for healing? So there's different ways. There's intravenous. I mean, you're going to have cells going around your body that can turn into or turn on cells, especially in areas of damage or repair. You know, the primary concern is, you know, heal brains from strokes and hearts from heart attacks. but at the same time these cells can be used whether you're healing from a facelift whether you're healing from a tummy tuck or you know there's studies going on right now in california injecting the stem cells right into the areas of surgery in a facelift can we take all these cells that are inflamed damaged maybe their mechanisms aren't working as well replace him with a very healthy young cell.

38:55Haley: Wow. So something that I was thinking about is this idea of hot because it is subjective, but what you're selling is this basically like the same body that you would think about as like the American dream of hot to, you know, like it's, like the nine scene look. it's a long lean elegant non-exaggerated exactly a timeless beauty you know kind of look but in so there is like this there's also this idea of like oh we've got to own it and like you know i saw man like mandy more last week had had three she's had three kids and she posted a picture online like being quote-unquote brave showing her extra skin after her stomach and so you're but you're on this other side of that conversation.

39:46Haley: So I just sort of wanted to, you know, you have, I think you have a daughter, right? And so how do you sort of look at the beauty standard when you like look at her even? It's a personal feeling. Like if Mandy Moore looks in the mirror and loves the way she looks, good for her. If Mandy Moore looks in the mirror and says, you know, I hate that my muscles are eight centimeters apart and I'd like, you know, my back to hurt less. And when I do a plank, nothing fall on the ground. Give me a call. I just think that we're just seeing homogenization happen across the board. So like if you think about like the concept of Instagram face or the pursue of like one idealized look.

40:19Haley: And so do you think that you're - I disagree. I disagree. Wow. Okay. Tell us why. Because I never, ever, ever hear, and I've seen everyone you could think of from all over the globe. They never, the moms never walk in and show me an Instagram picture. I've never seen it once in my life. But they probably show you pictures of your work, right? they'd say they sit there and they say i hate this oh so it's about their body they say i hate this i do everything i can i don't feel sexy it's impacting like my sex life because i don't feel sexy i can't work out because my core doesn't work my back hurts i tried to go on you know i went to a bar mitzvah last week i put on a tight dress and everything was falling all over the place I was miserable and left they never ever come in and because we are solving a real problem I'm trying to solve their unique problem I don't see patients who come in because I don't do you know like other operations like to change the way you look I don't see patients who say this is how I look this is how I want to look I want to look like this person because I'm like I don't care what that person looks like.

41:32I'm going to help you look like the best version of you in the operating room. And then guess what? After that, it's on you to keep going to the gym. To keep it going, yeah. Observe. The North American Dad.

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42:24Haley: It's one of those routines that feels both elevated and effortless. There's three sticks. There's copper for warm, rose quartz for flush, and opal for glow. And you can do your whole face in five minutes and look like you're having a good skin day. You're waiting for it to feel heavy by the afternoon, but it is never going to. It's just going to look like your face is naturally snatched. OG has made my routine so much simpler on busy days, and I'm always impressed by how long it lasts through the day. And the sticks blend beautifully and just feel chic when I'm applying. If you are ready to raise your beauty standards, OG's got you covered.

42:58Haley: Go to og.com slash financial tea and use code financial tea for 20 % off. That's O-G-E-E dot com slash financial tea and enter code financial tea to get 20 % off. How did you come up with this vision of the like Nineteen woman with the, you know, these elegant lean lines and all of this? You know, I listened to the patients and, you know, I was in the biography of Jane Birkin and you know because when they came up with the Birkin body and you know and just listen to the words that they say okay they and like if you know you take thousands of the moms that we operate on without having my input at all what do you want to look like I want to look sexy I want to look elegant and I want to look natural and I want to look long they don't want to like feel you know yeah they a lot of them feel like you know oompa loompa you know because you know their torso is like this because the breasts are down and the stomach's up and they're just like stretch it out so i'm seeing a lot of statistics too that baby botox is booming women are getting facelifts at 35 and i feel like you're saying the median age of plastic surgery at your practice has gone up to 55 for me it's 55 for dr anna who is our breast specialist you know and and she's doing less invasive ballerina breasts you know where people don't want to change their bra change their clothes they just want a little something they want a little something they want to maybe fill out their breasts or, you know, replace volume loss from pregnancy, her median age is going to be a lot less.

44:29Haley: So what do you make of it? Like this, uh, the age going down of the exposure. It's just like natural. Like anyone, when there's more exposure through social media or more celebrities, more people being open and honest, like people are going to do more. This is like human nature. If this was all hush hush, they wouldn't do it because they wouldn't know about it. When you were in med school, did you know this was the type of doctor that you wanted to become? No, not even close. When I was in medical school, I mean - Take us through the journey to becoming Dr. Knight. I think I got there so young.

45:01How young were you? Like 19 or something. And I remember like on the first day, they were like, you need to start thinking about residency. And in my head, I was so nice. I was like, residency. But, you know, growing up, science, what in Toronto, Canada, I was just good at science and math, okay? And I played competitive sports, rugby. And I was, and you know, my grandparents were Holocaust survivors. They're like, you know, you can do anything you want as long as you're a doctor or a lawyer. you know, traditional, as long as traditionally immigrant house. And, you know, it's like, okay, I like, I have an affinity to science.

45:31I like working in a team. Medicine sounds, you know, my grandmother said I have to do it anyway, so I should probably go into it. Yeah. And then just when I got into medicine, I took the opportunities that they gave for observations and volunteering. And I went and saw everyone, you know, pediatrician, geriatrician, you know, and as soon as I walked in an operating room, I'm like, that's it. I'm here. And I would have been, what did you like about it? the control the immediacy of action there's so much in our life like you don't get to make change impact like here you get to make impact done move on and I could have been just as happy as a brain surgeon or heart surgeon but plastics offered a couple of things you know the unique opportunity to get out of the hospital get out of the infrastructure of the administration so you can actually control your own destiny the other thing is like all other surgical specialties you know best case scenario you come back to normal you know something bad happened to you bring you back we have the opportunity to like bring them forward so I enjoy that and when it

46:30Haley: comes to like your type you build women like you build women's bodies for a living what do you look for when you date like is it do you look for the 19 body as well I have next question really okay What plastic surgery have you done? But personality, you know, listen, surface is nice, but what's inside is what matters. And for your own look, like what plastic surgery do you do? What do you say? You take peptides? Like walk us through your stack. Peptides, you know, BBC 157, GHKCU, Wolverine, and the glow stack. I had my eyes done. I like both. Who did that? Dr. David Rosenberg. little nose Dr.

47:15Sam Risk yeah he did mine too oh there you go shout out Sam little Botox hair transplant doesn't work on me where'd you do your hair Dr. Ben Paul okay great he did a great job and then you know what does it feel like being the patient

47:31Haley: it's great did you say at the plaza oh you live at the plaza yeah well Dr. Nineteen thank you so much for coming on the Financial Tea this was so fun thanks for having me and stay rich what's up zippers I just wanted to check in post episode because I wanted to make sure that you didn't think this was like a moral judgment about plastic surgery it's definitely not me telling you whether it's good or bad or whether you should or shouldn't do it that is so not the point I actually don't even know anyone who's ever had a mommy makeover and I know so many moms so I don't think that it is something that's like so in the culture now just because I think it's really expensive.

48:09Haley: But the reason I wanted to talk to him was just because plastic surgery has become this massive part of our culture. People are spending an enormous amount of money on it. And some practices like Dr. Nineteen's are making an enormous amount of money from it. I just think understanding where money flows, who's making it, what people are spending on, what the trends are for women to like the fact that all of these serious girl bosses are posting about this, I think is like a sort of a weird example to set, but it helps us understand the world around us. So yeah, whether we're talking about AI, luxury goods, weight loss drugs, plastic surgery, I just think following the money will always tell you a lot.

48:45Haley: So thank you so much for listening. If you enjoy this episode, please rate, review, subscribe, email us at money at mrsdowjones.com. It genuinely makes a huge difference when you engage with the show. It helps us keep getting to have conversations like this. And I will see you next week on The Financial Tease. Stay rich, my baddies.

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