With a passion and expertise for technology and the science behind it, facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jennifer Levine’s expertise encompasses a wide range of research-driven treatments, which she loves tailoring to each of her patients’ needs.
As the...
With a passion and expertise for technology and the science behind it, facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jennifer Levine’s expertise encompasses a wide range of research-driven treatments, which she loves tailoring to each of her patients’ needs.
As the chair of the Emerging Trends & Technologies Committee for the American Academy of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Dr. Levine leads from the forefront of new products and technologies to move aesthetic medicine into the future.
Knowing the face and neck lift is the gold standard for lifting, Dr. Levine isn’t afraid to be honest with patients who need surgery. For the right candidates, she loves to deploy cutting edge non-surgical treatments such as Emface to contour the face, neck and jawline and reduce wrinkles.
Determined to deliver nothing less than the best results possible, Dr. Levine brings everything from regenerative medicine to nutrition for every person she sees.
To learn more about Dr. Jennifer Levine
Follow Dr. Levine on Instagram
ABOUT MEET THE DOCTOR
The purpose of the Meet the Doctor podcast is simple. We want you to get to know your doctor before meeting them in person because you’re making a life changing decision and time is scarce. The more you can learn about who your doctor is before you meet them, the better that first meeting will be.
When you head into an important appointment more informed and better educated, you are able to have a richer, more specific conversation about the procedures and treatments you’re interested in. There’s no substitute for an in-person appointment, but we hope this comes close.
Meet The Doctor is a production of The Axis.
Made with love in Austin, Texas.
Are you a doctor or do you know a doctor who’d like to be on the Meet the Doctor podcast? Book a free 30 minute recording session at meetthedoctorpodcast.com.
With a passion and expertise for technology and the science behind it, facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jennifer Levine’s expertise encompasses a wide range of research-driven treatments, which she loves tailoring to each of her patients’ needs.
As the...
With a passion and expertise for technology and the science behind it, facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jennifer Levine’s expertise encompasses a wide range of research-driven treatments, which she loves tailoring to each of her patients’ needs.
As the chair of the Emerging Trends & Technologies Committee for the American Academy of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Dr. Levine leads from the forefront of new products and technologies to move aesthetic medicine into the future.
Knowing the face and neck lift is the gold standard for lifting, Dr. Levine isn’t afraid to be honest with patients who need surgery. For the right candidates, she loves to deploy cutting edge non-surgical treatments such as Emface to contour the face, neck and jawline and reduce wrinkles.
Determined to deliver nothing less than the best results possible, Dr. Levine brings everything from regenerative medicine to nutrition for every person she sees.
To learn more about Dr. Jennifer Levine
Follow Dr. Levine on Instagram
ABOUT MEET THE DOCTOR
The purpose of the Meet the Doctor podcast is simple. We want you to get to know your doctor before meeting them in person because you’re making a life changing decision and time is scarce. The more you can learn about who your doctor is before you meet them, the better that first meeting will be.
When you head into an important appointment more informed and better educated, you are able to have a richer, more specific conversation about the procedures and treatments you’re interested in. There’s no substitute for an in-person appointment, but we hope this comes close.
Meet The Doctor is a production of The Axis.
Made with love in Austin, Texas.
Are you a doctor or do you know a doctor who’d like to be on the Meet the Doctor podcast? Book a free 30 minute recording session at meetthedoctorpodcast.com.
With a passion and expertise for technology and the science behind it, facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jennifer Levine’s expertise encompasses a wide range of research-driven treatments, which she loves tailoring to each of her patients’ needs.
As the...
With a passion and expertise for technology and the science behind it, facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jennifer Levine’s expertise encompasses a wide range of research-driven treatments, which she loves tailoring to each of her patients’ needs.
As the chair of the Emerging Trends & Technologies Committee for the American Academy of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Dr. Levine leads from the forefront of new products and technologies to move aesthetic medicine into the future.
Knowing the face and neck lift is the gold standard for lifting, Dr. Levine isn’t afraid to be honest with patients who need surgery. For the right candidates, she loves to deploy cutting edge non-surgical treatments such as Emface to contour the face, neck and jawline and reduce wrinkles.
Determined to deliver nothing less than the best results possible, Dr. Levine brings everything from regenerative medicine to nutrition for every person she sees.
To learn more about Dr. Jennifer Levine
Follow Dr. Levine on Instagram
ABOUT MEET THE DOCTOR
The purpose of the Meet the Doctor podcast is simple. We want you to get to know your doctor before meeting them in person because you’re making a life changing decision and time is scarce. The more you can learn about who your doctor is before you meet them, the better that first meeting will be.
When you head into an important appointment more informed and better educated, you are able to have a richer, more specific conversation about the procedures and treatments you’re interested in. There’s no substitute for an in-person appointment, but we hope this comes close.
Meet The Doctor is a production of The Axis.
Made with love in Austin, Texas.
Are you a doctor or do you know a doctor who’d like to be on the Meet the Doctor podcast? Book a free 30 minute recording session at meetthedoctorpodcast.com.
With a passion and expertise for technology and the science behind it, facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jennifer Levine’s expertise encompasses a wide range of research-driven treatments, which she loves tailoring to each of her patients’ needs.
As the...
With a passion and expertise for technology and the science behind it, facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jennifer Levine’s expertise encompasses a wide range of research-driven treatments, which she loves tailoring to each of her patients’ needs.
As the chair of the Emerging Trends & Technologies Committee for the American Academy of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Dr. Levine leads from the forefront of new products and technologies to move aesthetic medicine into the future.
Knowing the face and neck lift is the gold standard for lifting, Dr. Levine isn’t afraid to be honest with patients who need surgery. For the right candidates, she loves to deploy cutting edge non-surgical treatments such as Emface to contour the face, neck and jawline and reduce wrinkles.
Determined to deliver nothing less than the best results possible, Dr. Levine brings everything from regenerative medicine to nutrition for every person she sees.
To learn more about Dr. Jennifer Levine
Follow Dr. Levine on Instagram
ABOUT MEET THE DOCTOR
The purpose of the Meet the Doctor podcast is simple. We want you to get to know your doctor before meeting them in person because you’re making a life changing decision and time is scarce. The more you can learn about who your doctor is before you meet them, the better that first meeting will be.
When you head into an important appointment more informed and better educated, you are able to have a richer, more specific conversation about the procedures and treatments you’re interested in. There’s no substitute for an in-person appointment, but we hope this comes close.
Meet The Doctor is a production of The Axis.
Made with love in Austin, Texas.
Are you a doctor or do you know a doctor who’d like to be on the Meet the Doctor podcast? Book a free 30 minute recording session at meetthedoctorpodcast.com.
With a passion and expertise for technology and the science behind it, facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jennifer Levine’s expertise encompasses a wide range of research-driven treatments, which she loves tailoring to each of her patients’ needs.
As the...
With a passion and expertise for technology and the science behind it, facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jennifer Levine’s expertise encompasses a wide range of research-driven treatments, which she loves tailoring to each of her patients’ needs.
As the chair of the Emerging Trends & Technologies Committee for the American Academy of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Dr. Levine leads from the forefront of new products and technologies to move aesthetic medicine into the future.
Knowing the face and neck lift is the gold standard for lifting, Dr. Levine isn’t afraid to be honest with patients who need surgery. For the right candidates, she loves to deploy cutting edge non-surgical treatments such as Emface to contour the face, neck and jawline and reduce wrinkles.
Determined to deliver nothing less than the best results possible, Dr. Levine brings everything from regenerative medicine to nutrition for every person she sees.
To learn more about Dr. Jennifer Levine
Follow Dr. Levine on Instagram
ABOUT MEET THE DOCTOR
The purpose of the Meet the Doctor podcast is simple. We want you to get to know your doctor before meeting them in person because you’re making a life changing decision and time is scarce. The more you can learn about who your doctor is before you meet them, the better that first meeting will be.
When you head into an important appointment more informed and better educated, you are able to have a richer, more specific conversation about the procedures and treatments you’re interested in. There’s no substitute for an in-person appointment, but we hope this comes close.
Meet The Doctor is a production of The Axis.
Made with love in Austin, Texas.
Are you a doctor or do you know a doctor who’d like to be on the Meet the Doctor podcast? Book a free 30 minute recording session at meetthedoctorpodcast.com.
With a passion and expertise for technology and the science behind it, facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jennifer Levine’s expertise encompasses a wide range of research-driven treatments, which she loves tailoring to each of her patients’ needs.
As the...
With a passion and expertise for technology and the science behind it, facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jennifer Levine’s expertise encompasses a wide range of research-driven treatments, which she loves tailoring to each of her patients’ needs.
As the chair of the Emerging Trends & Technologies Committee for the American Academy of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Dr. Levine leads from the forefront of new products and technologies to move aesthetic medicine into the future.
Knowing the face and neck lift is the gold standard for lifting, Dr. Levine isn’t afraid to be honest with patients who need surgery. For the right candidates, she loves to deploy cutting edge non-surgical treatments such as Emface to contour the face, neck and jawline and reduce wrinkles.
Determined to deliver nothing less than the best results possible, Dr. Levine brings everything from regenerative medicine to nutrition for every person she sees.
To learn more about Dr. Jennifer Levine
Follow Dr. Levine on Instagram
ABOUT MEET THE DOCTOR
The purpose of the Meet the Doctor podcast is simple. We want you to get to know your doctor before meeting them in person because you’re making a life changing decision and time is scarce. The more you can learn about who your doctor is before you meet them, the better that first meeting will be.
When you head into an important appointment more informed and better educated, you are able to have a richer, more specific conversation about the procedures and treatments you’re interested in. There’s no substitute for an in-person appointment, but we hope this comes close.
Meet The Doctor is a production of The Axis.
Made with love in Austin, Texas.
Are you a doctor or do you know a doctor who’d like to be on the Meet the Doctor podcast? Book a free 30 minute recording session at meetthedoctorpodcast.com.
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Eva Sheie (00:03):
The purpose of this podcast is simple. We want you to get to know your doctor before meeting them in person because you're making a life-changing decision and time is scarce. The more you can learn about who your doctor is before you meet them, the better that first meeting will be. There's no substitute for an in-person appointment, but we hope this comes close. I'm your host, Eva Sheie and you're listening to Meet the Doctor. Hello. Today my guest on Meet the Doctor is Facial Plastic Surgeon, Jennifer Levine in New York City. Welcome to the podcast.
Dr. Levine (00:40):
Thank you so much for having me. This is really a lot of fun. I don't usually do this with the microphone and the headphones, so I feel like
Eva Sheie (00:48):
We try to do it right.
Dr. Levine (00:48):
Yes. I feel very fancy.
Eva Sheie (00:52):
Fancy. That's not usually a word that I hear, but I'm glad that it's making you feel official and fancy.
Dr. Levine (01:01):
Yes. For sure.
Eva Sheie (01:02):
Tell us about your practice.
Dr. Levine (01:04):
So I am so lucky. I have a practice on the Upper East side of Manhattan, and I have my very own private operating room. And in addition to doing surgery, I am also the chair of the Emerging Trends and Technology Committee for the American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery. So I really enjoy being at the forefront of both products and technology that really is going to move aesthetics forward. So welcome to the future.
Eva Sheie (01:39):
I'm going to have to maybe do a rapid fire on some of the new technology with you just for fun.
Dr. Levine (01:45):
Yeah, we have a lot of stuff.
Eva Sheie (01:47):
Yeah, there is a lot. It seems like it was quiet for a while and then all of a sudden it exploded again.
Dr. Levine (01:52):
Yes. So there's really a lot of new and interesting technology, and not that I don't love surgery, but sometimes we need to do some of the other stuff too. I know when it's right to do surgery.
Eva Sheie (02:06):
That's so true. Let's start there. I feel like, and I've heard this from a lot of doctors in the past, we used to wait until we absolutely had to have a facelift, and so we would go from looking kind of old to all of a sudden kind of young overnight, I mean at least with a few weeks in between. But the approach has really changed and it's more like, well, why don't you tell me how you think the approach has changed?
Dr. Levine (02:35):
Well, I think what we know from a lot of people is most of the time when people come to my office, they kind of do the universal facelift side, which is they kind of take their fingers and elevate their face. So what most patients really want is lifting. And for a while I think people were seduced by the idea that we could use filler or other techniques to lift, and that really doesn't do it. So if the patient wants lifting, then obviously the gold standard of lifting is a facelift or a neck lift. And a lot of patients, that's what they want. And what we're also seeing is especially with the rise of ozempic and people losing weight, they don't want to be overfilled. And also because they have lost weight rapidly, they have laxity to their tissue. So that is where a surgical facelift or neck lift is really going to play a major role. And the patient may not be 60 years old, they may not be 50 years old. So it's really a patient dependent procedure. But I would say if you're really looking for lifting, then you really need to do surgery.
Eva Sheie (03:45):
I like how you say seduced by filler.
Dr. Levine (03:48):
Well, it is. I mean, who wouldn't want a procedure that's going to produce instant results and doesn't have downtime? It's easy to do, but that's not volume replacement, even though it does create some inflation. If you inflate a balloon, things do rise up. That's really not what most people want. And most people do have some volume loss. We know the fat pads of the face start to change in the mid to late twenties, but we want to just replace the volume that's lost and not kind of use volume to create all of the changes, not the only thing going on.
Eva Sheie (04:27):
How did you see filler kind of going in the wrong direction?
Dr. Levine (04:31):
I think that covid was the big kind of change. So number one, people were all on Zoom. They were looking at themselves all the time. And most of the time if you don't have the camera set up quite right and you don't have ideal lighting, your neck looks horrible on Zoom, your lower face looks horrible on Zoom. So people were noticing that a lot more and they were looking at their faces a lot more. Also, between covid and the vaccine, there were some reports of reactions to filler. So I think the combination of those things really let people rethink how they wanted to look. And now as I said that we have ozempic and people are thinner. They don't really want their face, they don't want to look like a bobblehead doll. They don't want this big puffy face on this little teeny tiny body. So it has to kind of match. So the idea of this overinflation is just not in style anymore, and even the Kardashians have kind of gone away from those fuller looks to a more natural sculpted look.
Eva Sheie (05:37):
I had forgotten completely about the reactions to filler that was from the vaccine. Did you actually see those?
Dr. Levine (05:44):
We don't really see them anymore, I wouldn't say, but people did get scared.
Eva Sheie (05:49):
So were they just saying, I don't want to do any filler right now until we know?
Dr. Levine (05:53):
Yeah, they were saying, I don't want to do filler. What else can I do? What else is there? That's not to say that filler is bad. I love filler, and for a lot of people it's going to look great, but for some patients, more is more and for filler, probably less is more.
Eva Sheie (06:11):
Do you find that people are coming in and asking for their filler to be dissolved or removed? Very often?
Dr. Levine (06:17):
I think in the lips for sure. That's an area that we see like filler migration. Another place would be under eye filler because that area has a very delicate lymphatic supply and it's a challenging area to correct, and often people need to correct the cheek as well as the under eye, and somehow they end up just with these blobs of filler that create this little hammock like effect because if one of the ligaments isn't supported, it just kind of droops and creates that little swaggy thing, which is not attractive. So those would be the areas that I would say primarily I see people want their filler being dissolved, but really I think that what I see is more people looking for alternatives or looking to treat their laxity or their double chin or things in their neck.
Eva Sheie (07:09):
Is there something that you're known for in New York City that people come to you for specifically?
Dr. Levine (07:17):
I think that I do a lot of treatments on the neck, and the neck has always been my favorite area to treat. So whether it's surgically, and now this is hot off the presses, there is, we have Emface and we were lucky enough to be in some of the earlier studies. So Emface Submentum just launched yesterday. So Emface is a treatment that combines electrical stimulation of the facial muscles with radio frequency. But the sub mental applicator does something very, very special in the sense that it helps get rid of fat and also reaches a deeper layer of tissue, which wouldn't even be in a traditional facelift, but in a deep neck lift, and it's able to contour the lower face and neck in a way that's really magical.
Eva Sheie (08:08):
Is this Emface E-M-F-A-C-E?
Dr. Levine (08:11):
Yes.
Eva Sheie (08:12):
So it's in the same family as Emsculpt and
Dr. Levine (08:15):
Yes, correct. So it's by the same company. It's by BTL, but the applicators for the face, there's one for the forehead that targets the frontalis muscle and then one for the cheeks that targets the zygomaticus major minor and rezorus muscles. And these are muscles that elevate the face. Now these applicators do not destroy fat, and they're going to increase the density of the facial muscles. So it's not going to make your face thinner. If anything, it's going to add volume, but more to the cheek. And even though it's contracting the frontalis muscle, it's not doing it in the same way that you would if you were exercising. It's not a skeletal muscle. What it's really doing is it's increasing the myocytes and it increases the density of the muscle. So what that does is it actually shortens the muscle and the envelope around that muscle, and it makes you contract the frontalis less and elevates the eyebrows. So you don't even need to do that as much. So it reduces wrinkles and elevates the brow.
Eva Sheie (09:16):
I feel like I've been under a rock because I had not heard about this at all.
Dr. Levine (09:19):
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what's going on in Austin.
Eva Sheie (09:23):
I know.
Dr. Levine (09:24):
You have to come to the light in New York City.
Eva Sheie (09:27):
Yeah, I mean, I know why I've been under a rock. That's just my life right now, but I will come to New York.
Dr. Levine (09:35):
You have to come. So that's a really great new treatment. But the submentum, to be able to get rid of fat and contour, the lower face is really, really special. So you could go to, I actually have some of my own pictures on Instagram, so you could see some of the results of this treatment. We just posted it yesterday, so it's easy to find.
Eva Sheie (09:58):
I was already there.
Dr. Levine (09:59):
Yeah.
Eva Sheie (09:59):
I'm going to put it on the screen so we can just talk about it a little. Yeah,
Dr. Levine (10:03):
Yeah. So look at that. So look at the improvement in that lower face and jawline from a noninvasive no downtime procedure.
Eva Sheie (10:13):
So you're not taking anything out or putting anything in.
Dr. Levine (10:17):
No, no. So this is used using the cheek applicator and also the submental applicator, but you could see the big improvement in the contour of her lower face. So this is after four treatments, each treatment is 20 minutes, they're spaced one week apart, and there's no downtime, no pain, no bruising. So yeah, it's magic.
Eva Sheie (10:42):
So let me throw an analogy at you and see if it flies, if you can tell me if this is completely stupid, but sometimes when I think my arms look saggy, I'm like, I got to go get back in the gym and build up my biceps and my triceps so that my arms don't look so saggy. Is that kind of the same thinking?
Dr. Levine (11:00):
Yes, but we also have to treat, even if you treat the muscle, you also have to treat if there is fat, you would have to get rid of fat, and you also have to tighten the skin. So this is kind of doing all of those things.
Eva Sheie (11:13):
Wow. Is it affordable?
Dr. Levine (11:17):
It's affordable, yes.
Eva Sheie (11:19):
Yeah, it's not like neck lift surgery.
Dr. Levine (11:22):
No, it's not like surgery, but it's, it's not inexpensive. Depending on where you are in the country, you have to do four of these treatments. So I would say the price for each treatment is going to range between a thousand to $1,500 per treatment. You have to do four of them, at least.
Eva Sheie (11:39):
Have you done this to yourself?
Dr. Levine (11:41):
Of course.
Eva Sheie (11:42):
Of course. What does it feel like?
Dr. Levine (11:45):
So this cheek applicator, you kind of feel some just contractions. You could feel like the muscle contracting. With this one, you feel like a little bit of pressure and some tingling, but it does not hurt. It just feels weird.
Eva Sheie (11:59):
This is amazing.
Dr. Levine (12:02):
So that's hot off the presses. So this is what's really new.
Eva Sheie (12:07):
Okay. So when you say it just came out yesterday, what does that mean? Obviously you've had it for a while.
Dr. Levine (12:12):
That means it officially launched. We've had it, but the company officially launched it because before we had it, but we couldn't talk about it. So now we could talk about it.
Eva Sheie (12:20):
What other secret things do you have over there in the lab?
Dr. Levine (12:23):
Oh, secret, secret things. Well, we're doing a lot of stuff with regenerative medicine, so that's another thing that is a big topic. So we know that there are products that make our body be younger. Unfortunately, aging is a pathological process. It means that things are not going the way that they used to. So our body kind of forgets to make collagen, and the collagen that it makes is not the same as when we're younger, but we know that in order for tissue to really be regenerative, it has to contain all of the components of normal healthy tissue. And collagen alone is not enough to stimulate. So collagen is something that gives firmness to the skin, which we also find in scars. No one wants a bunch of scars. That's not what we want. We want collagen, we want elastin, we want proteoglycans, we want angiogenesis, we want a lot of other things. We're really looking for products that are going to do more than just produce collagen, but produce these other things that really make the tissue look like normal healthy tissue and behave like normal healthy tissue. And that's the criteria that we need to be able to use the concept regenerative. Otherwise, the concept that we're using before that would be making your body produce collagen. But as I said, that's going to give firmness. We don't want just that. That's not enough.
Eva Sheie (13:51):
How do these things work? Are they skincare products? Are they supplements? What are we talking about?
Dr. Levine (13:57):
So there's all different ones. There's all different ones. There are ones like exosomes that could be applied topically. There's obviously supplements that can help, and there's injectable products. And then there's a concept of skin priming, which is really to combine these together to combine the regenerative elements. So there's just a lot of stuff and we're just really scratching the surface of what we can really have our bodies do, but certainly that's what we want. We want to regenerate the tissue and we want to regenerate it on all levels. That's why it's so important to treat the muscle, to treat the fat, to treat the skin, to treat all of the layers because our body is composed of all of these things. So I think we need to do all that. And I think the other thing, I think what we should say is that you need to have in order, if you're going to do regenerative procedures or if you're going to have surgery, your body needs to heal and make collagen and these other things.
(15:00):
So it needs the stuff. It needs materials. So you need to make sure you're eating a healthy diet that has proteins, because protein is what collagen is, so it's not the same thing. So if you drink a collagen shake, your body doesn't absorb it as collagen because collagen is a very big molecule. So once it gets to your gut, it gets broken down into smaller pieces, and then that's how it gets absorbed. So collagen is good and in the sense that it still is a protein, but it doesn't get absorbed as collagen. So as long people who want to do regenerative procedures or want to have surgery, need to make sure that they are eating a healthy diet. The other thing that's important for collagen production would be vitamin C. So people need to make sure that they have this stuff available. Otherwise, your body is kind of out of materials.
(15:49):
Your body's like, yeah, I'm ready to go, but there's nothing to build anything with. So I think assessing a patient's nutritional status, and also if you're going to do any of these devices, also hydration is important. So making sure that you drink enough water, that you have all the trace elements that are needed, those are things that are going to maximize your results and give you your best result possible because obviously this is an investment. It's an investment of time, it's investment of money. So if we're going to do that, if we're going to work together, we have to make sure that we are doing all the things that are going to make this have our best results.
Eva Sheie (16:26):
And like the Emface which you tried on yourself, do you try all these pretty much everything on yourself?
Dr. Levine (16:32):
I wouldn't do anything to a patient without knowing how it was on me.
Eva Sheie (16:37):
So give us a little window into what you use every day or every week. What does that look like?
Dr. Levine (16:41):
Oh my goodness.
Eva Sheie (16:42):
It's a long list.
Dr. Levine (16:44):
So obviously skincare is really important. So I only like to use medical grade skincare, so I do that twice a day. So I like the TNS Advanced plus, right now I'm using a vitamin C or serum from Alastin. And then because it's so, so cold, I am using a SkinCeuticals triple lipid cream for some added moisture, and then I put on an Alastin tinted sunblock, and I use the SkinMedica Neck, Correct, for my neck. So that would be twice a day I'm doing all of that stuff. Then I take Nutrafol every day. So I take four of those vitamins every day. I work out every day.
Eva Sheie (17:29):
What do you like to do at the gym?
Dr. Levine (17:31):
So I go to this gym that's near my, it's called SLT, strength and Lengthen a Tone. It's like a Pilates based class. It's a machine. It's called a megaformer, but it's like a reformer. So it's a series of exercises on that. So it's 50 minutes. So I do that every day.
Eva Sheie (17:49):
I know in New York City, you always get the most amazing new things first, or actually sometimes it's old things repackaged in new packaging and they come back around.
Dr. Levine (18:00):
So this is a really good, really good for your core, really good for balance and just overall strength. And
Eva Sheie (18:09):
Yeah, I was just downtown the other day in Austin and I noticed that we have a Barry's and I was like, oh, look, that finally made it here.
Dr. Levine (18:17):
Yeah.
Eva Sheie (18:18):
Finally made it all the way down.
Dr. Levine (18:18):
Yeah, there's a Barry's that's not far from me either, but I've gotten so used to doing these other classes that I don't know if I could switch to Barry's.
Eva Sheie (18:27):
Yeah, I don't know. These days I just go to the YMCA with my kids.
Dr. Levine (18:32):
I think you just have to do whatever works for you. It's not what you do, it's just doing it regularly. So if that works, then I would stick to that.
Eva Sheie (18:41):
Yes, doing something is always better than not doing it.
Dr. Levine (18:44):
Exactly. Just do anything.
Eva Sheie (18:46):
So what else is on the horizon? Do you have any other sneaks for us?
Dr. Levine (18:50):
I think that's most of the heavy hitters. I mean, the other things are not micro needling or RF with exosomes, there's just a lot of those combining hyper dilute Radiesse with other biostimulatory products for collagen and elastin formation or combining those with microfocus ultrasound, which is whole therapy. It's kind of combining all these procedures together because as I was saying before, now that people are really losing a lot of weight, laxity is a main problem, so getting the skin to contract and get its elasticity back requires a lot of work. So it's a combination of using things like Emsculpt NEO with some biostimulatory fillers with exosomes or other peptides or hyaluronic acids, those types of things kind of altogether.
Eva Sheie (19:43):
You said hyper dilute Radiesse. That's the second time I've heard that this week, and I've never heard it before. What is going on there?
Dr. Levine (19:50):
So Radiesse is a product that is calcium hydroxyapatite. It's a volumizing filler. It has a highest G prime, meaning it gives the biggest lift of any filler that we have. But we know that if we start to dilute the Radiesse with even saline or lidocaine, it has less ability to lift and more of a regenerative potential. So when we use it in a dilute form, it's going to cause the body to produce the collagen, elastin, protia, glycans and angiogenesis, and it does that through direct contact with the fibroblasts, so it's not doing it through an inflammatory response. These particles, which are calcium phosphate particles, which are naturally occurring substances in our body, we have calcium and phosphate, that's like what's in our bones. So it doesn't really cause an inflammatory process, but it reacts directly with the fibroblasts and causes it to produce this collagen and elastin and these other components of the extracellular matrix over time.
Eva Sheie (20:50):
Radiesse was always the sort of go-to for hands when your hands started to look old.
Dr. Levine (20:55):
So yes, we have this meeting that's called Mexis, which is Merz, the company that produces Radiesse. So that was one of my talks was kind of using dilute Radiesse for the hand. I also was lucky enough to go to Brazil, and there's some great protocols for both the abdomen and the butt using the hyper dilute Radiesse. They're amazing. They're published, so anyone could look them up. They're in PRS, plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, amazing protocols from my Brazilian colleagues really showing amazing, amazing results.
Eva Sheie (21:31):
Okay, well, this was supposed to be about you, but we've talked about technology the whole time, so
Dr. Levine (21:36):
That's okay.
Eva Sheie (21:37):
Let's pivot and let's find out a little more about who you are. I know obviously you love technology and the science behind it and you know it inside out and upside down. Give us a little on your training and your background. How'd you end up in New York City? Have you always been there?
Dr. Levine (21:52):
Oh, I was born there, so that made it easy. So I'm originally from Brooklyn, but now Brooklyn is really cool. But when I grew up in Brooklyn, it was not cool. It was kind of like my high school was filled from the characters from My Cousin Vinny, actually, Marissa Tome, we went to the same high school, not at the same time, but the fact that she got an Academy Award for acting like everybody else in my high school is unbelievable to me.
Eva Sheie (22:23):
For being herself.
Dr. Levine (22:24):
For being herself. I'm like, I give you 12 of those people. That's not acting. That's real life. So I grew up in Brooklyn, and then so I went to a very large public high school. There were over 700 people in my graduating class, so it was a big school, and I graduated number one in my class. And I then went to Columbia undergraduate, and then I went to Cornell Medical School, and then I did my training at Manhattan and near my fellowship at NYU. And here we are.
Eva Sheie (22:58):
It's actually pretty unusual to not leave New York when you're in training anyway.
Dr. Levine (23:03):
You know, I really tried. So it's very interesting because I did not learn how to drive when I was in high school because I graduated when I was 16. I wasn't even 16 yet, so I couldn't take driver's ed with everybody else. I was too young, so I kind of missed the boat on the whole driver's ed thing. And then I was in college when I was in medical school, I was like, wow, I'm going to really have to maybe live in another city because residency is a match. You don't get to pick where you're going. They kind of tell you. So I learned how to drive because I was all sure that I was going to be going to a different city, but I matched somehow in New York. So then I did try to go, but now I'm here.
Eva Sheie (23:51):
And so going through medical school, do you remember how many women were in your class versus men?
Dr. Levine (23:56):
Yeah, so it wasn't so bad. So there were 101 people in my medical school class, and I would say it was probably 45, 55, and now it's maybe 55, 45. So there's plenty of women that are being, we're creating doctors, we're training doctors. So now in these residency programs, in surgical residencies, there's just not a lot of women. So when I did my surgical internship, it was me and 20 men, literally, I was the only woman, and there were like 20 men. And I was like, am I in a Twilight Zone episode? And that was really weird. And I had never really, even in medical school, it wasn't like there was not women. So it was very confusing to me and I didn't really realize how it worked. But even now, only 10% of academic chairs are women in medicine and women are just, they're not quoted as much in media articles. If they're quoting surgeons, I'm not talking about dermatologists, dermatology, they do tend to still stick to women, but for surgeons, they maybe talk to women like 30% of the time. They're not on podium as much for surgery. They're not editors of the main journals. So there's a cliff that women kind of fall off after training.
Eva Sheie (25:26):
I wonder who would even want to be an academic chair.
Dr. Levine (25:30):
No, there are people who would, but yeah, but I'm saying why would it be only men?
Eva Sheie (25:36):
Yeah, I don't know. My thought was we do this to, I'm not a doctor, just to be clear, but we're trying to take care of people. And so the further away you get from taking care of people, like doing academic work or administrative work.
Dr. Levine (25:52):
No, I don't think so. I think there's a little bit of a double standard, and that's what women are told to think is that we have to spend our time caring for other people all the time, and that's our main job. And as a result, we can't do this other stuff because it's our responsibility to care for other people, whether it's caring for our patients, caring for our families, caring for our children, we're carrying, a lot of caring is going on there, but I don't think that certainly does make things more convoluted, but there is some sort of glass ceiling that's still,
Eva Sheie (26:31):
Yeah. Were you treated differently when you were the one of the 20 or 21?
Dr. Levine (26:36):
Oh yeah. I was like, what is going on here? I didn't realize that people could be so sexist because when you're in school, you're in a more protected environment where they try to behave appropriately and at least pretend that they're not like that. But especially when I train and there's no recourse as a resident, it's not like you have a union or you have someone to go to say, oh, this isn't fair. I didn't like this. There's no one to talk to. And if you do complain, then you're just a complainer or a problem. So it's just kind of suck it up and do your job.
Eva Sheie (27:21):
But you made it out of there.
Dr. Levine (27:22):
I did. I did. I made it out, one piece.
Eva Sheie (27:26):
What about after training? Where did you land when you were finally out on your own, like, go be a doctor now a Dr. Levine.
Dr. Levine (27:36):
Right. So I was not enamored of being in academic medicine. I could kind of see the writing on the wall that it was going to be a very difficult journey. So also when I was in medical school, C Everett Koop who had been the Surgeon General at the time, had come a couple of times to my medical school. And for some reason, I was always the designated person that got to speak to whoever the guests were or give the speech in front of whatever it was. So I got to spend a couple of, I've met with him a couple of times and got to speak to him about the future of medicine. And at the time they were talking about the Hillary Clinton plan for socialized medicine. And I was like, that is not for me. I'm like, this medical school stuff is really hard and I'm working really hard and I don't want the government, how could the government possibly understand medicine or dictate how I should practice medicine when it was very hard. So I just said, whatever I'm going to do, I am not going to be under the influence of the federal government.
(28:57):
So that's why I went into private practice.
Eva Sheie (29:00):
So you did that right away?
Dr. Levine (29:02):
Yeah.
Eva Sheie (29:03):
Bold.
Dr. Levine (29:04):
Yeah. But because the writing was on the wall, so it was kind of like, pay me now, pay me later. So I'm like, at some point I knew that this was all going to come to a head and everything was going to go not the way I wanted to. So why would I want to wait 20 years and then be like, oh, I don't want to do that. So I decided to just start out that way from the beginning.
Eva Sheie (29:27):
Was someone or anyone in your family entrepreneurial?
Dr. Levine (29:31):
No. I mean, I would say that the only person could be, and I never met her, would be my great grandmother. My father's grandmother was a business person, and she came to this country maybe in 1920, and she set up, it was a candy and tobacco, and then they had sporting goods, and she set up that business
Eva Sheie (29:59):
In Brooklyn.
Dr. Levine (30:00):
In Brooklyn. So she was obviously entrepreneurial, but I never met her. She passed away when I was one years old, so I never met her, but she definitely was a business person, but I didn't meet her. So maybe it's some genetic thing.
Eva Sheie (30:19):
So do you still go over to Brooklyn to visit or you just stay on the
Dr. Levine (30:23):
Oh sure. My parents still live in the same house.
Eva Sheie (30:25):
They do?
Dr. Levine (30:26):
Yeah. Yeah. My sister lives in Park Slope, so I was just there on Friday. So yeah.
Eva Sheie (30:36):
Well, someone's listening today and they want to reach out and potentially either make an appointment and schedule a consultation or just follow you online. Where should they look for you?
Dr. Levine (30:46):
So they should follow us@drjenniferlevine.com or Dr. Jennifer Levine on Instagram. They could DM us or send us a message. And if they want to call us on the phone, it would be (212) 517-9400, and we'd love to hear from anyone or send us a DM, or we love to meet new people.
Eva Sheie (31:09):
We'll make sure we put all those links in the show notes so it's easy to find.
Dr. Levine (31:12):
Thank you.
Eva Sheie (31:13):
Thank you. It was a pleasure getting to know you.
Dr. Levine (31:16):
Yes, it was a pleasure getting to know you too. Thanks for having me.
Eva Sheie (31:22):
If you are considering making an appointment or are on your way to meet this doctor, be sure to let them know you heard them on the Meet the Doctor podcast. Check the show notes for links, including the doctor's website and Instagram to learn more. Are you a doctor or do you know a doctor who'd like to be on the Meet the Doctor podcast? Book your free recording session at Meet the Doctor podcast.com. Meet the Doctor is Made with Love in Austin, Texas and is a production of The Axis T-H-E-A-X-I-S.io.