Is it safe to see an injector at the mall? [Michele Shermak, MD, Baltimore]

Eva Sheie (00:04):
Welcome to the podcast Where Before Meets After. Submit your questions for our experts at wherebeforemeetsafter.com. I'm your host, Eva. Sheie.

Dr. Shermak (00:16):
My name is Michele Shermak. I'm a plastic surgeon and I'm in Baltimore, Maryland.

Eva Sheie (00:22):
Can you think of any advantages to having a surgeon do that for you versus an injector or a med spa in the mall?

Dr. Shermak (00:28):
Absolutely. I mean, the safety component is real. We just know the anatomy better. I mean, my knowledge and facial anatomy is not a weekend cadaver course. I spent years at Shock Trauma, repairing facial fractures. I know where the nerves and the vessels are. I know what the basic anatomy should be in trying to restore proper anatomy. We're trained to deal with complicated situations, so God forbid something happens, you're actually going to get the full care you need. Not that we see that. I think coming in and knowing more, you're going to be less apt to get a complication. So yeah, there's a huge difference between somebody who is learning weekend coursework, and I think the other issue is individualizing care because there's not a lip goal, at least in my practice, there's not. People want different things, and sometimes on my social, I'll get these, for lack of a better term, like trolls.

Dr. Shermak (01:31):
I don't even know if they're bots, but they'll be like, well, that lip filler outcome isn't how you should do it. And I'm like, I think it's great, my patient is super happy. You don't have to have a certain kind of lip outcome all the time. Like a 50-year-old woman, a 60-year-old woman does not necessarily want to look like a 20-year-old woman. So you got to individualize the outcomes, and I think understanding how people age and the basic underlying deficiency and trying to restore that with the filler is something that a weekend course will never teach.

Eva Sheie (02:12):
The bots sure don't know either.

Dr. Shermak (02:14):
Yeah, AI.

Eva Sheie (02:17):
The bots. If someone wants to reach out and find out more about you, what's your Instagram and what's your website?

Dr. Shermak (02:24):
My Instagram is Michele Shermak md. My webpage is Dr Shermak, S-H-E-R-M-A-K.com, which you can click into anything from there. And we're always happy to meet with new patients, and I just love meeting new people and trying to do good work for them.

Eva Sheie (02:47):
I know that you do. Thank you, Dr. Shermak.

Dr. Shermak (02:50):
Thank you so much.

Eva Sheie (02:53):
On this podcast, we bring you directly to the doctors who are where before meets after. Links to our guest's website and contact info are in your show notes. Follow us on Instagram @wherebeforemeetsafter. If you're a board certified plastic surgeon and would like to be a guest or a sponsor of the show, go to wherebeforemeetsafter.com for more information. Where Before Meets After is a production of The Axis, the podcast Agency for Aesthetics, theaxis.io.