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Jun 23, 2022Liked by Vickram Pradhan

Hi, not sure if you remember me from good ole DW & SHS days, this is Melinda Choi. Was looking back at some old Facebook photos and thought "gee, whatever happened to that guy?"; anyway, glad I didn't find a mugshot and instead you're writing on topics way above my head. I decided to forgo making real $$ after college and instead read some heavy ass books; now I'm a plastic surgery resident in Miami. Since I'm living in the land of plentiful plastic surgery and medical aesthetics, it doesn't surprise me how fast this sector is growing. Certainly social media is an enormous driver of this (not sure how else we could've convinced young, slim women to make their hips/butts LARGER otherwise...even at the risk of death). The trend cycling is astounding. As residents we receive free injectable products to administer to whomever; kind of a hook 'em early strategy courtesy of Allergan under the guise of "resident education" and learning how to inject their product. The aesthetic/injectable side of a plastic surgery practice is certainly an easy way for plastic surgeons to build their patient roster and also be the first surgeon a patient will speak to if he/she wants an invasive procedure. Any wise plastic surgeon probably won't be spending time injecting all day and instead delegate to a nurse injector/midlevel provider while the surgeon either operates or sees surgical consultations. I've often wondered why someone hasn't branded or franchised this low hanging fruit. The Orange Theory or Soul Cycle of med spas if you will. Looking forward to part 2...

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This is really comprehensive - thanks for writing it!

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