anything goes with emma chamberlain - botox, filler, and more, a talk with kristina kitsos [video]

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

[video available on spotify]  a couple of weeks ago, i made the decision that i was going to get laser hair removal, and i was referred to kristina kitsos. she's so incredibly knowledgeable about all of the popular treatments today, from botox, to filler, to anything you can imagine. kristina is a multi-specialty trained registered nurse with over 15 years of experience working in the field of minimally invasive aesthetic medicine. she's doing the botox and the filler. she's not doing the brazilian butt lift surgery - she's not a plastic surgeon. whether we like it or not, it's the beauty standard nowadays to have botox, to have filler, or to have a facelift. and i find myself constantly confused about where i stand on it. i think today's conversation is gonna help me come to a clearer conclusion and maybe you, too. so i'm very excited to introduce you to kristina kitsos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A couple weeks ago, I made the decision that I was going to get laser hair removal. I was asking around and I was like, does anyone have a good place to go get laser hair removal? Because this last place that I went to, I felt like was pulling a little trick on me because I went in like four or five times and the hair just kept coming back. And I was like, I need to go to somebody a little bit more serious. So asked around and I was referred to Christina Kitzos. I went in, I immediately have so many questions about laser hair removal. I'm like, why did the first one not work? This, this and that? She knew the answer to every question I had. So I'm super excited to be bringing Christina on today because she's just so incredibly knowledgeable about all of the popular treatments that we all know and love today, from Botox

to filler to anything you can imagine. She knows about it. She's a multi-specialty trained registered nurse with over 15 years of experience working in some of the most renowned practices in the field of minimally invasive aesthetic medicine. So listen, she's doing the Botox and the filler. She's not doing the Brazilian butt lift surgery. She's not a plastic surgeon. So there's a difference there. But she knows what the fuck is up.

We live in a time now where this is happening. Okay? fuck us up. We live in a time now where this is happening, okay? It's the beauty standard nowadays to have Botox, to have filler, to have a facelift, to have this, to have that. That has become the beauty standard whether we like it or not. And I find myself constantly confused about where I stand on it. And I think today's conversation is going to help me come to a clearer conclusion. And maybe you too. So I'm very excited to introduce you to Christina Kitzos. She knows her shit about looking snatched and hot, obviously, but she's also just a hoot and a half. So enjoy her. To start, we have to know or I have to know how you got into medical aesthetics,

like what made you want to do this with your career? I come from a long line of doctors in my family. When I was seven years old, I used to go, my dad's a plastic surgeon. I used to go and after school, I would literally go into the operating room and watch them do surgery. And that's where I learned like the architecture of the face. Then after college, I didn't go into medicine. I wanted to go into business. And so I went to business school.

And when I did that, I was in San Diego and I was a nanny for four children. So I was not only doing my MBA, I was the youngest person in the school because I went straight from undergrad. I was nannying for these four kids and I was super stressed. I was not eating well. I was not getting a lot of sleep. And I started breaking out, like not just a little bit, but a lot, so much so that I literally did not go out socially for two years.

I would lock myself in the bathroom and I would pick at my pimples. I thought I kind of knew what I was doing, so I'd get like a sterile needle from because my stepfather's a doctor also. And I had the tools, but I really didn't know what I was doing. And I kind of made it worse. And then I would get like prescription steroid creams because that would decrease the inflammation but it would also thin your skin, which is why they are prescription, not over the counter. So then I recruited my dad and my step dad and my mom and I said, we need to do something.

So I was prescribed minocyclin, tetracycline, retin-A, spironolactone. I went on that. All the things that everyone goes on. And it just like wasn't really working. And so I just dove into medical journals. And this was 24 years ago. So we didn't have access like we do now on the internet.

So I really had to seek out that information. It was at that time that I found out about something called Matrix Metalloproteinase inhibitors, which is like a long word for something that increases the barrier function of your skin. Yep. Nice and amide. Yep. And so then I would like make my own concoctions and put it on the pimple.

And I didn't really know what I was doing, but it worked. Yeah. So it was at that point that I realized skin problems are real. And then I was thinking, gosh, how can I go into business and help people at the same time? So then I went to nursing school, did my RN degree, and then started working in aesthetics. Acne was just the starting point. And then I realized everybody has a skin issue, whether it's rosacea, whether it's a birthmark, acne, their hair is falling out.

They have too much hair, too little hair, all of these things. And so I realized that I can learn how to help people and I did. In the business of medical aesthetics, I can imagine there's sort of a blurry line, right? Where you're like, I want to help people, but we also want people to accept themselves

for who they are. Where do you find that balance with your clients, but even with yourself? Like I feel like we all are on that journey where we're trying to figure out, okay, when is a procedure of some sort enhancing my life and not enabling me and not enabling, do you know what I'm saying?

Absolutely, it is a fine line. It's interesting because I've had young girls maybe in their 20s come in wanting lip enhancement. And some of them, you know, their lips are unbalanced. And so I want to even the mountain balance them. But some are coming in because they've seen it on, you know, Instagram or TikTok or whatever. And I'll go in and most of the time I will do it a little bit because the good thing about Injectables is they're all reversible, right? But what will happen is I will wash off their face, you know with alcohol and prep it and I'll notice a lot of blackheads around their skin

And I'll say, you know, you're here for lip injections, but let's talk about skin. Yeah And so I kind of veer the conversation towards skin because in my opinion, if you can have really clear skin and not have to cake on so much makeup, you're going to feel so much more secure and maybe you're not going to ask for those lip injections. Interesting. Because maybe you're insecure because of that and maybe not, but if you are, I know how to help you. So you kind of, I think what I'm picking up from this is like,

you'd rather start in a place where you're not actually changing anything physical about someone's appearance. You'd rather start from the inside, you know, and like work with what's already naturally there and then from there enhance, it's already there, right? Because I feel like getting your skin to healthy place,

I so agree with this. When my skin is good, like I forget about other insecurities. Like I'm insecure because my left side of my lip is like more flat than my right side. But if my skin's good, I'm not even thinking about that. It's actually a great point. So it's true, I think that's a great way to approach it.

Let's work on getting our bodies to the healthiest, happiest place. The best version of you. I want the best version of you. Then you can go from there. That's always the goal. It's balance, it's harmony. It's not perfection.

Because perfection's not real. Perfection is like, it's like when you see a picture of a tree that a five-year-old drew. And it's all perfectly, like green here. And it's even, it has, it's, that's not real. It feels artificial. But when you look at really like a painting of a real tree or a real tree in nature, it's not a hundred percent perfect, but it's beautiful. There's a Japanese term that I love to use.

It's called Wabi Sabi and it's perfectly imperfect. So the goal is not perfection. The goal is balance, the goal is symmetry. And you want that Wabi Sabi. You want that perfectly imperfect because if everything is too perfect and you've seen them on Instagram, on all these social media, it's like, it's a little robotic. Absolutely.

And it's hard to talk. And when you see someone in real life like that, their face doesn't move naturally. And I think it's so important to have that natural movement. I mean, to a certain extent, you can do a little bit of Botox to decrease the movement if you are one of those people that is like really hyper dynamic with your face because that movement creates wrinkles. But when you do too much and you look like a robot, it's uncomfortable

and it just doesn't, it doesn't, in my opinion, look good. Yep, I completely, I mean, I think even the people, how do you think it gets to that point? How do you think it gets to that point where somebody, I saw somebody the other day on my Explorer page who has so much filler, like their cheeks are literally, it's like their cheeks and then their jaw. I have to show you after we do this because it was the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen.

Their head is double the size that it normally would be from probably even implants too in the face. I don't know what it was, but I was like, how does it get to this point? And it must be some sort of, you know, facial dysmorphia, body dysmorphia. Like how do you manage a client who comes in and clearly has some sort of dys you know, facial dysmorphia, body dysmorphia. Like, how do you manage a client who comes in and clearly has some sort of dysmorphia?

Well, I am a very conservative injector, but that being said, I will inject, and I call it the Goldilocks effect. It's like, okay, too little is not gonna do anything and too much is just bad. So there's a just right, and it's taken me, I've been doing this almost 20 years. It's taken me a long time to be able to tell people,

I'm not the right injector for you and I will send them away if I think that they're asking for too much. Or I'll kind of like steer the conversation to, again, balance. So when you're talking about the person that has a lot of cheek filler or jaw filler, what can happen is when you start doing that,

you have to look at everything in relation. So the more filler that you put in your cheeks, the more hollow your temples will look, right? And then the closer together your eyes look. And so there's a limit. And then once those proportions become a little out of whack it's real obvious and people can't put their finger on it but they know it looks weird. But they don't know why it looks weird and it's because things need to be in proportion.

So when people ask for too much what they don't understand and what I really try to educate them on is how an Injection in one area will make another area look different. So like when you make a hill higher The valley next to it seems lower because the hill is higher. Yep The valley next to it is the same as it's always been. Yep But the higher the hill especially when women get older or men get older They start losing fat in their temple area And I call it like the old elephant effect. So it kind of looks, you know, like elephants have the indentation out there and or Mr. Peanut or something. And so when people start getting too much in their cheeks, it exacerbates that. And it

actually looks really weird. But, but most people that don't have a trained eye can't put their finger on why it looks weird. So then they might go and get more filler to go fill in this part and now this is bigger and now they have this huge edge. And now their eyes look closer to there. Yeah, because the distance from here to here is increased. So that's why I am such a conservative injector because I think a little goes a long way.

And I want your friends and family to recognize you. I don't want you to go to a party and them go, is that, you know, Julie? Or is that, right? It's like, you don't want to change the way someone looks. You just want to like do these tiny tweaks that almost are the things that probably no one else even notices, but it means someone is insecure about. And they just want that little tweak. Right.

You're more concerned about that little tweak. Right. But you're more concerned about a little tweak than you are a big change. 100%. My clients stay with me for years because I have their long-term best interests at heart. Yes. And they know that. And I say no often because I really want people to age gracefully, look like themselves, but also feel really great.

I think people can become addicted to this stuff. 100%. And they doctor shop. Yeah. Yeah. So as soon as one person says no, they'll go to another person and another person. Eventually somebody's going to say yes to them. Yeah. And that's how they start looking strange. Also, they're only looking at themselves normally in two dimension.

They're taking a picture and then saying, I don't like this on this picture, but they don't see, we see each other in three dimensions. We see each other talking, we see each other moving and emoting. And so when you have too much done in a still two dimensional photo, it might look okay. But once you start talking, it looks like amoebas,

like floating amoebas, like floating amoebas in the face and it just doesn't move naturally. And that is really, really obvious and it doesn't look good. It's also when you do too many injectables, especially fillers, it's dangerous. The chances of an adverse event, like something called a vascular occlusion, which is just a big word for a blood vessel getting clogged. And the thing is, is that the blood vessels in your body are all connected.

So I drove over here today on the 405 and the 10 freeway. If I make an occlusion in a blood vessel, even if it's on like some side street in LA, eventually that will make it to the 405 freeway or the 10 freeway and to the heart or the brain or the lungs, right? Yep. So it doesn't really matter if you're in a small vessel

because that occlusion can make its way to the bigger areas that will really cause a detrimental effect. See, that's the other thing that I think a lot of people who are really interested in getting treatments done there. It's so unaware of, number one, what the best options are because there's so many terms, there are so many different ways of doing things.

If you wanted bigger lips, there are probably 10 ways you could do it. So with that in mind, walk through the most popular treatments. I mean, we're in Los Angeles, the Mecca, you know, the Mecca of aesthetics. It feels like what are the most popular treatments right now? And then from there, we'll dig into all of them. By far, the most popular procedure is Botox. It's popular because you can use Botox for so many different things and because it's so safe. There are like five different types of Botox, right?

So there's Botox, there's Disport, there's Xiumin, there's Juvo, and now a new one called Daxi. They all work the same way. They work by cutting off the communication between the nerves in your brain that are telling the muscle to contract and the muscle. So it's as if you have a cell phone and you're calling that muscle and saying contract, but you have no cell phone service. People get Botox for all sorts of reasons. The most popular are the area right between the eyebrows. And we can call that the

frown line or 11s, or when people are thinking or mad, or I can't do it because I have no talk. Shocking, shocking, I'm sure. The other area that a lot of people get done are the forehead lines across here. I'm not a big fan of those. See, I can be like four lines, right?

I have four head lines. But I'm not a hyper-animated person. So I don't do my, I do them like maybe once a year just to kind of keep them at bay and make sure that they don't get worse. The other area is crow's feet. There are people that are squinters or even like really big smiles can cause those lines.

But the other areas that are not as popular but are really, really powerful, are hyperhydrosis. So people that have really sweaty armpits, or hands, or feet, and it is debilitating. So I have clients that literally will put on a t-shirt and they have to, within five minutes, they've got pit stains. This one girl in particular,

she can only wear tank tops that are dark. I know, and she's a dancer. And so with her, we do Botox under the armpits, and it is absolutely life-changing for her. That's so amazing. It really is. The other area that's pretty powerful is, these muscles here are called the masseter muscles.

We talked about this because I was thinking, because my mom and I need it because we clench. Okay, so clenching your teeth is really not good. It causes headaches. It creates long-term problems with your temporal mandibular joint. And also it wears away the enamel on your back teeth, which over the years, your teeth are irreplaceable, right?

You don't get another pair, another set. And so if you can decrease that tension every night on those back teeth You will save your teeth. Yeah, it's so important like when it comes to Botox It's like it sounds like to me Botox is not gonna Give you any sort of life-threatening Side effect no, and it's also not even gonna make you look goofy or anything as long as you're going to a good person. Because I think that's sort of what clicked for me

when you were saying all this. I was like, this is all true as long as you're going to a good person. I mean, this is all serious medical stuff. You know, like even though Botox is probably one of the safer options, it's like out of all these different treatments. Yeah.

So you still have to be going to a good person. It's still a prescription. Botox is one thing, but injecting fillers, especially into the nose and into the area around the eye, you can cause permanent and irreversible blindness, immediate, finding someone that you know and trust. And to me, the best way of doing that is by word of mouth. That word of mouth is so important.

A lot of people ask me, how do I find someone I live in, you know, Wisconsin? And so I always ask that I tell them, ask your friends. Yep. You've got to ask around. I don't think people realize how serious these things can be. I mean, we obviously started with talking about Botox, but it's like, I think Botox and filler are probably the most popular, right?

Absolutely the most popular. Yeah, and filler, it can be really dangerous. So filler is way more dangerous than Botox. Botox, the worst thing that can happen is maybe you can have like a wonky eye for two, three months, or you might lisp when you talk if there was too much put around your mouth. But filler is dangerous. It's really dangerous. And all I can say is the

years that I spent watching my father do surgery, I also did OR circulating for many, many years, that was invaluable, that information. And now injectors in the US, a lot of them are doing these cadaver workshops where they're going through and looking underneath the hood, taking the skin up, seeing where are the vessels, how do I find them? Because when you're injecting, it's kind of like digging in the street, you could hit a pipe, right?

You need to know where those pipes are. And just because you know where they probably are, we're all different, you know? Some people might have a few millimeters up, a few millimeters down, so just knowing what to look for and that's where the conservative injection comes in. When you just do a little bit and you can always add and just do it safely, that's really the best way to approach any sort of filler injection. Yeah. And also using something that is reversible. So that would be a hyaluronic acid filler. I've heard about like filler migrating around the face.

Does that happen with hyaluronic too? It happens with hyaluronic absolutely. And one of the big factors that contributes to that is over injecting, doing too much at one time. So when you do too much at one time, it's like putting too much sausage in a casing. It's like, yeah. There's only a certain amount that you can put in

before it's gonna start spilling out, right? So if you have a cup and I start pouring water in, at a certain point, that water is not gonna fit in that cup, it's gonna pour out. And yes, the skin stretches to a certain extent. And then when you're talking and moving, if it's injected in like a bolus or in balls, and it can, it can start migrating up. So another reason why it's really important to go to a qualified

injector that has a good track record and also doing it in baby steps little by little. Now I'm curious, because obviously Botox and filler are the main treatments. Like I feel like that's what everyone talks about. What are some other treatments that are really popular that maybe are a little bit less well known but still, you know, a lot of the celebrities that we know and love probably have them? It's things like radio frequency and micro needling. But when you really look at it, it's pretty much all intense pulse light. IPL or intense pulse light is a great way to treat things like rosacea, brown spots,

like age spots or some people don't want their freckles. I do it a lot of times on active acne to kind of kill the bacteria in there. And also, it's like a good way to stimulate collagen in your skin and keep your skin healthy It's kind of like going to the gym for your skin like keeping it in shape Yeah There's also something called clear and brilliant That's a great way to keep your skin in shape and these are all Different wavelengths of light in order to stimulate collagen growth and to stimulate the skin to regenerate itself

Right, yeah, as we to stimulate the skin to regenerate itself. Right? Because as we get older, the skin regeneration slows down. So if you're 15 years old and you get a cut on your face, it heals pretty quickly, right? And then I got a pimple the other day, literally a week ago, I'm like, it's still there. It's still healing. And so it just goes to show that the older you get, the slower that skin regeneration happens. So we have to do other things,

like using topicals and lasers and stuff to stimulate that skin to regenerate and be in the best shape possible. Is there any risks with that one? I think the only risk would be if you come in and you have been on Accutane or Retinay, those things make your skin more sensitive to any light, right? And so you can, if somebody came in and say they lied and they didn't tell me, and then

I would use the setting that I thought was appropriate for them. And it was like really red. They could get really burned. It could possibly blister or something like that. Yeah. So that's why you have to be really honest with the provider that you're, you know, tell them what you're on. And then I have Morpheus, which is, and again, these are micro needling with radio frequency. There's more than one brand. There's Silpherm, there's Morpheus. I think they're all good. I'm not kind of the person that,

you know, says like, oh, my brand is the best. They're all micro. I'm not kind of the person that says like, oh, my brand is the best. They're all migraineedling with radio frequency. And in the right hands, I can make all of the machines work well. And so you don't have to, it's much more important in my opinion to find a great provider

than to go to a place with a certain machine. Because ultimately it's the person using that machine. Yeah. And their knowledge and their history. And they're like, oh yeah, I had this one person four years ago that blah, blah, blah happened. And so they have that history. Yeah.

And they know what to expect. Another thing is microneedling. I love microneedling. I use a peptide serum that I created in Korea. And I microne micro needle that into the skin and it's great. What I don't ever use with micro needling is vitamin C because there's this really really rare thing that can happen. I've seen it twice in 20 years and it's called granulomatous reaction from vitamin C

topically applied and then micro needled in. So many people do it, and it's very rare for this to happen, but if it happens, I can show you a picture, it's terrible and it lasts months. It looks like you have like stripes, raised, bumpy, ridges all over your face. It happened to a very good friend of mine. She went to, I think, four or five dermatologists. She's on prednisone on all of these steroids

to try to bring it down. And it literally took months because the vitamin C molecule got underneath the skin and it created kind of like a capsule around it. So do you know, if people get breast implants, you can form something called capsular contracture. And that's when your body notices that this is a foreign object.

And it goes, that's not part of our body. So let's create a fortress around it. So instead of pushing it out, it goes, we'll just put a wall all the way around it. And then we don't have to deal with it. Like out of sight, out of mind, it's got a wall. That wall gets really hard. And so that's why when people have capsule or contraction with breast implants, they're really hard. That's because that's the

scar tissue your body created around it. Now think of that on a really small microscopic level, around every little micro sphere of vitamin C in your skin. And most people don't have this reaction. But for the ones that do, and it happened to be a very good friend of mine, I was heartbroken. I just felt so bad for her because you can't cover it up even though there's there was like ridges. Yeah. You know, it looked like your face is corduroy.

Oh, I know, I know, I know for months. I mean, if it was like a week, okay, you can deal with it. Yeah. But two months. That's horrible. No, I know horrible. And so then I started doing some research and I found out it's this granulometous reaction to micro-needled vitamin C.

And that's why I'm really vocal about problems that can happen. And I like to share information and I ask people's opinion that are in this field all the time. So important. I've been doing it a long time and I still am learning things.

I'm still seeking knowledge. I'm just curious by nature. But the reason that I ask is because I'm like, someday I'm going to meet someone that's going to need this information. And so that's why I like to learn all of these things and then help people. Well, it's so new too. It's like it's all so new that you kind of have to learn as you go and stay up to date or else it's like, you know, because even you just mentioned Morpheus like a few minutes ago, like I don't even remember what Morpheus is. Like I can't even keep. What is Morpheus?

I know. So Morpheus is microneedling with radio frequency. So all these little needles. Only on skin, on face skin or everywhere? You can do it everywhere. You can do it everywhere. Is it tightening? If you know what I mean. Oh! Everywhere. Everywhere. You can do it everywhere.

Wait, does it tighten the skin? Yes. Yes, yes. So these little needles are going into the skin, right? And then at the very tip of the needle, a little bit of radio frequency energy is exerted. So it's not doing anything to the top layer of your skin, but the new skin cells are grown down here.

And then they're grown here, and then they come up, up, up. It's about 21 to 27 days is the process. And then they get shed off with the normal sloughing of your skin. So we wanna get those skin like baby, newborn, newborn baby skin, like, okay, we're gonna get these newborn baby skin. We're gonna get get those skin like baby newborn newborn baby skin like okay we're gonna get these newborn baby skin we're gonna get them in shape right so when they come

up they're gonna look great and they're gonna act differently right so that's what it is and have you ever seen a piece of bacon cooked okay so you start out with a big bacon right yeah and you cook it and it shrinky dinks a little do you know to shrinky do you think about that? Oh yeah, no, of course. So it shrinks a little. So if you think about that, think about that concept. If you put a little bit of energy into the skin

and you shrink-eating just a little on each tip of each needle, the overall endpoint is a little shrinking. So you do get a little tightening. A little bit, yeah. So it brings, it makes things look fresher, newer, but then it also tightens a little. Like if I take away four percent,

if I do it three times and each time I do it, I take away, I shrink it down 5%. After I've done it three times, that's 15%. So people are doing it on their abdomen. I'm doing it, some people, like after the age of I would say 45 to 50, you start losing collagen and skin that you didn't even know was going to be a problem starts to become a problem. You're like, I never knew I had like,

crepey thin saggy skin here. Maybe we can just give it a little, yep, just a little bit. Totally. You know? Is there any risks with it? The risks of Morpheus would be pain swelling I mean there's always gonna be a potential for infection, but that's it's not I've never seen it. Yeah bruising Possibly, but even like a teeny bit of Morpheus in the upper eyelid Because some people Genetically, and it's not an age thing. They just have a heavier hooded eyelid. And so instead of going in and getting surgery there, you can do a teeny bit of tightening.

Interesting. Yeah. And so it's all these little tweaks. And again, the goal is not perfection, it's balancing. It's making things, because as we get older, things start to look a little bit unbalanced because what happens is our face, our skull starts getting smaller. Think of when you lose, say you have your favorite

pair of jeans and you lose five pounds. The material on those jeans is going to hang or sag a little bit, right? Okay, so now let's think of your skull as your body and your skin as the material. The skull gets smaller as we age. Guess what happens to the material, your skin? We're sagging. It's like a melted candle, right? So how do we do that? A lot of people go in and they try to just put tons of filler and that helps a teeny bit, but it can look weird. And so we can tighten up with Morpheus, we can use different modalities to try to counteract that. Yeah. And the skin, the actual skin gets thinner.

So if you think about kids, kids have this thick, juicy, resilient, lovely skin. They can make facial expressions all day long and it doesn't stick. It's because their skin is like velvet. Yeah. Velvet, you can sit in a velvet dress and be sweaty and stand up and it's like no wrinkles. But try to sit in a silk, thin silk dress for five minutes. It's a little hot.

You stand up, there's wrinkles in there. It's because the material is so thin. So as we get older and that material gets thinner, it's gonna show every little nook and cranny. So that's where I come in and I try to find the right modality within reason, always, and within a safe zone and just pump the brakes. Yeah.

We don't have to reverse. No. We don't have to like completely stop, but pumping the brakes just makes you like tread water. You know? Yeah. Let's just hang out here for a little while. Yeah. How long have you been in this field?

I've been doing injectables for 20 years. Okay. But I would say 40 operating room worked with 40 different surgeons in the OR doing OR circulating. Yeah. So like- All over the United States. You've seen it all. How have people's aesthetic desires changed over the years?

You know, like, because that's so fascinating to me because I feel like a lot of times people go in and do things that can be unreversible, you know? Absolutely. Not in your office, it doesn't sound like, I feel like everything you do is not really, like you choose things that are reversible. I feel like.

Herbously. Exactly. I want no liability. Yep. I feel like purposely exactly. I want no liability. Yep. I don't want to be responsible. I want people to come in and I say no often. Yeah. And they come back and they say, you know what? You're right.

You so much for not doing blah, blah, blah. Last time I was here. Yeah. Because I really realized I didn't need it. Yep. So what I've seen over the years is kind of a change in the perception of beauty. It's interesting because when I was younger, I always thought I had the biggest jaw and I hated it.

And now jaws are in. I'm like, perfect. But, and then also when I was younger, enormous boobs were in. Yeah. And I would see these people come in. I remember this one woman kept asking my dad to do these enormous implants and he was like, no, you're gonna have a backache. You're gonna have all these, telling her all these different problems, but she was so

insistent. But now they're coming in, they don't care about the breast implants, they care about the butt, right? And so now they're coming in trying to do all these things, which there's the BBL, that BBL is the Brazilian butt lift, which is, that just means that you're liposuctioning fat from somewhere in your body and putting it into the butt. And that fat that is put into the butt, they have to like over inject because a certain percentage, it could be like up to 50% will actually not take it.

Because you're waiting for each one of those fat cells to get a blood supply. And once they get a blood supply, they're like, okay, we're gonna hang out. Now we've got food coming in, we'll stay. But until they get that blood supply, the ones that don't get the blood supply, they die out. So you have to make this enormous round,

like it's kind of crazy how large they make them. And so that's a big difference that I've seen. And so there's people that either don't have enough fat on their body to liposuction it out and put it in their butt, or they don't wanna go through that surgery because that's a really, really painful, long recovery kind of surgery.

And so they opt for things that are faster, but really, really dangerous, like life-threatening dangerous. And BBLs as a surgery, they have a lot of risk, but at least you have a surgeon, hopefully a surgeon, not their assistant doing it. But a lot of these people, if we can go into it, if you want to, but- Yeah, let's do it, let's get into it.

This was really shocking to me, because I kind of thought that this era of injecting silicone was a little bit over, Yeah. because now people know what can happen. Yep. So they used to do silicone injections into the lips. The thing is that they would look good

for like four or five years. And then that silicone would migrate. And unlike a migrating hyaluronic acid, it's not reversible. And the problem is not only is it not reversible, but even if you went in for surgery to get it cut out, it's like trying to cut out jam from a sponge. You can't. You have to cut part of the sponge, right?

And then it's, and then you're having like way uneven, you know, skin texture and tone and it's just a big nightmare. So I had a client come in and she was really excited because she had just had her butt done and she wanted to tell me all about it. Little did I know. I thought she had gotten a Brazilian butt lift and had the liposuction and so she said, yeah, I just did it yesterday and I'm thinking, how are you standing? This is amazing. And then I asked her, I said, well, where did they take the fat? Because you look extremely thin. She was like probably five, four, and a hundred pounds.

And I'm thinking, where did they get this fat from? And she goes, oh, no, no, no, I just had injections. And I'm thinking, like, what did you get injected? And she shows me a picture of her butt, and it is very, very large. I said, what did they put in there? She goes, I don't know. She doesn't know? No. Oh, no. And I said, what did they put in there? She goes, I don't know. She doesn't know? No.

And they said, how much did they put in? She goes, two and a half vials. And I'm thinking, okay, so a normal vial of, of just like saline would be 50 milliliters. So I'm thinking she probably saw a 50 milliliter bottle, which is like about that tall, that wide. Okay. That's still, that's a lot. That's still that's a lot.

That's like a foreign material. Yeah. Each 50 milliliter is 50 syringes of filler. OK. So I'm thinking that's probably 100 syringes of filler. Like that's a lot. She goes, you know, it was kind of weird. I said, where'd you get it done? She goes, well, it was in a hotel room. And she was, yeah, this woman, she comes in once a month

or once every other month and she has just a line of girls. And I was like, how much did you spend on this? She said, well, for each vial is $5,000, but you have to bring cash. And I was like, okay. I have chills, I hate this shit. This is really unsafe that you don't know what it was that was injected.

She goes, well, I have a picture. Do you want to see it? Yes. And so she showed me a picture and the little vial, the 50 ml vial that I thought it was going to be, it wasn't that. It was the size of your cup right here, two of them. That's like 16 ounces. And then there was one of those little white, no, the little clear plastic cups that you

get at the hotel. And she goes, yeah. So what she would do is she would pour it from there into that cup and then she would draw it up with a syringe. And it was all in the picture. I mean, I have the picture. I'll show it to you. She goes, yeah. And then she would just inject it.

And I said, what, what is that in the picture? I noticed a little thing of superglue. She was, oh, yeah, that's what she uses to close up after she goes in. So I was not only was I speechless, but I told her that she is lucky to be alive. She is her promise to never do it again. And I said, you need to tell your friends that this is life threatening. There's so many other reasons why it's not okay, which I will get into I mean one highly illegal But that's not even the real problem here is if that needle Punctures a blood vessel. Oh God, no and that silicone goes into any vessel even though it's in the buttocks

Yeah, just like I said the street that I pulled in here. Yeah, it's connected to the 405 405, it's connected to a freeway in New York if we drive long enough. Right? So if that gets into a blood vessel in the buttocks, that can go to your head and you have a stroke and die. You can go to your lungs and you can have a pulmonary embolism. You can die. Yeah. It's not a joke. It's not something to take.

She goes, yeah, there was like 10 girls and she was telling me some of the names and I knew some of the names. You know, have you seen throughout time people risking their lives? Yeah. Like, is that something that's been consistent throughout? Or do you think that that's newer now? I think it's newer and I think these girls are making a lot of money on certain websites. And the other problem is that they show their friends. And it looks good.

Of course. For a few years. They're like, oh, I had it three years ago. It still looks good. But guess what happens in three, four, five years. Silicon, it's not like fat, a fat in a BBL, it has a blood supply. It's like, we moved in, we're staying, we're not moving.

But silicone is just kind of hanging out. It's like suspended animation. And there's this little thing called gravity. And it doesn't happen overnight, doesn't happen in a year, it doesn't happen in two years. But give it three, four, five, six years. And slowly but surely, it has the melted candle effect. And it goes down to the point of least resistance.

With the point of least resistance is the bottom of the buttocks. So it starts to look like you're wearing a dirty diaper. It's all bottom heavy and it's impossible to cut out. And these girls are just lucky they're alive because it got reported, I think about a year ago I read about it that it was that someone actually died here in Los Angeles

by one of these illegal butt injections. Yeah, it's a serious issue. And I just wish these girls knew that it's not gonna look good in a few years. And that there's nothing you can do to take it out. Yeah. I think a lot of girls feel like they need these things. Everyone else is doing it.

Everyone else is doing it. They're fine. And the truth is, if you're going to somebody who doesn't have a real credential, then it's like, if somebody doesn't have a credential, they're not gonna tell you the dangers of what they're doing. So it's like they're not, if somebody doesn't have a credential, they're not going to tell you the dangers of what they're doing. So it's just this mess. I think that that's why the topic of any sort of enhancements from Botox to Silicon filler, that's the reason why I think it's so

controversial. The people that have good work, you think they haven't done anything. Exactly. That's called good work. And it's subtle and it's little and it's great. You know, injections get a bad rap because of the ones that are done poorly. And I think that there's just that limit that a lot of people, because they're so influenced by what they see online, they kind of keep striving and they think it's going to make them happier. Yeah.

If they just get a little bit more. Yeah. You know. I feel like we've never had a time in history where beauty standards have been more complex. Oh my gosh. Right? Absolutely. And I mean, there's been dangerous phases in the past, but this feels different.

It feels different because it's in your face every day. When I was growing up, we had magazines and you would look through and you would see these beautiful models that are airbrushed and they look great. And then you put the magazine away and you go on with your day. But now it is constant and every day, I have a 13 year old niece, and I don't want her thinking that you have to do all these things to attain this beauty standard that's really not realistic. And so that's why I really push with her skincare.

If you can have a beautiful glowing skin, I don't care how old you are, you will look and feel really great. And so to me, that's the foundation for everything the Really great skin and there's so many things you can do it is some lasers and stuff like that and it is some products But it's also supplements. It's also getting enough sleep. Yeah, it's also decreasing your stress It's looking at your daily habits I see people come in and see and they'll have a lot of blackheads on the one side of their face

Yeah, and they'll sit there and we'll talk to each other and we discuss what they want to get done and the whole time they're doing this and then afterward I'll ask them, do you touch your face? And they always say no. Like really because in the last 15 minutes you've touched your face like 25 times. And what are you doing when you touch your face? You're feeding those pimples or those blackheads. You are literally feeding them

and like it's like watering a plant, right? So these lifestyle changes, once you're aware of them, you can change how you behave in order to decrease the chance that those are going to be problematic, right? If you're doing dermaplaning, which is so popular, and you notice that after you do dermaplaning,

the day after or two days later, you break out, well, maybe dermaplaning is not good for your skin because it's actually causing those oils to get trapped and causing a little bit of abrasion in the skin. So things that you see that you think like, oh, everyone's doing them on Instagram and TikTok and it must be good. Also too many products.

A lot of people use too many products. Overdo it. And you don't need all those products. And so it's that whole education that I like to really focus on with people because they get little bits and pieces and they don't know what is real and what is appropriate for them and what is not. Not everything, retinase, not appropriate for everyone.

Yep. I've seen little girls going to the store getting retinols and stuff and I'm like, this is not appropriate for your skin. It's going to rip away at the acid mantle that is protecting your skin. Yep. And it's going to make you more sensitive to the sun. And it's just not appropriate. Yep.

It's not necessary either. Yeah. Collagen doesn't decrease until your mid to late 20s. And then it decreases just a little bit every year. And so I think that there's because we are constantly inundated with quote, unquote, information, it's really hard to decipher. Okay.

Which is this going to the pile of really true information or maybe true, but not for me or completely false. When people say, oh, once you start doing Botox, you have to do it forever. Totally false. You do not have to do it forever. I know. I heard that for years. No, no. Botox just stops the muscle movement under the skin. It pauses it, like puts it on pause.

And so that skin can't move in and out and in and out, and it prevents the wrinkle from forming. Do you think aging completely naturally with nothing? What are your thoughts on that? Like, do you think that I've struggled with this when it comes to different cosmetic sort of procedures because I'm like, do I preserve the natural human form? Does that even need to be preserved?

It's this moral dilemma and I've gone back and forth about it forever. Okay, so you probably don't remember this, but way back when, when I was growing up, there used to be ads on TV that someone would walk into a room and she had this beautiful hair and it would say, does she color her gray?

Only her hairstylist knows for sure. It was shameful. Does she cover her gray? Like, she's old enough to have gray. She must have gray. But the only person that knows is her hairstyles because she doesn't tell anyone, because it's a secret.

Right. I feel like that's the same now. Yes. Whereas like no one cares about the hair anymore. It's so beyond no one even cares. It's like, oh, who colors your hair? Yeah, it's so obvious. It's not even rude to ask that. No, it's not taboo. It's not weird. Exactly. It is so beyond, no one even cares. It's like, oh, who colors your hair? Yeah, it's so obvious. It's not even rude to ask that.

No, it's not taboo, it's not weird. Exactly, it is so accepted. I wonder if that's gonna happen with especially Botox. And like, you know, even different like micro needling, different lasering, like I wonder if it's gonna become a thing at some point where it's not taboo. It's just like, yeah, most people do this. I think it's already kinda getting to that point. I think it is too. Overall, it's just like, yeah, most people do this. I think it's already kind of getting to that point.

I think it is too. Overall, if you look at this sort of whole industry as a whole, what you do, but also even plastic surgery, just this whole space of aesthetic enhancements, do you think that this is having a net positive impact on the world or net negative as a whole? Oh gosh, that's a really hard question. I know.

I think we need to pump the brakes a bit. Oh gosh, that's a really hard question. I know. I think we need to pump the brakes a bit. I think that it's gotten to the point now. Yeah. Where we need to start focusing on things that are really important and focusing our time and effort on building our internal self. I think that we need to really hone those kind of skills

and teach those to our youth and celebrate those kind of things. It's got to be more than just looks. I feel like the industry of various, I don't even know the word to use it, cosmetic enhancements, medical, cosmetic, aesthetic enhancements. You know, the whole industry in general, I actually think that it's pretty miraculous. You know, it's for somebody who got into a car accident, for somebody who has, you know, really bad jaw pain, whether it's something like that, or it's just, I don't like my nose and I

want it to look different. It is a miracle that we've figured out how to do these things, but I think that the reason why we can't necessarily celebrate these advancements to the level that we want to is because we live in a very vain era of society and so now it's like these advancements mixed with society focused on vanity, like where vanity is like the number one pillar of whatever. It's like, that's why it's a bad combo,

which I think is unfortunate because how great would it be if there wasn't this sort of universal dysmorphia happening all at once? If that's what makes it so horrifying, you're probably overwhelmed by that. But then at the same time, you're like, I wanna do good here. Right, exactly.

So it's just, I don't know, does it like ever keep you up at night? The older my clientele gets, the more accepting they are of themselves. And it's really refreshing. Also, once people have children, they kind of realize like, oh my gosh, I can't control everything.

So I'm gonna do what makes me feel good, but those little things that used to bug me, it's kind of like that don't sweat the small stuff. The older you get, the less you sweat the small things, right? And so I do think it's a factor of age. And so I feel like my duty is to kind of reiterate that to my younger clientele and then steer them on the path to what's really going to make you

look good, feel good and be in the best possible situation for you to excel in life in general. It's not just about lasers and injectables. It is a lot about sleep. It's not just about lasers and injectables. It is a lot about sleep. It's a lot about dealing with your stress. And you know, for someone to say, deal with your stress, it's such a vague concept, but when I give them really tangible things that they can do, and I'll say, download this app, here I've already gone through the thousands of meditations, these are the four great ones, I want you to commit to me.

And this is what I have these conversations. I have long meetings with my clients because I really want the best results. And it's not just here. Boom, boom, boom, inject by. It's like, okay, I will do these things. But this is all the background stuff that has to, that has to happen also. And once you get all of this under control, you are going to look better. You are going to feel better because you're giving your body all the resources it needs

in order for your body wants to heal itself. But we do things that strip away your body's capacity to heal itself. What are the things that we do? We stay up too late. Drugs and alcohol, stress. I really delve into that with my clients and I say, you know, what are you doing?

Are you taking certain supplements? Are you washing your face every night before you go to bed? If you have acne on your back, after you wash the conditioner out of your long hair. Are you exfoliating that back? Do you lift up your hair and then wash off that residual conditioner that's now on your back clogging your pores?

Oh, I used to have that so bad Okay, so all of these things and most of the time when you go to the dermatologist They don't have that much time to sit down and talk to you and so yeah, and they're not looking at I feel like I'm a skin detective I go around and I'm like let's let me see your makeup brushes and they'll open their bag Oh, they're right here. I'm like, oh So your makeup brush is just touching your wallet, which you were just at Earth Cafe on the counter and then on the with the money. And so now you're putting that now on your face. Is that right?

And you're like, oh, I didn't think about that. So all of these things you don't think about, you know, that are, that are exacerbating whatever problem you have with your skin. Yep. There's so many factors. Your diet, are you eating a lot of processed foods? Yep. You know, I mean, a lot of people say drink more water and it's,

it's, that's great, but there's a lot more to it. You've got to decrease the amount of sugar and processed foods that you're eating. Mm-hmm. And all of these things work together. Yes. To really, to really help you. Well, I think too, you know, a lot of people, I think in a way because now getting various procedures,

it's so much more available now that I feel like people feel like they can be lazy when it comes to taking care of themselves, you know what I mean? And so I think for optimal results, you're completely right. It's like someone should come in the best possible version of themselves.

Obviously none of us are perfect. We're always gonna be like, I didn't sleep that well last week, but it's like, birds-eye view, if you wanna get a procedure done, you should probably get your routine in order first. Because I think- Before you get pregnant, be in the best shape.

Yep. So that your pregnancy is easier. Totally. And the other thing is, with some of the lasers and stuff that I do, if you get sun exposure afterward, you could actually cause something called hyperpigmentation. It's called P I H, post inflammatory hyperpigmentation.

So you could make the pigmentation worse if you get this sun exposure. So I'm going to show you a picture. I want you to tell me what this is a truck driver. He drove a truck his whole life. So we know that UVA rays penetrate glass and clouds, right? Can you tell me what side his window was on? It's pretty fucking obvious. It's pretty obvious, right? That's on the right.

Yeah. One, one, I'm looking at it. It's on his left. Okay, so what does that mean? That means that the UVA light that's penetrating into your car is aging your skin. Yeah. So I always, I went to get my driver's license

and I took the test and I took the test with my hands down here. The guy that was giving me the test was like, well, you need your hands at 10 and two. I didn't know what 10 and two was because I always saw my dad drive like this. He never drove like this. He was driving with his hands underneath the wheel because he was like,

I don't want my hands to get wrinkled. And you just start wearing sunscreen. Isn't that so funny? We believe this just made me want to wear it better. So there's a reason why it's called the glove box, right? Yeah. You can get gloves on Amazon that are like $5 that have the fingers cut out. And guess what else you can use them for?

Oh, when you get your nails done. Gel manicure. So I've like, I've got these gloves everywhere. I think they're 5.99. They're in my glove compartment. They're at my house. There's like probably one in my purse. Cause I always want them there

for if I do a gel manicure or when I'm driving. But the other culprit to skin aging is the sunroof. Right? We're sitting in our car all day long. We're just baking. All that UVA light and some people go, oh, I think mine has a UV filter. I'm like, hmm, I don't believe it. So I'm like racking my brain. How can I fix this? And then I realized, $7 solution at CVS. I went in and got a piece of black

poster board. Yeah. I just put it up between the two. Great. I have total blackout in my car. Wait, you have so many life hacks I feel like go through all of your life hacks. Okay, so that's a great life hack The other life hack I have for people who maybe don't want to get Botox or are you know, it's it's pretty expensive Yeah, if you notice that you have a tendency to frown again I cannot do it but if you have a tendency to frown and you constantly are like scowling maybe you're Thinking a lot or maybe that's just your go-to expression. Yeah.

Oftentimes, people will also do it while they sleep. Yep. And so they're kind of setting those wrinkles in while they sleep. So you can go to the hardware store and get paint tape. Or there's also a tape by 3M. It's called paper tape. Yep. And you can get it on Amazon, but you can also get it at all of the drug stores, right?

So say you're sitting around and you're studying, or you inadvertently frown your eyes when you sleep. You're obviously not going out like this, but if you are one of those kind of people that does it often, just take that and then put it right here. Oh! And then every time you make that frown, it's like a constant tap on the shoulder reminder.

You can't do it. Yeah. Yeah. And even if you do a little bit, it reminds you. And so you go, oh, wow, I was doing it again. I was trying not to. So wear that when you sleep. You can leave it right by your bed

and it comes right off. Do you feel like people take the hacks too far? Like how do you feel about, I remember I saw this straw one time that's like so that you don't like... It's like so instead of going like... I think that's a little crazy. It was like a straw where you could just go... I think that's ridiculous.

I'm not kidding, dude. I've seen it. I think it's a little ridiculous. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, because wrinkles are there when you're doing something constantly and excessively. Yeah, like having a little sip out of the straw, it's like what's happening? That I would not. It's like when you're doing something constantly and excessively. Yeah, like having a little sip out of the straw, it's like, what's happening?

That I would not. It's like when you're making an expression all day long. Exactly. I feel like it can't become an obsession. Like you need to have a healthy relationship with like, okay, I am gonna age a little bit, but also it's about finding ways to integrate, you know, whether it's into your beauty routine,

that could be going and getting Botox or filler. It could also just be your skincare routine and sunscreen. It's like finding ways to naturally integrate, you know, these things into your schedule in a way that doesn't control your life though. You know what I mean? It can't control your life. That is the key.

And that balance is what sometimes it takes a little bit more life experience to get there. Some people get it, but some people you kind of have to live a little longer to realize, okay, I am not going to obsess over XYZ. I'm going to just kind of like have a more balanced approach. Yep. And yes, do things, do things because they make you feel better and look better, but take it, don't take it to the extreme because that's when you can get into some real problems.

Well, it is really interesting how different, I don't think people take seriously enough how your wellbeing impacts the way that you look. It's everything. Like people do not realize that. Like I've made shifts in my life and gone like, let's say I saw somebody at one point, a bad point. And then six months later, I see them again and I'm in a way better point.

They know. Without even me opening my mouth, they're like, something's different with you. You look vibrant, you look alive. You look so healthy. Like, you know, whereas before the last time they'd seen me, I was like depressed and like in bad situations and like they caught on to it. It was so fascinating.

But it's like, again, I think there's all these different things that we can do to make ourselves look and feel better. But it has to start there. It really does. It does. And it sounds corny and it sounds stupid, but I think even you, you must be, it all starts there. It's like when someone's in love, you can tell,

I want you and everyone else to be in love with themselves. So much in love with yourself that you're like, oh no, I'm going home to go to bed. Oh no, I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna eat this instead. Just be in love with yourself and treat yourself like you were in love with yourself. Yeah super kindly and You'll see a difference. It's so true. Yeah, it is palpable true. Yeah Is there anything else you want to touch on? I mean, I don't think so. I think that's good

I feel like we did everything so much. I mean that was phenomenal. That was great. Well, thank you for coming on Of course. Thanks for having me. You're the best ever. That was awesome. And I'll see you soon for laser. For sure. But you are noticing.

And maybe Masseter Botox, what? You are noticing a decrease, right? Oh my God, I exfoliated. Yeah. And it was like, it all fell out. OK, so that's the thing. That's the difference between laser hair removal using IPL. Yeah.

Yeah, it works. It was amazing. And it's permanent. And by the way, also, one other thing I want to add Don't be embarrassed if you go somewhere to get your laser hair removal And you have a hair or two or three growing in an air in an area that you think is So weird because it's actually not weird. I have done laser hair removal on people's tips of their nose I've done it on women the Belly like bikini going all the way up to the belly button nipples, tips of their nose. I've done it on women, the belly like bikini going all the way up to the belly button. Nipples, toes, back, lower back, nape of the neck, all these

areas. I get one on my chin. Yeah, in chin, exactly. I need you to help me. Yeah, yeah. It's there right now. I've been touching. And the other key is you have to do it while you're young because once that hair turns white, you're done. You're dead.

All right, you can't get it anymore. The only way to get rid of a white hair is to do something where they put like a really thin needle and they electrocute it. And it's a one by one process, like one hair at a time. Okay. Next time I'm in, can we do my one chin? Yes. But the other thing is, is you have to make sure that it's shaved and not plucked.

Oh, right, right, right. Because I need that root. Yep. You need that root. If there's no root in there, my laser's like, mm, yeah, I don't see anything. Yep. But if there's a root, it's like,

dun, dun, dun. We see where we need to. I'm so excited for my one chin hair. Wow, actually, we'll talk about my special spots next time I'm in. Sounds great. I can't wait. Okay, see you then.

Thank you for coming on, you're the best. You are the best. Thank you.