Founder's Story - The Hidden Truth About Plastic Surgery (They Never Tell You This) | Ep. 199 with Dr. Osman Bashir Tahir

Episode Date: April 14, 2025

In this powerful episode of Founder's Story, we sit down with world-renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Osman Bashir Tahir—also known as Dr. OBT—whose aesthetic clinics span London, Dubai, and Lahore. From cleft surgeries to cutting-edge regenerative treatments, Dr. OBT reveals how he combines art and science to help people not just look better, but feel better, too.We talk about the true purpose of plastic surgery, the myths social media has fueled, and how a well-done procedure can transform more than just appearance—it can change someone’s entire life. Dr. OBT also dives into regenerative medicine, including fat transfer, salmon DNA facials, and exosome therapy, and how he’s pioneering a more natural, undetectable approach to aesthetics.Whether you're curious about the latest in aesthetic medicine or want to understand the emotional side of plastic surgery, this episode is honest, insightful, and inspiring.Topics Covered:How Dr. OBT got into plastic & aesthetic surgeryWhy blending art with surgery mattersThe problem with “overdone” faces and filler trendsThe right reasons people should get aesthetic proceduresWhat’s next in regenerative aestheticsThe truth about fat transfer, stem cells, and salmon sperm facialsHis views on confidence, wellness, and aging wellConnect with Dr. OBT:🌐 Website & Clinic Info📍 Locations: London | Dubai | Lahore📲 Follow on Instagram: @drobtAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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$200 admin fee applies. Not all buyers and lessees will qualify. Restrictions apply, not combinable with other offers. Ends 43025. RAM is a registered trademark of FCA US LLC. Hey everyone. Welcome back to Founder's Story. Today we have Dr. Asmin Bashir Tahir. You are a world renowned award winning plastic surgeon with clinics in London, Dubai and Lahore. I love talking about aesthetics, plastic surgery, regenerative medicine. These are topics. These are my my most favorite topics Dr. OBT which you're also known as Dr. OBT. But before we dive in all these things because I'm very curious about what is

what is popular right now? what are people looking at? How did you get started in this field? And then on top of that, you are a global citizen with having businesses in many countries. How did this happen? First of all, thank you so much Daniel for having me on this podcast today. Yeah, I think let's take it from the start. I basically, as far as I can remember, I was about seven or eight years old and I was walking with my grandfather

and he asked me what you wanna become and I said, I wanna become a doctor because I wanna help people. And I was a bit of an artist in school and growing up, eventually my parents really supported me, uh, you know, with my education and always whatever I wanted to do. So I got into med school and I kind of, I really got interested, fascinated with surgery and it kind of all came together because it was like, you know, there was a blend of

art and science and plastic and reconstructive surgery was, um, something which I really developed a passion for. I loved helping our people, you know, cleft surgeries and all these, we had trauma patients and we had all these challenging cases. So it was a massive workload of burn patients and reconstructive patients. And then like what happened was that basically

I started seeing that my patients, when we used to do their surgeries, even if it was a really complex reconstruction, they were still a little bit unhappy with the color mismatch or with the texture of their skin or with something or another. And I felt like, okay, what if I can do something? And that's when the state started getting really popular.

So I started doubling into it towards the middle to end of my residency program. And I saw my patients are getting so happy when I did like things like chemical peels, a bit of lasers, a bit of micro needling, which used to start to really improve the results. And it was so funny because they started getting more happy with the final touches, which you could call more than the complex reconstruction itself. So it kind of like I love the fact that they became so happy and I just felt that that

completed their journey. So I started doing that practicing aesthetic medicine side by side. So I think I consider myself one of the first guys who really divided my practice into aesthetic surgery and aesthetic medicine. So a lot of plastic surgeons don't really do too much aesthetics. They give it to the nurses or they don't know, just not interested in it. At the same time, there's a lot of aesthetic medical practitioners who don't really know where, when to refer their patient. Therefore, that's why things are getting a bit weird. So I think that it's kind of, having gone into this really early

and having that kind of diversity in my practice, it just evolved and it really, my patients started getting happy and I started growing my practice and here I am today. I'm very fascinated with what you're talking about, blending art and surgery. And that makes total sense when I'm thinking about plastic surgery and

the end result for what the patient wants to have. So walk me through the, you know, what's going on in your mind when you're looking at somebody or somebody comes in and say, I need one thing done. You know, you always see like this, like draw, you know, doctors drawing lines on people and look at it and I'm always what's going on in their mind So, you know Daniel the thing is that there's a lot of misconceptions and a lot of a lot of stuff What we see on on social media is I always I always kind of like say oh my god This is it's like a circus. It's like it's just going in a wrong direction

You'll never hear about all the great cases, all the great work, all the confidence boost, all the right things. But I know whenever something will happen, like if somebody's gotten a procedure just freshly done, they're very swollen, people are gonna go rush after them and troll them and all that. I think everybody, every one of us has an area or two,

it could be your hair It could be your skin It could be something which you know You want to you want to improve it and that that'll just add a bit more confidence in you and then it kind of trickles into The other areas of your life. So, you know, for example if somebody says oh god I have this love handle issue or I have this double chin issue If I do a little bit of liposuction into it and then they kind of like I see them later on They're like they look totally different. Why because they've started eating right?

They started going to the gym now and they started like, you know Dressing better and because and that trickles and then they're they're better partners. They're better in their family So that is their essence That's the right reasons why people should be getting things done not for other people not to look like someone else It's never should never be like that when someone comes and says I want engine and Julie I'm like look these are your lips I'm gonna try to make them as attractive and natural as possible on your face I'm not I cannot make somebody else's lips come onto your face

So I think that when I look at when I look at someone coming in office I always look what can I do for this person for them to look a little bit more attractive, a little bit more better, a little bit more healthier? For example, if they have tired eyes, I can give them solutions which are instant and also regenerative. And when I say regenerative, it means I'm blending stuff which is going to give some instant volumization or improvement and then it's going to work slowly and slowly to improve the quality of skin tissues. And that's where that's the right direction this industry is kind of heading and should be heading. It's towards regenerative treatments and wellness and lifestyle and integration of all these things

to to get the best possible outcome for the patient. And on the aesthetic side, what would you say is one of the most popular things that people are coming in for? Aesthetics, yeah. So, you know, injectables and energy-based devices are really popular. So, injectables, people are a little bit more scared now because of what they see with what happens with fillers. But I feel that that is more of a problem when they kind of went into the mainstream, a lot of people who weren't really trained or had that much, that thorough anatomical knowledge or scientific knowledge on how fillers work. And they kind of just went overboard

and started selling fillers rather than doing them the way they should be done. And whenever, I mean, anybody who knows me knows that I am such a conservative injector. So fillers is still one of my most popular nonssurgical treatments and I do it the way it should be done Like that means do a tiny bit where is required? exact location Anatomically correct to give a best the best result when you overdo it or think that oh I'm gonna put a bit more to get

A better result. That's when things go wrong and then you have to kind of like dissolve it and redo it the right way So I'm doing a lot of reversals for a lot of other doctors other I'm not putting anybody down But it's kind of it shouldn't be something so casually performed I think that it needs more regulation and I think in states has started doing that I think it should come to London for sure because here beauticians are doing the injections and That's this kind of that's is wrong. You knowing into the face I feel that's that's just not it's a medical procedure after all and when it's done by an expert who actually does it in every single day of their life for a couple of years the results

are incredible they're great and now there are injectable substances which are triggering your own collagen production so you should should be utilizing, you should be having that, you know, armamentarium of different kinds of products. And then obviously have a bespoke plan for the patient. It's not like a cookie cutter approach, oh, whoever's going to come, we're going to make it the same way. And that's what's kind of happening when you go to these typical med spas

or some locations which are just trying to sell, sell, sell. So I think that people think that anybody can achieve the natural look but in my experience I think only experts can achieve that natural or undetectable look and undetectable aesthetics is is actually also one of the directions where the industry is going and I am totally for that totally. I like how you said the undetectable because I do see some people sometimes and I'm like wow it really doesn't look like them anymore. Yeah wrong ones yeah. I like the accentuating the parts that you have versus looking like somebody you're not.

But then you see somebody who's so I'm sorry but like to put you over like I'm just so You know excited about this topic because you then you can you also see some ones who look so good But then you don't really you don't really know what they got done You're like did he didn't he did she didn't she because she does looks or he looks really handsome Or she looks really attractive you're pretty but you do know that they did them in but you always think no They might not have done so that you know know that they did them in, but you always think, no, they might not have done. So that, you know, that guest thing, that's the right thing.

That's the way it should be. And, you know, they should look like themselves, but just the best version, right? Who doesn't want to be the best version of themselves? Exactly, exactly. On the regenerative side, what are some things that you're excited about that you're either already doing

or what you're seeing in the future? Oh, you know, I see so much stuff which has been is being done for so many years, but you know, they kind of package it into a new name and they kind of like try to sell it. I think I think the regenerative aesthetic procedures, regenerative medicine is great. But obviously, you're gonna have a lot of companies trying to force things which are office-based and can be done by dermatologists or aesthetic physicians. But I think as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, I know that one of the best regenerative compounds is your own fat.

Your fat contains incredible stem cells. And to harvest that fat, you need to do liposuction. So it's a two step process. It's not maybe as easier as office based injections. There are injections out now. There are micro needling treatments with exosomes, which are stem cell based science. But when you when you inject fat and there's many kinds of fat, people imagine fat as being this really thick and bulky substance.

But you can also like Liquified and call and it's called nanofat or micro and micro fat is a bit more thicker But when you inject these the same this compound taken from your own Body and transfer it into the right areas You don't get that really nice youthful effect things like for example the under eye area When you're injecting something like that, which is really a milky version, a milky kind of consistency of your fat, we prepare that first.

It kind of, it helps to improve the quality of your undried skin, for example. It'll make it thicker. It'll make it more, look more healthy. You look overall, it'll give you that nice effect because you already had that before, but you do weight loss, you more healthy. You look overall, it'll give you that nice effect because you already had that before, but you do weight loss, you age and you do stress,

you do inflammation, you get that tired look for example. So I do inject a lot of fat into the face. I do it whilst I'm doing my face lifts or even some patients who are not ready for a face lift and they want a bit of volume or they want a bit more improvement in their skin quality or even in their body, you can even inject it in your body.

So fat transfer is a great regenerative treatment, but then exosomes, as I said, with micro-needling is really good. There are polynucleotides, which is really popularly known. Recently, you must have heard congratulations getting that salmon sperm facial. That's basically salmon DNA, which mimics human DNA. And we kind of inject it. It doesn't behave like a volumizing kind of a product so you can inject it under your eye

You can inject it into your smile lines For example, and what it's gonna do is it's just gonna Progressively improve the quality of your skin and I've really seen great results with this compound Unfortunately, I don't think it's out in the States yet, but I'm sure it's gonna make its way soon I think I think it has come out in it as a topical version out in the States yet, but I'm sure it's going to make its way soon. I think it has come out as a topical version, which you can just rub onto your skin during microneedling and after microneedling. But in the UK and the rest of the world, we're actually injecting it and polynucleotides is not a new compound. I mean, it's been used in medicine since over

50 years, so it's something really good. So yeah regenerative is is a good direction for for aesthetics and for wellness and all these You know to go tours for patients who are into this kind of stuff Yeah, because it's gonna be it's gonna be doing things Opposite of what's happening We are losing collagen at a rate of 1% per year and that's affecting everything in our body and our face and our everything here. So if we're injecting things like this into our scalp, into our face or introducing it into our skin, we are going to see that nice effect. And you know what? It's not going to be instant. It's going to be very slow, but you're going to be like

one day, you're just going to wake up after, let's say if I do a treatment today, I'll be okay. I won't look like I had anything done in you know one week from now or two weeks for but after a couple Of months three to four months down the line. You're gonna be like, whoa, okay I'm looking a bit nicer my under eye area is looking less tired, you know That's the right way to do regenerative treatments and they have their place. So I do a combination So I'll do things like, you know, like the filler. I'll do some micro needling. I'll do some injectable regenerative treatments I'll do some anti wrinkle injections and when you really combine these things and some energy-based devices you could really prolong

The time it for you to get a facelift or to get some more invasive options. So it's not something I mean, it's not gonna take place of surgery, but they should be there should be a there's an evolution There's a something, I mean, it's not gonna take place of surgery, but there should be, there should be, there's an evolution, there's a time. You can actually do start doing these things, like let's say in your 20s, late 20s, and then in your 30s, and then in the 40s, you can still do your surgery and combine it with these treatments.

So you can look great at every age, what I mean to say. There's no age limit to this, to be honest with you. Wow, that's amazing. I mean, that's good to know because I'm now in my 40s, and I wanna look like I am in my 20s Yeah, I remember the PRP and then the vampire facial I thought that was when my business needed to hire someone urgently it felt like I needed them yesterday We struggled to find quality applicants quickly and that's when indeed came to a rescue

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I mean, I didn't know all these things about the, the fat and what, how the fat can be used stem cells. Yeah. Um, this sounds like incredible stuff. Are you finding that is AI or advancements with technology being able to assist or help in plastic surgery? Yes, we do. We utilize AI. I use it in my clinic to assess the skin, for example. After treatments, we can also see the volumetric changes and any kind of those kind of changes into the skin. Yeah, this has been an amazing conversation. I'm always very interested about what's going on in the space.

Thank you for shedding light just about how your life was, how you got to where you are today, and then also what is going on in this industry. I'm very excited about these things because it it really makes me feel like I can stay and look young. I can feel young. I can be confident in myself at any age which really excites me. But if you want to get in touch with you, I know you have you have clinics in different countries as well. How can they do so? So I think that the locations are mentioned and then the contact details are mentioned on my website and And Daniel, you know what you said is spot-on. It's it's all about self-confidence and it's all about Trying to trying to look and feel your best at every age And I think that now with with the direction where the industry is going with the wellness therapies and your lifestyle

where the industry is going with the wellness therapies and your lifestyle medicine. I think that this is really important to get that that nice outcome. So I believe that it's great for anyone at any age. There's no there's no age limit. And of course, if you choose the right doctor, he can definitely help you achieve your goals, Dr. Obt, Dr. Osmond Bashir Tahir. Thank you so much for joining us today on Founder's Story.

Thank you so much, Daniel.