The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - Nicole Psomas On The Evolution Of Medical Procedures & Recoveries

Episode Date: April 21, 2022

#454: Nicole Psomas is a physical therapist and author who graduated with a Master's of Health and Science in Physical Therapy from Thomas Jefferson University in 2003. Today Nicole joins the show to discuss her book "After The Cut" - How to prepare for and recover from cosmetic plastic surgery.  To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) Produced by Dear Media 

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. And he was telling me that it feels very surface level on all these dating apps. Well, we have the app for you, okay? And this is the app that I told him to go on. And he did. And he met someone. And that is called the Match app. So if you're looking for someone who's confident, mature, emotionally mature, and you're not just looking at looks, you've got to check out this app. This whole app is about really pairing the human connection with technology.

I think this is genius. They obviously saw white space in the space. And anyone who's looking to upgrade their dating life and do it in a meaningful way, like I said, this is the app for you. It's called the Match app. I would not want to do these swipe apps where you just look at the way someone looks. I need more. I need depth and I need the Match dating app. So if you're single and you're looking for an app with a little bit more depth, Match has a really interesting new feature called Expert Picks. So get this. Actual humans, like humans, dating experts handpick matches for you. So Match is bringing the human touch back to dating apps. I appreciate that. They're merging technology with humans and it's working.

You are eight times more likely to hit it off with someone new when you use the expert picks feature. Another tool that's going in my toolbox, Michael, just in case. It's time to actually enjoy dating again and treat yourself to the convenience of a matchmaker through the ease of an app. Download the Match app today. That's the Match app. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the Skinny Confidential, him and her. The field of physical therapy was born and created as that baton handoff after a surgeon

and a doctor's done with their job. I mean, what they do is so intense and what they do is so specific. They really can't equally focus on the post-op and care. That is why we have a field. Our physical therapy began back in the day, treating patients who were recovering after the war and things like that, because it was like the nurses and then what became physical therapists that said, okay, we need to like help them rehab now because if they just lay here, they can't get better. Welcome back to the Skinny Confidential Him and Her podcast. Today, we have Nicole Somas of The Somas Method, and she wrote the book, After the Cuts, How to Prepare for and Recover from Cosmetic Plastic Surgery. I am very much about this topic and let me tell you why. There is so many people that go out and get plastic surgery and they think that it's over

from there. And what they don't realize, and I've learned this because I've had plastic surgery on my tits twice, is that there's preparation and preventative things that you can do. And there's also things that you can do. And there's also things that you can do after the surgery, after the cut to make things heal properly. I had horrible jaw surgery and I didn't think about healing afterwards at all and became so swollen. You guys know the story. I've told it many times and was swollen for like a year and a half. If I had done some of these things in her book, I think that I would have been way better off. And then with my second boob surgery,

I came in so prepared. And it was like a totally different experience. I did lymphatic drainage. I drank tons of water. I did massage. I walked instead of laying down. And I think these methods made all the difference. And why I wanted to have Nicole on the podcast is because I feel like

there's so much talk of plastic surgery, but there's not enough information on what to do after surgery to make you feel your best. So we talk about in this episode, preventing complications, reducing swelling, increasing range of motion, decreasing pain, increasing sensation, and my personal favorite, decreasing scar tissue. She gives so many good tips. And I think if you are going to make the decision to get a major surgery or plastic surgery, you should really think about the prep that it takes and then the post-op. So important. It's like the bookends of your plastic surgery. Nicole has an incredible story. She's a physical therapist who graduated with a master's of health and science in physical therapy. And she's smart. Okay. She's savvy.

She started out in trauma. So she really got to see the worst of the worst. And now she works with plastic surgery patients. If I ever get plastic surgery again, which, hey, you know, I might. Who knows? Maybe I'll do a mommy fucking makeover. I will definitely be calling Nicole because I have realized the importance of the pre and post-op. She is really the plastic surgery recovery guru. On that note, let's welcome Nicole to the Skinny Confidential Him and Her podcast.

This is the Skinny Confidential Him and Her. So you were telling me off air that you used to work with amputees on their scars, and you gave me the best scar tip, and I was absorbing every single speck of information because my daughter has a little scar that she got. We had to glue it. Tell the audience your scar tips because this is good. This is juicy. Absolutely. So I started off my career working as an inpatient physical therapist doing trauma recovery for patients recovering from accidents, amputees, like all sorts of things. And one of the tricks of the trade that we use is scar massage over the scar. And what that basically does is it helps break down the scar

tissue, makes the scar thin, flat, and virtually disappear. So if you use that in conjunction with silicone strips or scar cream, it's like a home run. What was it like working with people who had just lost a limb? I can only imagine. Did that take an emotional toll on you? Yeah. So one of the biggest things as a physical therapist that people don't realize, you're not only rehabbing the body, but you're also rehabbing their minds and their spirits. Sure. So you get really close with these people and you learn like how to kind of get into their psyche to motivate them again because these are people who just had like something ripped out of their life major whether it be a

limb or their independence so you have to basically help them get back on the you know back on the bike if you will yeah you're probably seeing vulnerabilities that they may not even show to people that are close to them in their life, right? Like when you're working with somebody that's helping you heal or get better or whatever, you're showing a side of yourself that I think the majority of the people in your life don't get to see. Yeah, absolutely. And also that sometimes like, you know, a family member, a mom, a dad, a spouse, they just can't really understand.

So they look to us, the clinicians, the people that are helping them to kind of guide them along the way and, you know, hold their hand from a different perspective. It's kind of like with kids sometimes. They might only take so much from their parents, whereas when their teacher says something, it's a whole different sort of perspective for them. So it's funny because I thought that that was just where my life would be, where it'd be like rehabbing these people going through traumatic things. And then when I entered into the world of plastic surgery, I realized they needed that same handheld that people who underwent a trauma did. For example, like I had a patient who was like a high-end model and she went and got liposuction. And she had instant regrets after

her surgery because she didn't realize the recovery process. So she's looking at herself, she's swollen, she's filled with black and blues and she's like, I ruined my career. What did I do? And I was like, no, you didn't. This wasn't necessarily a mistake. You just weren't aware that there was a recovery process. So I had to use those skills I used, you know, helping out amputees and helping out people going through major trauma and bring it to the world of cosmetic plastic surgery to let people know they didn't ruin their lives. This wasn't a huge mistake. The doctor didn't screw up. It's just natural. This is part of recovery. What's the story that stands out when you got started and you were working with amputees

that's something that's really inspiring? This is kind of crazy, but not only did I work with adult amputees, I worked with pediatric and child amputees. And honestly, like I can think about it now and cry because the human spirit is something that you can't really measure unless you see it in real life.

But to see the spirit of a child who, I don't even know if they process what they lost, but to see them just persevere. I mean, I have this one boy. Oh my God, he was like my life. I loved him. He was 17 and he had an amputation recovering from cancer surgery. It was cancer in the bone of his leg. And he was so inspiring to us all at Cornell.

I mean, he was just so sweet and kind and gracious in the manners. And he was just so dedicated. And he didn't let anything bring him down. And, you know, we're there thinking we're going to teach him how to get better. And what he taught us in the meantime was immeasurable, just about perseverance and what people could do. Is there a common denominator of people who lose limbs? Like, did you see it was mostly from cancer or mostly from war? Like, were there things that you saw that people were losing their limbs with

more? I think it depends where you are. Like, let's say you're at Walter Reed Hospital. You would be seeing a lot of amputations from, you know, war veterans and things like that. I was in New York City at New York Presbyterian Hospital while Cornell. So we had a mix, a lot from cancer, some from accidents. You know, someone may have been hit by a car, hit by a bus. A lot of pedestrians in New York are hit. I had a couple unfortunate, like, suicide attempts. So I worked on

the psychiatric floor as well. And so people who had failed suicide attempts and would like lose limbs as a result. I specifically didn't work full time on the burn unit, but we did have burn patients and things like that that resulted in that. So I would, when I worked in pediatrics, would get some overflow of those patients. So yeah, we would see a variety of things. Not really as many veterans or, you know, war heroes and things like that. I got my appendix out when I was in high school. And I remember there was this like young guy

pushing my wheelchair, taking me downstairs. And I said to him, I'm like, I'm like so obsessed with hospitals. Like I can't believe the people that do what they do. It's so crazy. And I said to him, what is the craziest thing that you've seen in here and what hurts the most? And he says the thing that he thought hurt the most was people who had been burned. He said out of everything he's seen, there is nothing worse than being burned. And he told me this story about when he was little,

his father was cooking a huge pot of pasta and the water spilled on him. And he was in the burn unit for six months. So not only was he actually working in the burn unit now, he also had been in it. Is that true? I think that that's true. And I'm going to tell you something funny about that. So when I was at Cornell, I was there 15, 17 years and I did everything. I wanted that sort of lesson and I wanted that perspective on things. So I did everything, wherever they could put me. I did

neurosurgery. I did orthopedics. I worked basically in every aspect. And I worked in areas a lot of people couldn't work in because they thought it was too emotionally draining. Like for example, pediatrics, working with children, children who had cancer, children who had, let's say half their brain removed after brain surgery. I mean, I would see like grown adults just pass out right in front of me. The only thing I could not do on a regular basis was the burn unit. And it was funny because my boss at the time, she sat me down and she said, Nicole, you know, you've done everything here, which is amazing. She was the only place I haven't put you as burns. And I'm like, listen, I walk on that unit and I don't know if I just emotionally bond with these people or I have this empathetic feeling. I go weak in my legs. I can't do it. So I think as a

clinician, you know what your limits are. I think you know what you can handle. And you just almost have to listen to it where you're going to be useful to patients, so helping them. Why is the unit so much different than others? Like, is it just so painful? I don't understand. Like, what's the difference? It seems like it's such a different tier. I don't know if it's more painful than anything else.

I mean, I've worked with a lot of patients who have extremely high levels of pain. I think for me, it's just the psychological aspect of thinking about these people getting burned. Like my heart hurts too much for them. I don't know why. It's just a weird thing. And then I have a lot of peers, my friends who are rockstar burn unit therapists. They were there through 9-11. They were there through all the thick and thin. I mean, their stories are just wild. And they could do it and they do it really well. I just never really had a calling to be on that unit. I have treated a lot of burn patients before in small doses, especially when I worked in pediatrics. Is there anything that you've been through that you can

pinpoint like 9-11 that was like a huge rush to the hospital where there were tons of people that came in. I was a little too young for that. I was just in college when 9-11 happened. So I missed being there for that. But it's funny when you walk down the halls of the hospital, you could still see they have the letters up, the letters that all the children would write, adults would write in support for all the health healthcare workers, for support of the victims. So it's not forgotten. New York didn't forget, you know, especially the hospital, what everybody went through at that time. People didn't forget.

It's still there years later as a memory. So, you know, even though it was like a very, you know, pinnacle time, it's not like people forgot it. So they still use a lot of those things that they learned in that in those crazy moments and implemented them things like that but I actually took some of the tricks of the trade that we use as burn therapists and brought it over to cosmetic plastic surgery with a lot of like the wrapping compression silicone things like that so it's what we do all overlaps.

No, it's almost like you got to be a practitioner of something. And before you went into a new profession, you used all those tools. I think that's so interesting. Every morning I wake up, I do my morning routine, light movement, hydration, meditation. And for my water, you know I do a huge glass of ice water with lemon, chlorophyll, and a little bit of minerals. Sometimes I make it hot and then I take my Just Thrive probiotic. I do two. I like this probiotic for multiple reasons, but it's one of the only ones that has survivability to the gut. There's a lot of probiotics out there that are bullshit. And I've looked into it and I've done my research and this one actually survives the trip to the gut. And if

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about them forever. We even had a microbiologist on the podcast break down the importance of a probiotic. So make sure you check them out. That's justthrivehealth.com slash discount slash skinny or use code skinny at checkout. Well, what's so funny is when I was in college, like I was a very much a girly girl and they used to call me like the Elle Woods of PT school. I honestly showed up on my first day of cadaver lab. That's where you were like practice on the bodies. And I was wearing like a leopard skirt.

To clarify, like deceased bodies. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Oh yeah. And my parents were like, you're going to do that? I'm like, yeah, this is me. Hold on.

So you're in class looking like Elle Woods with like your fluffy pen and your eyelashes and everything. And then just a dead body just comes in. Yeah. How does it come in? Is it rolling? No, it's there. They're there on tables when you walk in.

But, and my professor comes up to me. He's like, you look fabulous. He's like, but tomorrow scrubs. And I was like was like i know what you said this was an observation day so i just want to look cute he was like does a dead body smell really bad yeah it does so you guys are just like playing around with the dead body i don't get it yeah basically well we're not playing around playing around but like you're dissecting it so that you can learn from it. And you're basically like, yeah, you're dissecting it to learn from it,

to learn the nerves, learn the muscles. And as physical therapists, we have to know the body in and out because you're going to be working on the exterior. You have to know what's underneath those layers. So here I am walking in and like, that was me in college. And then when I got my job and I was basically given, I was in like elbow deep, some of the craziest things you'll ever see.

Like a lot of my peers went on to working in outpatient centers or, you know, working in a school. And I would probably say that's a little bit more less gruesome, if you will, than maybe... How so? What was gruesome about what you were doing? Well, I was going to ask you. I think it takes a specific kind of psyche to be able to process working with injuries of this kind, obviously working on cadavers.

Not everybody can do it from a mental standpoint, right? Even me, I think I've been able to do a lot of different things in my life, but I would probably be squeamish and have a difficult time doing that. I thought I would. And that's why people in my life like said to me, you're going to do that. And I was like, I guess I am. You get a calling for things. And then when I was-

What was your childhood like? Cool. My mom, like my mom and dad are awesome. They're like my best friends. Because I wonder if like, is there a moment in time where you can trace back to this calling and you're saying like- My parents, so my dad's like in the medical field. He's a pharmacist.

It's always a big thing. My mom, a teacher. And I can remember when I was five years old, I had a, I fell off a swing set and I basically cut my leg open. And, you know, I can remember my parents like whispering at that moment, we're gonna have to take her in for stitches. And the doctors came in to like hold me down, the nurses, while they were stitching up my leg.

And my dad's like, no, no, no, no. She's cool. And I watched as they stitched me up. And my parents were like, whoa. Okay. So she. Meaning like you watched them put the stitches in and out of the skin. I would rather give birth five times than watch someone stitch me.

I would rather give birth than get my finger pricked. Yeah. When my brother had an accident when he was younger uh he by accident he was like building a fort with friends and he stabbed through his leg and he hit an artery and you know my parents are like oh my god like my dad was real cool but my mom was like at like an 11 out of 10 and so i was like okay i better get on board with this and i just remember like plugging up the hole with my finger and after that they were like you really i think that you might have a calling for this medical field yeah if his

legs falling off I'm not plugging anything with my finger I'm just going to be like what's the vows we did for worse for better I'm not plugging it I'm sorry I'm just going to be honest I'm not plugging anything I can't do it I'm going to leave the room I don't think I want you to either I've seen your medical skills

I have to go back to this because we've never had anyone come on our podcast in all of these episodes that has talked about dissecting a cadaver. Sure. What is the most interesting thing that you found when you're dissecting this cadaver? Oh God, what I'm about to say is so disgusting.

Oh yeah, I can't wait. Okay. So I'll never forget, like I'm sitting there like in my cute white shoes and my scrubs and I just like- White is not the move. No, I know. And I learned in that moment. I learned'll never forget. Like I'm sitting there like in my like cute white shoes and my scrubs. And I just like. White is not the move. I know. And I learned in that moment. I learned in that moment. So you like cut the leg open. All of a sudden you just hear like. And what happened? And this is when everyone's

turning off the podcast. Sorry guys. It looked like liquid Cheetos that just fell to the floor. And it was the fat on the legs. And I was like, oh, okay. That happens. So, and I literally like raised my hand. I'm like, what's this orange stuff that just fell out? And they're like, oh yeah, that's the fat. I'm like, okay. And is it just because it like, you made the incision in the wrong?

No, that's what- That's what you're supposed to do. Yeah, like a lot of the, some of the other bodies where the person was a lot younger and they were firmer, it would just kind of sit there on the body. And you had to like, that was part of the dissecting process. I mean- person was a lot younger and they were firmer it would just kind of sit there on the body and you had to like that was part of the dissecting process i mean what's the difference though

between a dead person and a live person besides the blood i don't know truth because i've never dissected like that's the difference between like surgery and surgeon um well there's no blood when you're dissecting a cadaver there you know the body's embalmed versus when you're when you're doing surgery there's blood and things like that and so none of the organs are pumping blood through you know it's all shut down it's done but i had the hardest time with that and that's when i knew like surgery was not my calling because i was not interested in cutting people i was interested and, let's bring it back to the title of my book, which is called After the Cut.

That was really more my calling. Some people as doctors, as surgeons. We just had a surgeon on this week. Different calling. It is a different calling because I've worked with some of the world's best, most brilliant jaw-dropping, just to be in their

presence, surgeons. And I just admire their talent. I admire the dedication. I mean, what they have to go through the training, it's just beyond me. But I knew from a long time from before that, that that wasn't where I would go with it. I was surprised I could do it in PT school,

like that little thing. But I was like, okay, that's enough. Cool. Before we get into plastic surgery, I would love for you to tell us some granular things that surgeons go through that we don't know. Like give us a couple of examples. Oh my God.

Like what they go through. First of all, the fact that they can make it through the residency is just to me, mind blowing. And what these people get paid, like to be a resident, 30, 40,000. And then you're looking at like other people and other aspects of like, let's say like finance. They're making, coming out of the gates,

they're making- Couple hundred. Yeah, couple hundred or some, you know, brilliant ones are making like a high six figures. And these guys are working like 18 hours a day, more than that, sometimes 20. I mean, I had friends that I would watch them on shifts and I'm like, did you sleep this week?

You know, we want to make sure you slept just because they live in the hospital. They're dedicated. They're dedicated to their patients. I don't think people realize that for most surgeons, their patients and their life, that life comes before everything else. So you don't see the wife sitting at home that may have just threw them a birthday party and they left an hour before a hundred guests are showing up to go do surgery. You what i mean like that is their life and that's why they have this calling for it what's the gnarliest surgery just really quick like if you if you because i feel like you've seen it all what's so crazy to me is orthopedic surgery i mean if you've ever yeah

if you've ever sat in on an orthopedic surgery like a foot like like a knee or like okay these guys have like the tools that go up there There's like mallets and hammers. Yes. So I sat in during some of my, like in my schooling and I'm observing some of the surgeon. I have a couple of uncles that are orthopedic surgeons and I would sit in on their surgeries and they have like, they're up on the table. It's because the bones are so big or what? Yeah.

Yeah. And the bones are really strong and they're sitting there and they're like hammering and they're getting this stuff in. And I'm looking at them like, how is that like just not shattering? Maybe I don't want to know all this. Honest to God, and I tell my husband this all the time.

I was like, if the common person knew like what goes on behind the doors, they would just be, it's mind blowing. That's why they filmed like reality shows in hospitals and things like that. Because it's just why Grey's Anatomy is like a lifelong, just huge sensation. Because it's so wild. This is real life.

I was listening to a guy talk about getting a knee surgery. And he said he didn't want to know about a lot that went into it before. Because now that he knows after he did, he said if he knew before, he would have chickened out. Who wants to know anything? I don't want to know. And he says he got like wheeled in and he sees like the mallet and the hammer

and the saw just crazy. The saw, the crazy thing. And he's like, whoa. It's weird too because when you get plastic surgery and obviously you know this better than anyone

when I like walked in the room. It's weird. That was such a weird moment for me when I got my boobs done the second time. I like walked in the room and laid myself on the table and it was like eerie.

It was creepy. I almost wanted him to like put me out and then wheel me in to get on the bed and like, oh, okay. We had a plastic surgeon on, like Michael said earlier this week and she had worked in trauma care and then she switched to plastic surgery. And I asked her, I said- Similarities, a she had worked in trauma care, and then she switched to plastic

surgery. And I asked her, I said, similarities, a lot of similarities. Yeah. I said, you know, how does it feel to see people who actually need you and have gone through this trauma versus people who are doing it electively? So I would like to know what your transition of seeing people that have I mean limbs missing and then going to someone who is complaining about their nose job not looking perfect what is that does it feel vapid it doesn't feel vapid I imagine that maybe if you hadn't done both you might have some guilt that you what you're doing is not you know in depth that what you're doing is not, you know, in depth enough. What you're doing is not nitty. I think for me, I really never had that guilt because I did it for so long where I was in the impatient setting. I was giving my life to these people. I mean, to the point where some

days it really affected my personal and private life. How long do you think you could, if you weren't able to transition, how long in your career do you think you could work? I felt after the 15 year mark, I was kind of getting done. And I think it was also that I was getting done because I was entering a new phase in my life where I was getting married and looking to start a family.

And the problem is you don't just check it at the door. You take it home with you. You got to carry that stuff around, right? Yeah. And I think I was the most carefree young person, like carefree, like, oh, you want to jump out of a plane? Sure. You want to go do this? Sure. And I think the job changed me because it definitely increased some neurosis in me. And I decided after a while, I didn't want it to change me as a person and life guided me in this direction. Like this, how I got into this was completely by accident.

It was not my plan. It's like I said, it's ironic because it makes sense for me, just kind of like the person I was. Like I said, I was the Elle Woods of PT school. So all my friends who knew me back then, especially like my classmates, they were like, of course, this is what you're doing. You know, but it like that you went in this direction,

but I didn't look for it. So I think that I just had that calling for that intensity early on in my career. And I gave 5,000%. Like I would give to my patients, I would stay late if I needed to. You know, I just, I took them home with me every night and I thought about them.

And then I would think about what my treatment was going to be for the next day for them. And if I didn't feel like the session went so well, not physically, but like inspiring, like they were extremely emotional throughout. I was like, how can I make this better? Maybe I need to bring in some social workers. Maybe I need to bring in someone else.

Or like for some people, just the comfort of having a priest present that they felt that like spiritual connection, you know, and for other people was the smallest thing. Like I would put on their favorite music just to calm them or just inspire them. You know, I mean, so many times we're sitting there like rocking out to Britney Spears or, you know, whatever, whatever people liked to just sort of make it feel like not torture. And so for me, I did it as long as I felt that I could give my 500% and that I felt that I was still giving everything I had to my patients. And when it was time for me

to walk away from doing that permanently, I still see patients on that level. I'm not only exclusively doing plastic surgery, but I'm not doing it like I was on the regular. Okay. When I got pregnant, I got really weird about smells. I feel like anyone who has been pregnant can relate to this. And I couldn't handle super strong chemicals. Everything needed to be like as natural as possible. And luckily for my household cleaner, I had Grove Collaborative. You can go on there and you can get so many different products that are clean. They even have tree-free toilet paper, 100% bamboo. That is right. I found out that even wiping down there with typical toilet paper contains tons of chemicals. I learned all about it. They have all about it.

They have all different kinds of things from laundry detergent to dish detergent to even 100% recycled plastic trash bags. So they have all these different things to really make your home a clean home. That was one of the things that I really wanted to get under control. Like I said, when I got pregnant, they have concentrated cleaners and refillable glass bottles. So they're friendlier to the planet and they're twice as effective as the leading natural brands. I've switched all my brands out. Even in Zaza's room, we're only using safe formulas. And another thing that is so crazy is we have little dogs. We have chihuahuas that are so close to the ground. So we even switched out like our floor cleaner because we felt like the dogs were just breathing in all these nasty formulas.

So now everything is clean in the house. I feel so much better about it and I can breathe and nothing smells. Join over 2 million households already shopping sustainably at Grove. You're gonna go to grove.com slash skinny today to get a free gift set worth up to $50 with your first order.

I have used my own code, you guys. Plus shipping is fast and free. gift set worth up to $50 with your first order. I have used my own code, you guys. Plus, shipping is fast and free. Get started right now at grove.com slash skinny. That's grove.com slash skinny. I'm telling you, there's lots of different sections to shop. You can shop personal care, babies, kids, pets, clean beauty, but I am a huge fan of the household. Go check it out. When you said it affects your relationship, I can't imagine doing what you do, what a surgeon does, and then going home and having your husband bitch about, you know, the pretzels that don't have salt on them. They're unsalted. Yeah, he never really got it that bad. That's a true story.

You once bitched at me because the pretzels were unsalted. Where it got crazy was when we were dating and I would be telling him stories. We'd go to dinner and, you know, I could just see his face change because I would be talking about like, you're eating pizza and you're like, and then I was cutting into a cadaver. And he's like, or I would be talking about this like really amazing kid that I was working with. And I was just getting like a little sad because I was like, yeah, like the tumor, you know, they weren't really able to like get rid of the cancer completely. And his prognosis is now two months, but I would like have like stories and tell them like what we did that day

and just like how amazing this kid was. And, you know, sometimes their parents would come in and like take pictures or videos like we never would, but they would like send it to us. And, you know, sometimes their parents would come in and like take pictures or videos like we never would, but they would like send it to us. And I would like show my husband a video and like look at what this mom just sent me. And he'd be like sitting there

like tearing up at dinner. And I'm like, I'm sorry. Like I, like we're supposed to be on a date and this is supposed to be fun. My bad. And then like a week later,

he would just like out of nowhere be, so how'd that kid doing? I was like, oh yeah, we forgot about, yeah, I'm sorry. It's hard to hear those.

I mean, even like sitting here just listening to it, it's like, especially you start to, especially when you hear like in young people, right? Yeah. So especially young people, older people, just the stories are wilder. Even to your point, like I would go to dinner, like let's say I was like a lot younger, you know, and we were all just out of college and my friends got these really fun jobs. They were excited about, you know, my one friend working in fashion had a really great job, but we'd all go out to dinner and she would say something like, oh my God, like today was so rough. Like the accessories order didn't come in or something.

And I'm like, really? Your day was rough? My like 17 year old patient died, you know, but you don't want to be that guy. So So, you know, no one wants that friend around. So I kind of had to learn to like check it and just be like, realize that you can't bring it with you in life if this is what you're going to do. You have to kind of just compartmentalize. Major respect.

Yeah. Oh, well, thank you. Appreciate it. And you just, you don't know how you get places sometimes. I'll tell you that's the truth. Like I just kind of always went with it day by day of what inspired me. And I was like, hmm.

I interviewed at 44 places when I came out of PT school. My dad's like, you want to pick one? You want to pick a job? We're waiting. You know what I mean? Why did you interview so many places? I was not like a lot of my classmates who knew what they wanted to do. You weren't like a lot of your classmates wearing white to dissect a dead body. No, exactly. White Louboutins. I didn't know what I wanted to do.

So it's funny because I was like a huge sports fan. I, you know, originally I got into this and I'm like, I'm going to work for the Yankees and I'm going to be Derek Jeter's like personal PT. You know, my parents are like, yep, that, yep. That's who they're going to hire you, Nicole. And I'm like, no. Okay. So I kind of had to go through the motions and walk into each place and just get a feeling and a vibe. And personally, when I walked into Cornell, I was like, this is it. In five minutes, I knew I wanted to work there. And it took months for them to hire me because they were on a hiring freeze at that time. But I just waited it out. And I just kept, I don't know, just like,

you know, with anything in life, some people say that they have that when they meet their significant other, they just have this like feeling. And that's how I felt about working there and who knew how long I would be there and what a major role played in my life. And I still attribute it to this day

that I would have never been in this world of plastic surgery if I hadn't had all that experience that I learned there. Because at a place like that, it's one of the best hospitals in the world. You get such experience and you see so many things that you can't really see other places, you know, because they're flying people in. You have the best of the best doctors.

You have the most cutting edge technology, the most cutting edge treatments. But in other places, people are like, you're doing what? No, you know, we started protocols where we were walking patients right out of a coma on ventilators. You know what I mean?

So they're vented. They have tubes down their throat and we're getting them out of bed, sitting in chairs and walking them. Maybe in like somewhere in the middle of America in a rural place where they don't have that experience, they'd be like, don't you dare. So if anyone gets sick, we're going to Cornell. in chairs and walking them. Maybe in like somewhere in the middle of America in a rural place where

they don't have that experience, they'd be like, don't you dare. So if anyone gets sick, we're going to Cornell. So now you're in plastic surgery. Yeah. I want you to tell us all about your method and how you created this and how you came up with it. Yeah. So like I've been saying all along, it was completely by accident. The year was 2009 and I was working in this trauma rehab, doing, you know, reconstructive plastic surgery, helping people recover. And at that time I was like super into fitness, working out three, four days a week, you know, Pilates, yoga, cardio, the whole thing. And I just was really frustrated because I felt like I had this like ring of fat around my midsection that no matter what I dieted,

I couldn't get rid of it. And so, you know, when I was like losing weight, trying to get this area, my friends were like, oh, your face is looking too skinny or stuff. I'm like, well, I, it's the only way I can get rid of this. So everything I was wearing were like these baby doll tops, which is not really what I wanted. So I started to research and I said, what can I do? And then I started researching the best plastic surgeons in New York. And I came across this doctor, Dr. David Schaefer, and he was doing what was more cutting edge back then, which was laser liposuction. And so I went and I met with him. I was completely impressed by him. He's just a brilliant surgeon, knows his surgery well, and he was just

giving me all the pros of laser lipo. And he basically said to me, you're a perfect candidate. You're in great health. You're not a smoker, you know, drinking socially. I'm not like an alcoholic or anything like that, which could impact surgery. I was not. And he said, you work out. He goes, this is, you're the perfect candidate. You just have genetically this, this one area. And so I said, awesome. Well, you know, what are the risks? What are the benefits? What do I have to do? And it's funny because I mean, literally, this is what I did for a living where I'm helping people recover after surgery. And here I am recovering, knowing this, did not know what I was in for, for my recovery. I don't know why I had like this different perspective on it. I only took a Friday and a Monday off for more.

Do you think it's because you knew so much about it that you thought I know all? I think it was because I also saw the worst of the worst. And I saw reconstructive that I thought this is cosmetic. This is, this is elective. This can't be that bad. This can't be what other people go through. So I took a Friday and a Monday off and I figured that's plenty of time. Meanwhile, I have a Friday and a Monday off and I figured that's plenty of time meanwhile I have a very

physical job so the craziest part is I didn't even tell my family I was doing this I just had one of my girlfriends like come with me I went came back dropped me off and I literally looked like one of my trauma patients I'm huge I'm swollen because I made some mistakes before surgery which I will talk about yeah when you back, I want to talk about mistakes people make going in. Yeah. But sorry. So no, that's okay. That's a really common question I get.

So I learned on myself. I made mistakes going into surgery. Also, I just didn't wrap my head around it. I was alone in my apartment in New York. I'm swollen. I'm bruised. I couldn't even get out of bed on my own because they did my abdomen and nobody knew. So of course I call my parents and I'm like, um, hi, they're in Jersey. They're like five minutes away.

And they're like, what? I was like, so I had, I had plastic surgery. My dad's like, literally like, this is why I have no hair. He's like, it's because of you. I was like, that's fair. So fair. I was like, that's fair. Um, so he, they came and they picked me up and they had to like help me through this recovery where they're helping me get on and off the me up and they had to like help me through this recovery where they're helping me get on and off the couch helping me walk to the bathroom so I'm sitting there like a few hours into being home and all of a sudden like just like the light bulb went off and I had this aha and I said what did I do and of course I look like one of my trauma patients I gotta start I gotta I gotta get into PT right now. So I flipped my brain and I started working on myself,

doing a combination of lymphatic massage, decongestive exercises, icing, wrapping my body, getting garments, putting the right garments on. Because mind you, this was 2009. The doctor did recommend a garment. It wasn't as knowledgeable back then as to what we know now. I even had to wear a garment for my boob job. They're so gnarly about the garment. Now you're right. Oh, garments now are everything. So we'll go into like, I'll go into it a little bit,

like what we're doing now versus what we did back then. So I kind of switched on my brain and I'm like, what do I have to do? And through trial and error of certain things, one of the things that became a staple of my method of recovery is switching to a low sodium diet. I learned super the hard way. You know, I was like, oh my God, I'm sick. So let me eat some soup. And my mom's making me soup.

And as I'm sitting there eating it, I'm literally, I could feel my garments getting tighter. My everything started to swell. And she's like, what's happening to you? And I was like, oh, I think it's the soup. And then, so I started to do all these things. And long story short, what's happening to you? And I was like, oh, I think it's the soup. And then, so I started to do all these things and long story short, I went back to my doctor a week later after I worked on myself and he almost like passed out. He said, you look like my patients a few months out. What did you do? Wow. So he said, so I said to him, well, I did

this, this, this, this, this, whatever. And he said, listen, Nicole, I mean, I don't know. He said, why don't you, if you ever want to give my patients advice, why don't, whatever. And he said, listen, Nicole, I mean, I don't know. He said, why don't you, if you ever want to give my patients advice, why don't, maybe I can refer them to you and you give them advice. And I said, listen, I don't know. There's no physical therapy in cosmetic plastic surgery. And really he's such a like forward thinker, this Dr. Schaefer.

He had the context of what you did before though too, yeah? Oh yeah, he knew what I was doing. Yeah, he knew that I was a physical therapist. He knew my job. He knew. He knew the whole background. Yeah, I mean, he knew what I was doing. He knew that I was a physical therapist. He knew my job. He knew the whole background. He knew even people I worked with. He knew that I knew what I was doing in my field.

You were just a random person. No, no, no. He knew my credentials. He knew who I was. He said, this is wild. You used what you did in physical therapy on yourself. He said, can you teach my patients? That really sparked a referral service between him and I. I said to him,

listen, there's no physical therapy in cosmetic plastic surgery. And he's so cool like that. He's like, so you be the first. Why don't you try it? He's like, what you're doing is standards of practice. He's like, you're not doing anything that's not safe. He said, you're not doing anything that's not normal. He said, so just try it. You're actually giving people tools that are holistic. It sounds like Eastern, Western, your combination. And you're giving them little tips and tricks that they can't get from their doctor. Correct. And I am going to say something, and you don't have to agree with me if you don't want to. A lot of plastic surgeons, in my opinion, look at a patient as an art project.

They're like sculptors. They get to come in and they like… A lot of them are very brilliant artists. Which is amazing. Amazing. Yes. However, the thing about artists, and I know this because I get like this with my social media when I do it, is once they're done with the art project, they want to move and they're satisfied

with it. They want to move into the next. They don't necessarily, from what I've seen, want to invest in the healing process. That's almost boring. It's like I did the work. You look great. Bye. I am on a clean kick, as you can imagine. Very, very pregnant over here. And when it comes to beauty and skin products, I'm very, very purposeful and thoughtful about what I'm putting on my face. One thing that I've used my entire pregnancy every single morning without fail is Osea mist. Okay. Osea is organic, 100% natural. And honestly, I'm telling you this mist wakes you up. It's like a vitamin mist. I like the green one and the red one. I like both of them. There's vitamins in it, antioxidants. I spray it on my face first thing when I wake up. And then if I had to pick another product by them,

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Use code PINKSEAWEED. So I'm going to respond to that. And here's what I'm going to say about that. And this is actually one of the things that I speak about all the time. This is one of the things I defend the most. The field of physical therapy was born and created as that baton handoff after a surgeon and a doctor's done with their

job. I mean, what they do is so intense and what they do is so specific. They really can't equally focus on the post-op and care. That is why we have a field. Our physical therapy began back in the day, treating patients who were recovering after the war and things like that because, you know, they're laying in their beds,

World War I, World War II, they're laying there. They were just, you know, surgery, blowing up, things like that. And the doctor's moving from patient to patient to patient, healing them.

And it was like the nurses and then what became physical therapists that said, okay, we need to like help them rehab now because if they just lay here, they can't get better. And what's really completely ironic and, you know, that's why I'm so passionate about what I've done and what I'm doing is in every other aspect of medicine and surgery, there is some sort of attention on recovery, except cosmetic surgery. Before this,

when I got into it, I was like, this is wild to me. There's no baton handoff. There was zero baton handoff. And I sort of feel that it's us, physical therapists, that should get that baton handoff.

Because we do that with every other aspect of surgery. I literally... Well, it's the patients too, right? But it's almost that people, that it's like plastic surgery is deemed elective and quote unquote vapid, that they're like, oh, they don't deserve to have a recovery.

Well, unless you're super rich and you can stay at a recovery center. And you know, that's what I've been speaking about. And that's why I wrote this book. And that's what I've been doing for the last like 11, 12 years that I've been in this. I want to change people's mindsets because it's not fair. You know, when we take our oath, we take our oath that we're going to treat people without discrimination based on religion, race,

you know, anything like that. So why should we do that with plastic surgery? Just because it's cosmetic. You know, a lot of the people that I work with, they're not vapid, terrible people. They're wonderful. Like they are just people. I just want to improve themselves in some sort of way. You know, like you go to the gym, you eat healthy. They just want to make themselves the best they could be. Sure. Do we have the outliers of the people who take plastic surgery way too extreme? And, and you know, that that's a whole different topic of like body dysmorphia and things like that. But just because you're doing this and you want to improve on yourself, why are, why are we terrible people? Why do we have fingers pointed at? Because I'll say this,

and I've said this to my colleagues. Do I sit there and point the finger about the guy who smoked two packs a day for 30 years and he just got his lung cut out and I'm having to drag his butt around? Drop the mic. Yeah. You are so right.

Do I judge him? And I never, we don't. We don't. Because we're the person that, you know, maybe had trauma in their life and they turned to like alcohol or drugs. And we're sitting there rehabbing them and physically rehabbing them in the hospital

because these are like my common everyday patients I saw. And I, with zero judgment, with zero, you know, hi, Mr. Smith, like, I'm just making up a name. You know, I'm here, I'm your physical therapist and I'm here to help you. Not worrying about how they got there. You are such an outlier because what you're doing is you are going to normalize and help normalize

the taboo-ness of plastic surgery and afterwards. And I totally agree with you. You don't judge other patients on how they got to where they are. Why are we so judgmental of people who maybe just want to better an area of their life? Well, here's a topic that comes on this show. It comes up a lot. And it's a question that gets asked by the audience a lot. It's like, where does confidence come from? How do you develop confidence? I think that's a multifaceted question and answer, right? But with elective surgery,

I've seen people that I know, and we all know in our personal life, that does something electively. And I'm not talking about the outliers, like you said, that's like body dysmorphia, and that's a different conversation. But I'm not talking about the outliers, like you said, that's like body dysmorphia. And that's a different conversation. But somebody that maybe they get a nose job or they get a boob job or they get lipo or they get something that's an adjustment. And what it does for their confidence after is life changing. What happened to me? Yeah, like the aesthetic is one thing.

No, not just that. I had my nose fixed when I was 16. And I actually, I mean, if I showed you my pictures of my before and after, I always had the same face, like what I have right now. I looked that way for my whole life. And then I was very into sports. I broke my nose four times in a matter of, I think it was a year and a half, two years. And it completely changed my face, like disfigured my face, if you will.

The bone was completely occluding and shutting off one nostril. It was really big and broken. And I went from just people knowing me as Nicole to like overhearing people say things like, I asked the cheerleader with the broken nose. You know what I mean? And so, yeah, she's got like a really big, like I even had people say it to me like, oh my God, like, do you ever think about getting it fixed? People, you know, for whatever reason, we've got this hangup or we did, or maybe it's getting better where people, you know, they don't like when people change themselves, right? Like you were born that way. You have to stay that way.

But if there's something that's not harming others and will boost somebody's confidence, like I'm all for it. And that confidence extrapolates into so many other areas of life that are beneficial, right? Yeah. It changed me. I mean, I became, I started to develop severe social anxiety after that. I've always been extremely outgoing person, talkative. I shut down when I had that broken nose. My parents were like so concerned. My mom would say to me every day, like, what happened to my outgoing, totally jovial, you know, friendly daughter? And that's when they, speaking to some other people, realized,

you know, we'll be helping her if we allow her to get her nose fixed. And my dad was kind of from the perspective of, yeah, whatever she needs medically. But my mom wanted to make sure that it wasn't something that was like too damaging at a young age, that it was a young girl getting this nose job. You know, she didn't want to kind of set that standard for me.

But when she realized that this was going to help my confidence, that it was not necessary, I broke my nose. And that's how I think plastic surgery changed people's lives. Like it really just changes them to what you said, like their confidence and just helps them be who they want to be. Yeah. I think people like immediately, not people, but a lot of people go to this, like, hey, it's this vapid, this egotistical thing. It's all about aesthetics. But if it's, if you go deeper than that, like, hey, this is going to change someone's life because it's going to be a little more confidence. And

maybe they're going to, you know, get a better job or have better conversations or attract the right person in their life or feel more confident in their group of friends and create new opportunities. You kind of got to go beneath just the surface. I discuss that in my book. I talk about who's an ideal candidate and who's a poor candidate. All those specifics, people who went through something, they're in good mental space, but they're just looking to self-improve. All of that are ideal candidates.

On the flip side, I've had to encounter a lot of people who are very poor candidates for plastic surgery, and maybe they're not going into it for the right reasons. And I can think of some stories right off the top of my head. For example, if you're someone who just went through a divorce

or you just had a spouse cheat on you, I literally have had a couple of people call me before they even called their divorce attorney. I had one woman, she was like in her late 40s, beautiful woman, successful, beautiful, nothing wrong with her, like educated, nice person. But her husband had an affair with a 23-year-old secretary and left her out of nowhere.

And she literally was calling me. She saw my Instagram and she wanted my advice before she even called her lawyer. I want to get my nose job, my boob job, this and that. And I said, whoa, you have to do me a favor. I'm going to need for you to just take a breath. Do what you need to do right now in your life. Get your get your life in order in the sense that figure out what you're doing with your husband, figure out what you're doing with your life, if you're staying with him, if you're leaving him. But I need you to work on that and not call a plastic surgeon for one year. I said, because the question I asked her, were you happy with yourself yesterday before you knew this? And she said, yes.

I said, did your nose bother you? Did your boobs bother you yesterday? No. Okay, then that's your answer. This is something traumatizing. Then that's your answer. This is something traumatizing. It's, it's affected your ego. So you're looking for the quick fix. And those are people that I say, no, that's, I wouldn't recommend it. What are some other, you mentioned it earlier, things that you see with people who have body dysmorphia? We've all seen someone go way too far with the plastic surgery. What's that look like? I have to tell you, on a small level, a lot of people suffer from body dysmorphia post-surgery, and it's on a very small scale because the brain needs time to catch up from what just happened to

their body. Maybe this was the body that they were used to looking at in the mirror every day for years. Maybe their whole life. You know, they might've had a specific body shape. Like let's say like an apple shaped body. I had this. I had an identity crisis. An actual real identity crisis. I got mastiofacial jaw surgery.

Yes, I had seen you posting about that. Which is different than plastic surgery, but it still was something that changed the way that I looked in the mirror at myself. Yeah. And I was fucked up for two years. And I've talked about that a lot. Like I couldn't be on camera.

I would look in the mirror and not recognize myself. I look back on that and I truly had an identity crisis. So to answer your point, it's more common than people think. When people think of body dysmorphia and plastic surgery, they think of the extremes. They think of like the cat lady or these people that have the lips out tears that are so big that they burst. It's not. It's not the case. And that's why I put it in the book, signs for it and what to look out for it. Because a lot of

people who go through plastic surgery go through it on some degree. It could be very small. It happens to a lot of people right after surgery where they're either swollen and they think they're huge, they think they're fat, or once the swelling comes down and once they are starting to look different, they don't see the change. So what I started doing for my patients over the years, because they literally couldn't see it, was I would start taking pictures of them on a regular basis. Look at your progress, look at your recovery. And it was only those objective looking at those pictures that they could start to see it somehow. Wow. You know what you should do? You should have your patients do the app one second a day. So you take a video or a picture of yourself one second every day. It alerts you. I

did this like with my daughter to watch her grow. And then they can go back and they can actually see the one second of the day. That's genius because in that way, it will show their progress without them realizing it because it really is so common. It's just something that happens. Now, when it gets to a severe body dysmorphia, that's on a different level. You know, when it gets to a level where maybe things aren't okay and they need to like talk to someone who specializes in this, there's a lot of psychologists, therapists that can help people. What does that look like when you say severe? What's the differences?

Those are the people that really, truly, like, let's say they get breast implants. Okay. My breasts are small. They're small. I need bigger ones. And then they're plastic surgery, doctor jumping, and they're getting bigger ones and bigger ones and bigger ones. And it's, it's going to a point where it's like, where is this going? And they don't see it. They don't see that their body has changed. They don't see it. And it becomes a psychological obsession. It becomes unhealthy. A lot of times, sometimes it interferes with personal life, interferes with work. And it's on a level that maybe a regular clinician can't help that they need to see someone who deals with body dysmorphia, rehab if you will. Let's say, hypothetically, I'm getting a mommy makeover. Let's say I'm done having kids. I'm

going to get a mommy makeover. What is your I'm done having kids. I'm going to get a mommy makeover. What is your method? Like, what are the tools that you're giving me? Let's say I'm doing like a whole package and you're like, here's my method. Here's what I have to do. What does it look like? Okay. So we'll start from beginning to end

and let me know if, you know, at any point you're like, okay, you want to know about something specifically. But recovery from a mommy makeover, recovery from any surgery begins with the preparation. Preparation is the best key to recovery. And we believe that with any surgery. So what you're going to basically do is start to prep your home. It's going to start with picking a good plastic surgeon. You're going to make sure the surgeon is reputable, that they are board certified.

You're not picking someone based on the cheapest deal. Remember, what you pay for in plastic surgery is what you're getting. So if you got the guy who's doing it for $299 and everyone else

is doing it for $20,000, you got to be like, hmm, wait a minute. It's like people that pick a cheap tattoo artist. Yeah. Can't do it. Yeah, it's permanent.

I mean, maybe with... Maybe with technology, not so much, but... Yeah. But yeah. But plastic surgery is permanent and people need to realize that it's not the one maybe with maybe with technology not so much but yeah but plastic surgery is permanent and people need to realize that it's not

the one area I have a friend that went and got eye surgery and he picked a cheap and you see he's triple now yeah that's a true story

and I look at that guy and I'm like why would you do that yeah meanwhile you'll spend how much $150,000 on a car but

in his case that's actually that's still true I'm like you can't even see now you're driving down the road, crashing all over the place. Yeah. You like, yeah, I've seen that so many times where people spend so much money on clothes, so much money on whatever their house, but they go so cheap on plastic surgery. And I'm like,

why? And the other thing that I usually recommend is, and I'm not going to belittle plastic surgery in other countries. My advice I give, because I speak to people all over the world, my advice is stay in your own country because you're protected by the laws of, like, for example, if you're here in the United States, there's a lot of people who want to go down to Brazil or go down to Dominican Republic. Do not do that.

Because if something goes wrong, who's protecting you? Like here, you're protected under the laws of the United States, the health codes. You know, there's the Department of Health and things, regulations that they have to adhere to. So just... You go somewhere else and something goes astray. What are you going to do? You don't even have health insurance. Like what if you have to go and emergently be admitted into a hospital?

So you might have gone there to save some money and it's going to cost you 10 times more. Also, I tell people it's really, you shouldn't be traveling right after surgery. That's how you increase chances for a blood clot and things like that. So getting on a plane right after surgery is a no-no. People do take that risk all the time. I like to give people conservative treatment because I want them to heal the best. So, okay. So step one, you're picking a good doctor. That's your step one. Step two, you've decided surgery is the right thing for you. You meet with the doctor. You talk about the pros. You talk about the cons.

You talk about recovery. You talk about how much is this going to cost? How much of my life is going to be taken out? You have to discuss the realities with the surgeon. And so in my book, I discuss all of those questions you should be asking when you're sitting down meeting with the surgeon because you want to make sure that you're making the right choice in your life. You know,

I have some people that are like, oh, you know, I have president's break four days. I'm going to throw in like a facelift. Oh, no, no, you're not. You know what I mean? So you have to think about what's going on in your life and if it's a smart time and if you're able to do it. You know, I've had some women who want to do the mommy makeover and things like that, but maybe they have three small children at home. So I'll have to talk with them and say to them, listen, you have to think about these things. Can you get help right now? You're not picking up right after this big surgery. Who's going to be watching my kids? Yes. Daddy. Because mommy is fucking busy. Okay. She's doing it. Mommy's done her work and her heavy lifting and daddy's

going to watch you. Yeah. And daddy's going to take you to school. Seems like you've thought this through. You didn't know. The children that I have at home, daddy's watching. Why are you going to talk in that evil voice? That's really funny. I like that. So she's thought about it.

I just gave her an idea. So she's thought about it. So her mind's on it. Planned. Okay, what else? So then, okay, so now you're like, okay, that's it. I've planned for it. She's thought about it. Planned. Okay, what else? So now you're like, okay, that's it. I've planned for it. It's booked. I got it. I prepped for it.

So now you start to prep yourself before going into surgery. Here's what you got to do. You got to prep your house, right? You got to have all of your supplies. You can't get this. You can't go to the store, post up like day one. You just came out of surgery. You're like, oh my God, I need the pads to cover, you know, my incisions. Oh my God, I didn't buy my garment ahead of time. Oh my God, I need ice packs. All of this has to be done ahead of time. And I guide

patients on what they need, everything that they need to do and to get before they go into surgery. The other thing that people need to do, they need to consider if setting up help for post-surgery. For example, a lot of these surgeries are very intense. You might have drains, you might have bandages you need to change, and people can't do this on their own. So it's very common nowadays that people hire a nurse for like three, four days. A lot of my patients, especially if they have a busy home life, they just go to a hotel. They go to a hotel and they have a nurse come take care of them 24-7. They leave daddy, the kids, everything. And there's hotels that specialize in this kind of stuff now.

What do you mean? I was in one. Yeah. After my boob job. Remember that? Yeah, I do. That's why I mentioned it. Shout out to Pearl Recovery.

I love them. I love Pearl Recovery. And it's in LA. Yeah. Go ahead. I wish there was more of those around the country. They're now starting to pick up in the major cities, but you also want to make sure

it's an accredited recovery center. You know, sometimes I've heard wild stories and I've had people calling me like, I think I'm just going to like start one out of my house. And I'm like, who are you? Do you like, what's your medical background? I've literally talked people down from doing it because they wanted to just open their house for a recovery center. And I'm like, you need to

have this accredited. You need to have it inspected. You need to have the medical people on staff. People are wild. Wild. But you know, that's what people think about plastic surgery. And that's why I'm here talking about it. People don't think it's real. It's the only surgery that people don't think is real. It's fair because let me tell you this. Do you go buy your appendix surgery with a Groupon, but you can go buy a plastic surgery with a Groupon. So why should people think it's real when they're, I mean, never would you be like getting that new kiddity, you know, on a living social. You're not, you're not. But people go by their lipo or by their breast augmentation. And so mentally it doesn't register that this is real surgery.

So I talk about that. I even even have posted about that on my Instagram. And do you think it doesn't, and sometimes it doesn't even register with the patients and then they get the procedures and they're like, holy shit, I'm actually fucked up here. That's who I mean.

It doesn't register with, it doesn't register with, well, two people, it doesn't register with the people trying to open these recovery centers in their backyard. Also doesn't register with the patients because they don't- To your point, someone's like, I'm going to heal from a facelift in four days. And you're like- Are you? Because they don't understand the realities of it. And that's when I started doing this 12 years ago. And I really knew that people needed this information on a grander level,

not just the people that I was getting in touch with in New York. So, okay. So you want to make sure that you have like a nurse or somebody that can help you, or maybe it's a family member. You know, some people have like their sister come or, but as long as somebody's there to help you, you're going to need some help the first few days. I will be popping an Ashlyn hard seltzer

in the delivery room. Like'm like freaking sneaking them in, okay? I am missing the ginger peach Ashlyn hard seltzer. I had some friends over this weekend and they were all drinking them and I was so jealous. Weston is like the biggest fan. He was having the orange pineapple and the ginger peach. It's so good. You put it over ice like a sprig of basil. And I'm telling you, it's just like the best hard seltzer ever. We actually had the founder on our podcast. It was founded in San Diego in 2020. And it's become the number one selling independent hard seltzer brand in California, which is wild. I personally very much like this brand because it's gluten-free, malt-free, zero carbs, sugar-free, no fat. And the best part, it's 100 calories.

So postpartum, when I'm getting things tightened and toned, this will be one of my go-to drinks. You can also use this seltzer to mix into things. So the founder, Josh, was telling me that you can actually like make an Aperol spritz with this seltzer, which sounds amazing. I'm like salivating at the mouth. I cannot wait to pop an Ashland hard seltzer. Malt-free, no sodium, doesn't bloat you. It's really perfect. Zero carbs. And like I said, 100 calories. I'm very much into this. Make sure you follow Ashland on Instagram. They have tons of cute content. It's at Ashland Hard Seltzer. And you can see all different recipes and ways to use it.

And I'm telling you, check out the ginger peach. You will not be sorry. And I think we should, because I know how people are. I think we should caveat this with, there's probably people out there like, well, this is money. It costs so much money. I think, there's probably people out there like, well, this is money. It costs so much money. I think if in these elective cases,

like, yes, that is what part of what we're saying is like you have to think about all the costs, one, for the procedure and then all the stuff after. And of course, yes, it does require money to do these things, but it's also by choice. And you shouldn't do it in a cheap way. That's mind-blowing to people that they don't realize there's money in the aftercare.

And so they learn that after. And I educate people about that in my book because I always feel an educated patient is a happier, better recovered patient because they just know, they just want the information. So if they have in their mind, I'm going to spend this much on recovery. Listen, you're already spending $20,000, $30,000 on a surgery. What's a little bit more with this, that, and the other? But if they just have their head wrapped around it and they understand, to your point, that it's necessary.

There is going to be money spent. But if you just spend that much money on a surgery, but you're like, I don't have one more dime. I can't pay for that post-op garment. Maybe then you need to hold off and wait so you can pay for it. Here's my thing when it comes to money. And this is a different topic.

I think so many people waste money on things that don't actually provide them any kind of value or service. Let's say handbags, jewelry, things that you don't actually really need. And then they skimp on the things that matter, right? Like, I'm going to go and I'm going to take this vacation with my significant other. It's going to be this great vacation. We're going to stay in a really cheap hotel though so we can can go to an, it's like, no, just spend a little more because this is a time when you're going to always remember, or you're going to go get a surgery, spend a little more for the right care or you're like, you know what I'm saying? In people's defense, and we've experienced this with some of even our friends,

people value different things. Sure. No, of course. But for me, I value my time. Even things like, you know, I look at people in some of the, like, even small things, like the houses they choose to live in and the cars they decide to drive. And it's like, do you really need that super expensive car that nobody cares about to, or could you take that extra money and put it towards? I just don't think people understand the value, to your point, in paying for the recovery or the things that they need in the post-op. They think-

That's my point. Yeah, they think that the post-op. They think- Well, that's my point. Yeah. They think that the money just throwing it at the surgery, they're going to be magically- This is even what I thought. What I'm saying is people- I'm going to be in a bathing suit on Monday. People look at that like I'm throwing money away,

but then they don't look at like I'm buying a stupid handbag or a pair of shoes and I'm throwing that away. It's like, well, those things make me happy. I'm like, yes, but one thing, the values aren't the same. Yeah. Well, what will make them happy is looking good after surgery. And also their time, because if you're doing all the things that you're telling us to do in your book, then it's also going to save them time because they're going to recover quicker. So to your point, to what you just said, absolutely. And this is the

biggest thing that I promote. And I guarantee this to my patients. Like I guarantee this to everyone. If you follow the steps that I am teaching in my book, like I guarantee this to everyone. If you follow the steps that I am teaching in my book, I will be able to speed up your recovery minimum days, weeks, usually on average, it's weeks. Because basically what I'm doing here is like any type of physical therapy from any surgery. So when people ask me, well, how do you say that? And how do you guarantee that? Well, think about it. If you went for an ACL repair, right? Or if you went for hip surgery and you're laying in that bed, if you were to go to physical therapy and do your range of motion, do your exercises, do all the treatments they're going to do, what is that recovery going to look like versus someone who just lays in bed for months

on end? It's going to be weeks, if not months, sped up recovery. This is the same principles of recovering. I'm teaching them how to increase their range of motion, decrease their swelling, decrease their, you know, just there's so many things that I'm doing in here that mimic regular traditional surgery. So they will speed up. They will speed up their recovery if they just do these simple tips. Give us like three tiny little hacks that are quick.

Like for instance, like I did hyperbaric chamber after I did surgery. I felt like that made a big difference. Is there any little tips that you, you would give? My number one is post-op eat low sodium. Number two. You know what I ate after my first boob job? Top ramen oriental style. There you go. What has more sodium in it than top ramen? I got to tell you though, I, of all the surgeries where the low sodium matters, but not as much is breast enhancement because i don't think people care as much if they're a little bigger a little smaller a little bigger it's where it's the most like critical is liposuction and any body sculpting good to know

so like the mommy makeover so a number one my number one tip is low sodium, proper garment wearing. You must live in your garment. Okay. My third one, that was just my miracle maker. I swear I should invest it. I should have stock in Arnica. Arnica, topical and oral, but the cream, it makes such a difference post-recovery. Okay. It just brings down all the swelling and the bruising.

Do your own cute packaging and do Arnica. I know I really should. And do your own garment. Yeah. The garment smells like shit though. Yeah, it does. Because you have to wear it so long. Like I remember my-

So I tell people to get two or three garments. Even like- Yeah, just change them. Mine is under my armpit because the boobs. But wait, so in conjunction with that Arnica, you're going to use that to do lymphatic massage. So lymphatic massage and massage is like the staple for recovery. All different kinds of massage.

We hired a couple of guys that came over with huge fans to get all the smell out of the house. Really? No, we didn't. Oh, I believed you. Are you kidding? I understand. You thought I smelled? That's rude.

Yeah, because it gets all like... Me and like six of my buddies came over and we were fanning the shit out. What about ice? You know how I feel about ice. So I have all these tips, but I'm going to just go back for one second because I'm going to go back to what you're going to do right after you're going to prep.

You're going to go in for surgery day. So, because you asked me how I go through the process. So after you're prepping in the home, you're going to get your ice ready. You're going to get your arnica ready. You're going to get your garments ready.. You're going to get your garments ready. And you're going to have all this for post-surgery. And including in that, I want people to also, to the low-sodium point, prep low-sodium meals.

So that's a huge tip that I give patients. If you prep ahead of time those low-sodium meals, you'll have it ready. You can just pop them right into the microwave or whatever. So now we've moved on to recovery. Back to that point, you're going to eat low sodium. You're going to do lymphatic massage. You're going to use Arnica. You're going to wear your garments. You're going to also do right away decongestive exercises. And I have them in the book. Decongestive exercises are exercises that get the blood flowing, circulation going, and move swelling out of the body. So the biggest mistake I see patients make,

they come out of surgery, they get into bed, they pull the covers up. We don't see them again for over a week. Bad idea. Bad idea. That's how blood clots form. That's how swelling pools in the body. It doesn't move. You get more swollen, increased risk for infection. You got to walk. You got to walk. You have to move. Michael has this new machine that shakes his legs. Have you seen that?

I've seen those. I have those. I use it in regular. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that. That's a different thing. That's how I realign my chi. Oh,

but I think it's your masturbation machine. Sorry. Well, that's a whole different thing. We have a whole, we have a separate machine that masturbates every day. That's a separate house. It's your masturbation machine. Sorry. Well, that's a whole other thing. We have a whole, we have a separate house. He has a machine

that masturbates him every day. That's a separate house. That's a whole other thing. So let me ask you this because it is in the news right now. What do you think the model that came out, Linda Evan,

Evan, Evan Lista? How do you say her last name? Evan Lista. Could have done differently with her cool sculpting recovery or was that just a different situation?

And I'm not going to knock cool sculpting. It's like with anything and with any, no, that's okay. It's what I like when you go off mic and you're like this, but we film everything. So it's like, I don't want to know if she likes it.

I, here's the thing with every procedure. And this is what I also talk about in the book with everything, there's always a risk. So you can talk about regular traditional lipo suction and somebody's like, oh my God, how about that lipo that had that crazy fat that went somewhere else or, you know, their wounds opened up. With CoolSculpting, that is the risk. It is the risk that is associated

with it. Basically, you get these hardened fat deposits that are where the pads are placed on the body and it's just your body's response to it. So it is a cool sculpting side effect. It's kind of like with anything, with any procedure you choose, there are certain risks. Before we go, and Lauren will probably have another one,

but just for my knowledge, and you have to probably be delicate here, but are there procedures that you see commonly that have issues? Meaning, are there certain types of procedures you're like, okay, I see a lot of either issues or complications with these types of things? No, I do not see a certain procedure

that has highest complications. What I teach my patients is, it's what you're doing before and after that increased complications. So some of the complications, I agree with you. People that are drinking heavily before, people that maybe are doing drugs.

I literally had a patient be like, oh, Nicole, I'm so excited for my surgery tomorrow. I'm making sure you're coming on Tuesday. I just blew all these lines, you know, parting. And I was like, okay, so we're going to have to call your doctor and you're going to have to cancel that surgery. They don't realize. So if you do things like that, smokers, people who like, there's other people that like, for example, have maybe active cancer, but that's something to talk about with their doctor. These are people that are going to have higher risk for poor healing. People that are smoking after, people

that A, don't walk enough or go too crazy right after surgery. Like I have patients two days post op, they're like taking a CrossFit class and I'm like, okay, we'll get the hospital bed ready for you because you just had a major surgery. You can't do that. That's too intense. So it's never really a specific surgery. It's common themes of what people are doing that I see that make the surgery worse and make their results worse. And that is why your book is so necessary. I personally am all about preventative care. That's literally what my whole book is about. And it sounds like you're about preventative care as well and literally what my whole book is about. And it sounds like you're about preventative care as well and aftercare, which I think is so important.

And I haven't really touched on all the things that I have patients do in the post-op. Well, they have to read the book. Yeah, they have to read the book. You gotta read the book. They have to read the book. I mean, this book, if I get plastic surgery again, I'm gonna call you.

Yeah. So do you like come to the house and can someone pay you to do this? Or is it? Yeah. So that's what I, that's how this began. That's what I started doing.

So I get hired to come to people's homes or they come to me and basically I'm working on them and helping them recover through the process. Where it got too difficult was trying to reach too many people at once, especially since I'm just in the New York area. So what I've actually been doing a lot more now, and people can contact me on Instagram,

is people will FaceTime me from all over the world. I have patients from all over the world contacting me. I was just yesterday on the phone with Guatemala, with a woman in Guatemala, and I'm able to coach them through it and teach them. And that was the purpose that I felt that in writing this book, I didn't need to physically be there if I'm giving you tips them through it and teach them. And that was the purpose that I felt that in writing this book, I didn't need to physically be there. If I'm giving you tips, you can do this stuff on your own. I could teach you how to do it. So I've been doing a lot of FaceTime, Zoom sessions,

where I'm teaching people how to prep going into it. And then I'll see them post-op. And then I'll walk them through those steps. Okay, now we're going to work on lymphatic massage. Now we're going to work on breaking down scar tissue. Okay, now we're going to work on those lumps and bumps. Okay. Let's work on that scar. So on like the different steps. So people can contact me from anywhere and we could, and I could be a useful tool to them. I have to tell you out of all the people we've ever had on the podcast, this, this method that you have, you

really saw white space and this is very, very smart. There was white space here. I couldn't believe it. I talk to Michael all the time about this. I'm like, I can't believe that these surgeons just like sculpt their art project and then send them on the way. Because that's what they do. It's the same thing like with an orthopedic surgeon. They don't sit there. You don't go to the orthopedic surgeon's office. They're not doing

the exercises with you. You know, that's again, that's what therapists do. Here's something people don't talk about. Like, you know, I can take care of my wife and I'm helpful and all, but also I'm not a caregiver, meaning like I don't really know. And so whenever like,

if she's had something or, you know, and I think this happens to a lot of people in that, you know, their spouse or partner gets a procedure. It's like, you want to help and do what you can, but you might not be equipped. You might actually not know yourself. Right.

So it's like, I would probably be like, do you want the Top Ramen soup? Right. It's the little things that people and honestly. He's like, here's the Himalayan fucking Top Ramen I made you. The saltiest one. Here's some pretzels. Yeah, you don't know.

Yeah, you don't know. But here's the thing to defend all these surgeons. They always say to me, Nicole, we don't know either. This is what you do. This is what you went to school for. This is your specialty. We do what we do. You do you. Let me just send them to you. After the cut, how to prepare for and recover from cosmetic plastic surgery. Nicole, you're incredible. If someone wants to FaceTime you, if any of you guys are planning on getting plastic surgery, how can they contact you? What's your Instagram? Where can they find your book? So they can find, so my book is on Amazon after the cut book or www.afterthecut.com. But if they want to contact me, they can go right to my

Instagram at after the cut book. Basically, if someone's listening to the show today and they contact me through there, if they mentioned that they listened to me on your show, I will give them a 20% off discount on their consultation. So just just they just have to shout out your name and they have to say i heard you on there and i will give them 20 off can i use the 20 off consultation fee after i'm done yeah michael i heard you on my show i'm going away on vacation for three weeks because I don't want to see my wife. I'm changing my whole face so I can escape my wife.

Can we do a giveaway of your book? Signed coffee. Sure. Absolutely. Of course. All you guys have to do is follow Nicole on Instagram and tell us your favorite part of this episode on my latest post at Lauren Bostic.

Check out her book. It's incredible. I'm so about this. Nicole, you are so unique. Thank you. You guys are wonderful. This has been like

so exciting for me to be here because I'm such like a fan of you guys. Thank you. So, and I'm a fan of you both entrepreneurs and you know.

Michael's a huge fan of what you do. Michael loves it so much. I might just, I might go into the knife now just so we can hang out. No, I'm saying that you're a fan because of when I want

to do something. Now you can just pass me off to her. That's hysterical. I enjoyed talking to you. Thank you. This has been so awesome and you guys are amazing.

And I really love your product. I love your product, the ice roller. And I think that from my perspective, that's a home run. So from a PT perspective and helping recovery, I think people should consider getting your ice roller

for any time of post recovery. And they can look at page 278 of my book. Basically, if they follow along with the lymphatic pathways of how you roll the swelling out of the face, if they follow that along with the ice roller, it will help speed it up even more. Next thing you know, there's going to be,

it's going to be your face with that clip and it's going to be a big ad all over the place. Totally. 278, I'm looking at the page. And just so you know, I think I told you this, it was created out of a necessity after surgery. Yeah.

So that's why I have it in the first place. I think what we do goes hand in hand. Yes. Come back anytime. Thank you. Thank you guys so much for having me. This has been awesome. Thank you.

Do you want to win a signed copy of After the Cut? How to prepare for and recover from cosmetic plastic surgery? All you have to do is tell us your favorite part of this episode on my latest Instagram at Lauren Bostic. And make sure you're following at TSC podcast on Instagram. And with that, we'll see you next time. This episode is brought to you by the Match app. How many people are out there scrolling, looking for a hottie to go on a date with?

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