William Bruno, MD - Plastic Surgeon in Beverly Hills, California

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. Welcome. Today's guest on Meet the Doctor is Dr. William Bruno. He's the plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, and I'm so pleased to introduce him to the audience today. Welcome, Dr. Bruno. 

Dr. Bruno (00:44):
Thank you for having me. Happy to be here. 

Eva Sheie (00:46):
Will you just tell us a little bit about yourself? 

Dr. Bruno (00:50):
I'm a a board certified plastic surgeon in the Beverly Hills West Hollywood area. I've been in practice since 2004. I'm in solo practice here and my practice consists, I'd say the majority of it is breast and body procedures such as breast augmentation, breast lifts, breast reductions, tummy tucks, liposuction, mommy makeovers, fat transfer to the buttock. Those are probably the comprised of the com. The majority of my practice. I do some facial surgery, but it's a smaller component of my practice. 

Eva Sheie (01:28):
 Mm-hmm. <affirmative> How do people find you? 

Dr. Bruno (01:31):
I think it, uh, you know, at this point I, I get a fair amount of patient referrals or previous patients having a second or third procedure. I get a fair amount of patients from RealSelf as well as other digital avenues. My marketing company, my website company does some Google ads for certain procedures as well. But I think at this point we're maybe getting a quarter of our patients from referrals. 

Eva Sheie (02:03):
You told us you've been in Beverly Hills since 2006, or was it four? 

Dr. Bruno (02:08):
2004. 

Eva Sheie (02:09):
Almost 20 years then. 

Dr. Bruno (02:11):
Almost, yeah. 

Eva Sheie (02:13):
How have you seen Beverly Hills change over the years? 

Dr. Bruno (02:17):
You know, when I first started out here right outta residency, it was very, very busy in cosmetic surgery. I think due in some part to some of the TV shows at the time, such as Extreme Makeover, DR 9 0 2 10 brought a lot of popularity to plastic surgery. I think with an even stronger economy, at that time, plastic surgery was extremely popular. So when I started in private practice, just the amount of patients and the volume, I would say of patient flow consultations was extraordinarily high. And then after 2008, 2009 sort of financial crisis, things sort of stabilize a little bit. And, um, now I think over the past several years, you know, right post covid, I think things picked up as far as, uh, volume of patients. I think that's probably nationally, not just LA or Beverly Hills. And, um, sort of now has stabilized. It's over the last year and a half where it's sort of steadily busy. We still get a lot of patients coming from outside of the state as well as, you know, Northern California regionally, you know, Nevada, Arizona, probably the bulk of, you know, where my patients are coming from. 

Eva Sheie (03:36):
Do you find that you have a following in like some random state, like lots of people from Iowa come to see me or has that ever happened? <laugh>? 

Dr. Bruno (03:45):
Not necessarily. I, I do find followings in certain pockets within California, for example, within like even the Inland Empire, which is maybe an hour east of Los Angeles proper, as well as some parts of the valley nearby and some parts of Calabasas, which is, you know, maybe 45 minutes north of Los Angeles and coming from referrals or getting into one particular network or maybe it's a, within a Facebook group or something like that. And then starting to see lots of patients being referred in. Yeah, a lot of these mommy groups and, and things of that nature.  

Eva Sheie (04:27):
Mm-hmm. <affirmative> Have you ever been on tv? 

Dr. Bruno (04:30):
Uh, I was on one time back, it was maybe 15 years ago when breast implants got reapproved. I was on the local news asking for my commentary on silicone implants, you know, versus saline I believe was the end of 2006. 

Eva Sheie (04:46):
Do you remember what you said? 

Dr. Bruno (04:48):
I know, I think at the time I, I talked about how people were looking forward to using silicone in a more widespread manner because at the time you could only get silicone if you were on a certain study or a protocol. And I mean, I believe at the time and still do that, the silicone device is superior to saline. It's just that the FDA had restricted it from 92 to 06. So I was sure it was maybe a, a one or two minute interview, but or something to that effect. 

Eva Sheie (05:20):
So you're more of the heads down, maybe the, the quieter, I just wanna take care of my patients type and not so much of the put me on TV type of doctor. 

Dr. Bruno (05:32):
Yeah. Yeah. I haven't really been on, you know, national tv, just that one time, local tv. We produce some content even for Instagram, but it's, it's pretty educational and a lot of it's surgical, so a lot of it gets this, the sensitive sort of, um, screen. I think a lot of patients don't even see it unless they click on it. But yeah, you know, I just try to serve the patients and you know, teach them the importance of board certification and safety, things like that. It's not very, not very flashy at all, but I think, uh, you know, I think when patients are looking for a doctor, some of them don't necessarily want that. Some are drawn to that, like the doctors have hundreds of thousands or million followers, but I, you know, I'm not sure if they're looking for fame or they're looking for talent. 

Eva Sheie (06:25):
Sometimes it's just luck that they were just there at the right time. 

Dr. Bruno (06:28):
Yeah. 

Eva Sheie (06:30):
I see behind you a diploma in another language on the wall, and I'm curious what that is. 

Dr. Bruno (06:37):
Oh, I think it's just Latin. It's my medical school diploma. <laugh>. 

Eva Sheie (06:41):
Oh yeah, <laugh>, yes. You went to medical school in <laugh>

Dr. Bruno (06:44):
 No, in in Philadelphia. 

Eva Sheie (06:47):
<laugh> In Philadelphia where they speak Latin .

Dr. Bruno (06:50):
<laugh>. Yeah, no, a lot of, lot of these, some of the old, the diplomas are like that where it's written in Latin on there. That one happens to be <laugh>. 

Eva Sheie (06:59):
That looks really cool. I know mine is made of actual sheep skin and I had to sign a waiver saying it was okay <laugh> to do it.

Dr. Bruno (07:07):
Oh, wow. Yeah, no, that's, uh, I went to med school in, in Philadelphia, which is now Drexel. The name has changed over the years. 

Eva Sheie (07:17):
Okay. So yes, thank you for letting me go on that tangent. 

Dr. Bruno (07:21):
Sure. 

Eva Sheie (07:23):
So in Beverly Hills, it's not a big town. It's actually rather small. If you counted how many people lived there, I think it's just a few thousand. We already kind of covered whether people come to you from all over. But the other part of that is to be successful in Beverly Hills, you sort of have to super specialize. And I wonder if you have done that at all over the years. Like are you known for one specific thing or a handful of things? 

Dr. Bruno (07:50):
I think my practice has evolved into a lot of, let's say mommy makeovers and aesthetic breast surgery. I guess if I had to say that I get a lot of referrals for people would come to me for in Southern California in, you know, LA proper. You know, it's interesting, a lot of people do associate plastic surgery with Beverly Hills, so some people come to Beverly Hills just because they feel that the best surgeons are here. And there's probably several hundred plastic surgeons here, mostly board certified, some not. And a lot of um, you know, non-core providers, you know, who are doing a lot of aesthetic procedures. But to your question, yeah, I get a lot of rest and body, but tummy tucks, mommy makeovers seem to be the majority of my practice. I don't do, for example, I don't do a lot of facelifts or someone on the facelift. I'm happy to refer them to, uh, several colleagues in the area who do them with regularity. 

Eva Sheie (08:54):
Are you in one of those buildings where there's like 50 plastic surgeons in the building? 

Dr. Bruno (08:59):
<laugh> Well, I'm on Sunset Boulevard in the western edge of West Hollywood, right at the border of Beverly Hills. And in my building there's probably a dozen plastic surgeons. But in the locations where I use the surgery center is like two miles away in Beverly Hills. Yeah, some buildings have 30 or 40 plastic surgeons. And you're right, Beverly Hills is a small town. I think it's only a couple square miles population of maybe 30,000. Yet people will come here from all over the country, if not part other parts of the world seeking, you know, the best treatments. 

Eva Sheie (09:37):
As a internet marketing, what do I even call myself? Person, professional as a person obsessed with internet marketing. <laugh>, I often have noticed when doctors do something different from the pack. And I know that many years ago you decided you were going to post your prices and not straight out, but that if someone filled out this form on your website, they could get your price list. And at one point I even, um, I don't know if you ever knew that I analyzed the data, but I, I looked at the data to help at some point when I was consulting for someone else. And I remember thinking, this is the most brilliant thing I've ever seen. Because you had been building this mailing list over years and years and years and it was so successful. And I don't even know if you know that the data was that impressive, but can you maybe speak to your thoughts on price transparency and why you decided to do that and what the effects were of sharing your price list with patients? 

Dr. Bruno (10:46):
Yeah, I think when I decided to do that, most offices get a lot of inquiries regarding price. It's probably one of the most common questions that a receptionist or a call center will get. And whenever this was, maybe it was, I don't know, eight, nine years ago, I thought it would be fair to post the prices in a way that if someone gave us their email address, phone number, just to capture some data so that we can interact with them, we would give them a list of our most common procedures, a range at least. I think it would also help us with scheduling and booking consultations. If patients thought we were in their price range, great. If we were out of the price range, then no need necessarily to come in for the consultation to waste anyone's time. So with the help of a, you know, website team, we developed a simple sort of a PDF form and we did capture a lot of patient data and it did help with reducing no-shows. 

(11:50)
It just helped take those kind of phone calls off of the front desk's plate so that they did not have to be burdened with the typical question, how much is a breast aug? So they go to the website, they could see the price range and they would know, because you know, whether you're shopping for plastic surgery or a car, or a home, you wanna know the price. And I don't think it should be a big secret where a lot of offices still today in 2023 will say, well, you have to come in for a consultation. We can't give you that over the phone. Which I'm not sure why that is a big secret. So that was part of the reason back then. And I think it's, it's been helpful and I think patients appreciate it and we get so many inquiries through our pricing page is probably one of the, the highest traffic pages where we'll get inquiries from compared to any other page on the website. I mean, patients come to see photos obviously, but I think the pricing page probably performs the best. 

Eva Sheie (12:51):
Do you feel like it has helped build trust between people who are considering you and the, and the people who come through the door? 

Dr. Bruno (12:59):
I think it has. I think they know what to expect. And again, there's always a range in there. Maybe it's, uh, a range as tight as one or 2000 or maybe a, a wider range. Maybe it's five or 10,000 let's say for a mommy makeover. Depending on what someone is interested in a specific type of implant, uh, you know, the time of the surgery might vary other burials. But we're very close in that range and I think people know that. And there's no surprises when someone gets here, you know, they, I'll examine them to make sure that, for example, they are a candidate for a tummy tuck and maybe they need lipo and that was in the range. Do you need lipo or not? And then they get their proposal. So there's no shock, there's no sticker shock, which I think can sometimes happen to patients. And then, then they might lose trust in the practice or maybe they were told something on the phone and they get there and it's not, not the same.

Eva Sheie (13:53):
Yeah. No one wants to feel bait and switched. 

Dr. Bruno (13:57):
Yeah. 

Eva Sheie (13:58):
Along with that price transparency element, what else can your patients expect from you when they come to see you for the first time? 

Dr. Bruno (14:07):
We try to allocate a about an hour to each patient. I try to get a little bit of a story about them personally before we even talk about the plastic surgery part. I think it's important to know, you know, their family life, their professional life, what they do during the consultation. We'll take some photos. I, I've been using Touch MD by the way. I have no affiliation with them, but I've probably used Touch MD for eight or nine years now, which is a software where we'll take photos and we have the ability to draw on these photo show patients where the incisions will be. I think they find it very helpful during the consultation. They can then log into an app, touching the app on their phone. They can sort of revisit the consultation at home or show their spouse or significant other, this is what was talked about during the consultation. 

(15:00)
It helps me too, cuz we're both looking at their photos on the screen and I refer back to them, you know, at the time of surgery. Or some patients come back a year or two later for a second consultation and I have their photos right there. Plus a lot of educational content a touch MD provides on tummy tucks and breast surgery with animations and illustrations and such. So I would like to think patients, it's a nice experience for them. We're a fairly no pressure practice. I tell all my patients to see three plastic surgeons really before making a decision. And um, you know, one other thing, probably over the last couple years, I, I'm sort of a big advocate of really sharing with my patients more about wellness. I myself became vegan about five years ago for health reasons. So I try to share this with patients if they have any interest in, let's say losing weight before surgery or just, you know, living a healthier life. And I know I'm not a primary care doctor, but I can't help but share that with patients. Not, not always in a consultation, but maybe in pre-op or in follow-up meetings. 

Eva Sheie (16:11):
Was there some specific thing that made you decide to try changing your diet like that? 

Dr. Bruno (16:18):
Yeah, it's sort of a routine blood test about five years ago where I discovered I had high cholesterol higher than normal LDL cholesterol, so-called bad cholesterol. And then I was instructed to just take Lipitor at the time. And instead of doing that I did some research on my own and found out that a whole foods plant-based diet, also known as vegan diet, would help decrease my cholesterol naturally and help reverse any heart disease that was there. Or at least halt it, if not in some cases reverse it. So I just, it took me a few months. First I stopped red meat and then after a few months all meat, you know, including dairy and eggs and it was a hard transition for a few months, but now, now I'm quite used to it. And in, in all honesty, living in Los Angeles, they make it easy here as far as the restaurants, there's lots of, uh, vegan restaurants and vegan options that might not be available, other parts of the country. But, so yeah, to answer your question, it was really just for health reasons. I didn't have any symptoms or anything like that. So, you know, I do think it's important for patients to get blood work at least once a year, if not twice a year or quarterly just to look for certain abnormalities like that. 

Eva Sheie (17:41):
Is there anything you miss? 

Dr. Bruno (17:43):
You know, it's, I, I don't miss the steak or the meat as much. I, which I used to eat probably twice a week I miss more of the sweets, which, you know, made with eggs and milk and butter and, and dairy, which a lot of people don't know this, but the sugar and the sweets are just as sort of dangerous to your cardiovascular health as saturated fat from red meat. So I, I learned a lot on my own in the last five years about nutrition, which, you know, most physicians don't learn about. Even in med school, I went to med school in the nineties, we didn't learn about it. And from what I know now, even in the 2020s, med students are still not getting that education, which, which really is a shame. But, you know, I took, I took that onto myself, the, the responsibility of just learning about it and I'm glad that I did. And it's shocking what is still told to patients. Breakfast is the most important meal of day, you know, things of that nature that a lot of deep-rooted myths about food and nutrition that will probably take decades to sort of undo. 

Eva Sheie (18:53):
If ever. 

Dr. Bruno (18:55):
Right. 

Eva Sheie (18:56):
Has that journey with your own nutrition helped you with post-op patients and how you helped them with recovery? 

Dr. Bruno (19:05):
Yes, it has, you know, even in preparation for surgery, you know, I'll tell patients, I think try and eat more plant-based foods decreases the inflammation in your body. It's gonna help you have a faster recovery. Trying to cut out a lot of the processed foods, which you're gonna prolong the inflammation in your body. And you know, it's one thing that have surgical inflammation, which is needed to recover, but you don't have to have the chronic inflammation that I think most Americans have from the highly processed foods in the sort of heavy meat diet that most people are on. And I, you know, I think a certain percentage of patients, they do get it and they appreciate it, but I do understand a lot of them, they don't, I don't wanna say they don't care, but they just want the procedure. They want the tummy tuck to improve their appearance and then they'll move on. But some people hear it and some people will take the advice of, you know, maybe it's, and I'll talk about intermittent fasting and I'll talk about at least making better choices. I don't expect everyone to be vegan, but at least try to eat less red meat, try to eat less sugar, less processed foods. So some people are hearing the message, which is, which is nice. And I do think it's helping them in the recovery. 

Eva Sheie (20:20):
Sometimes we don't hear the message until there's a, a reason that opens our ears like a health scare or a number in a lab. And you know, some people respond to data and other people don't, but yeah, it's really interesting. 

Dr. Bruno (20:36):
Yeah, it's usually a scare. It's usually a relative or a family member had a heart attack and that's the trigger for someone to make a change. Unfortunately, you know, sometimes it's too late cuz the main symptom of heart disease is sudden death usually.  It's not even necessarily, 

Eva Sheie (20:54):
Yeah. That's not a good symptom <laugh>. 

Dr. Bruno (20:56):
No.

Eva Sheie (20:56):
It's a very bad side effect. <laugh>. 

Dr. Bruno (20:59):
Yeah. So I would like to see hopefully in the primary care world, this message getting out there. Not necessarily, people shouldn't be hearing this from the plastic surgeon, but I'm still a physician, so I, I'm happy to, to help educate at least the patients that I come into contact with. 

Eva Sheie (21:21):
What else besides exploring the great vegan restaurants of Los Angeles do you like to do when you're not at work? 

Dr. Bruno (21:30):
I would say like on the weekends I like to play golf, tennis, I like to travel. I'm trying to travel a little bit more now as far as outside of the us. Um, which, you know, prior to the last maybe five or six years, I hadn't done much. I mean it's, you know, residency then getting the practice established. It's hard to take a week or two off at a time starting to do more of that. And I, it's never too late to try to explore the world. I know a lot of people do that in their twenties right after college, but med school and residency sort of took up most of my life to my mid thirties. 

Eva Sheie (22:07):
Gonna sound like a, another left turn. But there's a travel podcast that I love actually it's sometimes about travel and other times it's just about life hacks, which I love. And he was talking about travel sort of in hindsight and he said something that really stuck with me and, and I can connect it to plastic surgery too, that sometimes when you're 20 or 25, you don't have the money to travel, but you have the time and so you can, you can make a sometimes bad financial decision and it's okay because there's never gonna be a time in your life where you can do that kind of travel again. And I've thought about that a lot because I think the same thing is true with surgery. You might have to do some interesting financial gymnastics to get yourself to the place where you can afford to have surgery, but the trade off is that you get to live a better, more confident life earlier than if you waited until two or three or five years from now when you saved up the money. And not, not that I'm ever encouraging people to make bad financial decisions, but sometimes life is more than how much money you have in the bank. 

Dr. Bruno (23:22):
Sure. Well, you know, I think as you said, young people sometimes have more time than money than as you get older sometimes you have more money and less time <laugh> 

Eva Sheie (23:32):
mm-hmm. <affirmative> 

Dr. Bruno (23:33):
and, um, now in my fifties, I, yeah, I wanna travel now and explore the world now because you're not guaranteed any time in the future and maybe my sixties or seventies I won't have health. And if you don't have health then nothing matters. 

Eva Sheie (23:50):
Right. We just don't know. 

Dr. Bruno (23:53):
Yeah. 

Eva Sheie (23:54):
I think as long as there's balance, we're doing a pretty good job. 

Dr. Bruno (23:57):
Yeah. 

Eva Sheie (23:58):
Before we head off back to our regular days, I wanna hear about your team and the people around you. 

Dr. Bruno (24:07):
Yeah, so I've had my same patient coordinator here for maybe 12 years or so. Now, prior to that I was in a sort of a large group practice and then the first years of my career and then for the last 12 or so years, uh, have had my own practice here. So I've had that coordinator, had my same receptionist now for maybe eight years. And then we also have a, we have a PA within our practice as our own sort of injectable practice under the sort of the umbrella of my practice. So it's a smaller, I guess you'd say boutique-ish kind of a practice compared to some of the others that, you know, some people have like 15 employees and you know, multiple satellite offices. And I really didn't wanna have that type of practice or evolve into it. I like that if someone calls here, there's one or two employees, they know they're gonna get on the phone, they're not gonna get prompted to some other department or anything like that. So, and I think patients appreciate that and I think that's may have, you know, contributed to some of the success that we've had over the years. And, uh, not to say I would never expand in the future or for me maybe hire a young associate in the future to do plastic surgery, but I don't know that I would have two or three offices in the, you know, necessarily. I think, uh, I am fortunate that patients will travel to come here, but for now that's sort of the makeup of our practice. 

Eva Sheie (25:47):
If someone's listening today and they want to learn more about you or possibly come see you, where should they go look for more information? 

Dr. Bruno (25:56):
Our website is william bruno md.com, which they can find a lot of information there on Instagram. Same name, William Bruno, md. We have a lot of content on there. You'll see a lot of surgical videos, but you know, some before and afters and then some videos of myself. We have a little segment we call Wellness Wednesday, where I'll talk about a topic unrelated, necessary to plastic surgery, but to overall health and wellness. Could be intermittent fasting, could be the importance of sleep, weight loss, things of that nature, which I think somewhat overlapped with aesthetics, let's just call it, it's not surgery, but looking good, feeling good anti-aging, topics like that. 

Eva Sheie (26:45):
Hopeful, as always. 

Dr. Bruno (26:47):
Yeah. 

Eva Sheie (26:49):
Thank you so much for sharing so much of yourself with us today. It's been, uh, great getting to know you better. 

Dr. Bruno (26:56):
Oh, thanks for your time. I appreciate it. 

Eva Sheie (27:02):
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.