Dr. Rady Rahban Shares the Real Truth Behind Plastic Surgery

This episode is brought to you by Google Health. Stop chasing someone else's definition of health. What matters is what's healthy for you. Google Health offers a new kind of coach built with Gemini for effortless tracking, sleep insights, and holistic coaching tailored to you. Visit googlestore.com to learn more and start a new relationship with your health. Requires Google account, Google Health app, internet, and Google Health premium subscription. Features subject to change. Availability and results vary. Not intended for medical purposes. Works independently of Gemini apps. Check responses for accuracy.

Expedia and VisitScotland invite you to come experience the beauty that awaits in Scotland. The sweep of wild coastlines, quiet lochs, and untamed landscapes. Fresh cuisine that feels rooted in the land. Come experience the kind of stillness that stays with you long after you leave. Plan your Scottish escape today at expedia.com/visitscotland.

Mornings have a rhythm.

You can hear it, feel it, and at Quaker, we fuel it with 100% whole grain oats and a good source of fibre in every bowl, helping you turn that rhythm into your soundtrack for a great day. Fuel to start whatever's next. Quaker, official sponsor of FIFA World Cup 26. Aye! Oh! Let's go!

I—

oh, let's go! Money doesn't buy skill. A lot of people within the plastic surgery world are quote-unquote the best surgeons because they do the best marketing. That doctor has horrible reviews, terrible photos, yet they went to them because they do a phenomenal job of marketing. The patient almost doesn't pay attention to the facts part. So Kris Jenner had a facelift. It's all the wow, it's all the talk. Facelifts has become the whole new world. She does her reveal, it breaks the the internet. You were recently getting some stuff done. Oh yeah, these 45-year-old celebrities were getting these facelifts done and they looked really good, not because they went to the best guy, they were better candidates. What makes plastic surgery so desirable and addictive is that you go to sleep, you wake up, and it's so quick for you. Working out takes years, eating right takes years, everything else takes years. This is Hours. I don't think there's anything that will create that confidence change in such a short period of time.

Even when you're doing all the right things—your strength training, staying active, prioritizing protein—keeping the muscle you built over a lifetime gets harder with age. Now, our parents were told to accept that it's just getting older. I don't buy that, and that's why I use Timeline powered by MagnaPure. Here's the real story. Muscle isn't just about strength or looking good. Muscle runs your metabolism, protects your balance, preserves your independence, and determines how powerfully you age. And what most people don't realize is that muscle loss isn't only about hormones or workouts, it's about cellular energy. As we age, our mitochondria, those energy engines inside our muscle cells, become less efficient. Now, when your muscles can't produce energy well, it's harder to maintain strength, function, and resilience. That's where Mitopure comes in. It's the only clinically studied form of urolithin A, a postbiotic shown in human clinical trials to support muscle strength and function by helping renew mitochondrial health at the cellular level. I love this because it works with your training, not instead of it. Now, strength training is the signal, protein is the building block, and Mitopure supports the cellular energy that allows your muscles to actually respond and adapt. Mitopure gummies make it simple. 2 a day, sugar-free, vegan, non-GMO, and independently certified for quality. And let's not forget, absolutely delicious. So if staying strong is part of your longevity strategy, and I sure hope it is, visit timeline.com/jjvirgin and get 20% off your order. Hey, it's JJ, and I wanna challenge something you probably think you've already nailed. And that's vitamin C. Because if you're like a lot of women I work with, you're reading labels, you're choosing good brands, and you're assuming your vitamin C is actually delivering. But vitamin C supplements in general have a problem. And it's not the dose, it's the delivery. With most forms of vitamin C, like basic ascorbic acid, your body actually has a limited capacity for how much it can absorb at one time. Now, unlike most vitamin C supplements, in nature, vitamin C is never isolated. It's paired with bioflavonoids and plant compounds that help your body absorb it, retain it, and use it effectively. So when that context is missing, so are a lot of the benefits. And that is why I love a new formula called Qualia Vitamin C Plus. It uses 7 distinct sources of vitamin C, including liposomal for enhanced absorption, plus superfruits, bioflavonoids, and zinc to support how your body actually works. And in a placebo-controlled study, Qualia Vitamin C+ raised vitamin C levels by over 25% higher than the control group. Qualia Vitamin C+ has the clinical evidence and the natural approach I love and look for. To try Qualia Vitamin C+, go to qualialife.com/virginwellness and use the code VIRGINWELLNESS at checkout for an extra 15% off. That's Qualia Vitamin C+ at qualialife.com/virginwellness with code VIRGINWELLNESS to start getting vitamin C right. Hey, I'm JJ Virgin, PhD dropout, sorry, Mom, turned 4-time New York Times bestselling author. As a certified nutrition specialist, Fitness Hall of Famer, and globally recognized leader in health, I'm driven to keep asking the tough questions and use my podcast to simplify the science of health into actionable strategies that help you thrive. I'd also love to hear your thoughts on the show. And here's the fun part. When you send me your review, I'll reply to you using my on-demand virtual me. That's right. My team and I created a virtual JJ packed with my books, speeches, and wisdom so I can personally connect with you. Here's how you do it. Subscribe and leave an honest review of the podcast. Take a screenshot of your review, text it to 813-565-2627. That's 813-565-2627. 6, 2, 7. My virtual JJ will reply directly, and trust me, this will make your day. So subscribe now at subscribe2jj.com and text me your review. Let's keep thriving together. Women are told two conflicting messages in midlife: age naturally, but don't look too old. Love yourself, But fix everything. Be authentic. What does that even mean? But somehow flawless. So where does real confidence come from? How can changing your outside really heal what's happening inside? Can it? Well, these are the deep questions I'm gonna be asking my guest today. It's the Beverly Hills plastic surgeon I was so fortunate to have fly into Tampa to record not one but two sessions with me. I've got Dr. Rady Rahban, and he is now a buddy of mine. You're going to love him as much as I do. He's seen firsthand what transformations can actually create confidence and which ones might leave you just chasing more. This conversation is about beauty, identity, aging, self-worth, and making empowered choices in a world trying to sell women insecurity. I'll be right back with Dr. Roddy, and I'm going to put all of the show notes, his podcast, all his social channels, where to learn more at jjvirgin.com/drady. Dr. Rady, I'll see you soon. Dr. Rady, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, JJ. Well, we are going to get into the big why behind plastic surgery. We've talked about how I recently actually had a facelift. It was November. So I talked a lot of the why and what I did or the how and what I did. But I didn't talk about the why. And I think that would be fun to dig into is, is why do people come to you, what are they looking for? Is it something you can actually give them, or are they looking for something unattainable?

I mean, I think it's, it's a loaded question in that it depends so much on each individual case. Let's take scenario 1, which is the one that I like most. I'm a very well-grounded person. I love my life. I'm generally a happy person. I'm connected to the people in my life, my wife, husband, kids, etc. I lead a reasonably healthy life. I have a decent job. I'm talking about the average person. Yet there are things about myself that aesthetically on the outside don't reflect the way I feel or see myself on the inside. That can be, I don't like my hair, therefore I get a haircut. I don't love the yellowness of my teeth for drinking coffee, so I whiten my teeth. So I'm gonna give you these small examples, and then as I turn up the dial, then the question then becomes, where do I draw the line in the sand? And then, so there's always going to be a lot of opinions. As the dial gets hotter, people become very opinionated. Nobody would argue with you whether or not you highlight your hair. So as I start to do surgery to change things, people like to jump on two camps, but it really shouldn't be any more— it shouldn't be any different than anything else that you're doing, which is I am doing things within reason, and I'll talk to you about that. That allows me to feel good about myself, which then takes my already really good place and elevates it. And that's the idea behind plastic surgery. It isn't going to take you from, you know, a deep and dark place and change your life. And that's the sort of argument those people are making on the other side, which is, oh, you got to love yourself first. It's not going to make you happy. Money doesn't make you happy. You know, all those statements. But the reality is they represent 5%, 10%. The overwhelming majority of my patients— and I've been practicing 20-plus years— are very normal people. Socioeconomically, a variety of people who seek out alterations in their physical being, which then will reflect in the way they see themselves. And I can tell you, 99% of my patients leave happier, more empowered. When they look in the mirror, they like what they see, and all it did, did was enhance the quality of life that they have. So I'm not getting up and going to some random clinic in a— you know, foreign country, in an odd place to get it done. But I have the means to do it in a safe environment. And it means I'm doing something that's arguably within reason of advanced medicine, right? I'm not doing anything that's esoteric that only this one guy does. And I'm rearranging my face because my forehead— da da da da. So if you meet the basic criteria, you are a good candidate. You find a good surgeon, they executed good surgery, the success rate I really feel better about myself should be through the roof. And that's been my experience for the last 20-plus years.

What happens to some of these celebrities? Because you would assume someone who's a celebrity has the, you know, they have access to the best. I remember I was, I worked in LA for years with actors and actresses and they had all the best stuff. That was when I realized, I go, oh, the difference between them and me is they have better access. Yeah, right. You know, they have better stylists, they have better hairstylists, they have better, better, better. However, you still see some botched jobs out there.

Yeah. So celebrities are interesting because they're, as you would expect, they either really push the pendulum right or push the pendulum left, right? Every time you see a celebrity unveiling, so to speak, because they're, you know, in the public eye, you immediately get scrutiny, right? So if their work, quote unquote, is good, you're going to hear all this, oh my God, everyone's got to get a facelift. Look at Kris Jenner, blah, blah, blah.

Okay. To be clear, she did inspire me. Yeah, that's what pushed me over over the edge.

That was before she came out and said she hated it.

So it's interesting. She says she's hated it?

No, I mean, there's a whole debate and we can talk about it.

Okay.

Yeah, about her being disappointed and it didn't hold. And if the outcome is good, it will drive people to want to do it. And if the outcome is bad, you're like, oh my God, look at Bradley Cooper. What did he do to his eyes? What did so-and-so do to her face? So first of all, celebrities are not superhumans. They are biologically the same as you and me. And so if a surgery is done to them that is not indicated or not ideal for their anatomy, no amount of money is going to change a shitty outcome. Secondly, the problem with celebrities is they are surrounded by yes people. So the average plastic surgeon you get— just take whoever, let's just say Madonna walks into my office. The average plastic surgeon who sees a celebrity consciously or unconsciously wants that patient as their patient. And so often they too are humans, and they will start to do things or operate on them in perhaps things that they don't need. So a patient comes in my office, she's a 28-year-old girl. Hey, I'm here for a facelift. What? What do you mean you're here for a facelift? Oh, you know, I saw Kris Jenner or one of these other celebrities, and the answer is No, like, you're crazy. Oh, but I want to stay ahead of it before it happens. You can't do surgery for a problem you don't have. First of all, they have the most amount of pressure, so they're going to keep pushing the envelope when they don't need to. They're surrounded by people who don't necessarily tell them the truth. And lastly, money doesn't buy skill. And so a lot of people within the plastic surgery world are, quote unquote, the best surgeons because they do the best marketing. Right. Right. They are very good at getting their name out and getting their message out. And they have a great PR campaign and da da da da da. And it's one of the few places where like, I don't know, I've seen patients before and I'm like, oh, you know, who all have you seen? And they mentioned a doctor and I'm just puzzled and flabbergasted because that doctor has horrible reviews, terrible photos, yet they went to them because they do a phenomenal job of marketing. In other words, they flood the market with their image and their whatnot. And then the patient almost doesn't pay attention to the facts part. So I don't think celebrities are immune, obviously, to shitty outcomes. And the problem is that unlike your friend Gail, who had a shitty surgery, she just disappears into the woods. But it's one of these celebrities, they're going to be blasted on every post you can imagine. All right.

Kris Jenner doesn't— is it the honeymoon? I know there's supposed to be that honeymoon. Yes. So where your face is fuller and then it starts to go down. So Kris Jenner had a facelift.

It's all the wow, it's all the talk. Facelifts has become the whole new world. So she goes and gets a facelift. Okay, awesome. She comes out and she does a reveal, and that reveal is beyond spectacular. In other words, it's too good to be true. She does a reveal, everyone— it breaks the internet, right? Because she looks spectacular. And then obviously a few months goes by, and now the rumor is— and it's a rumor that she is overall unhappy with the outcomes and that, quote unquote, she wasted $300,000. First of all, she didn't pay $300,000. She paid nothing because none of these celebrities pay anything, because if they're willing to talk about it, it's the exchange. And secondly, we don't even know if she's unhappy. But the idea is, if you look at her image today, because she can no longer Photoshop every single image of hers, right? The launch image, a.k.a. the image that she put out first she had access to. Every image thereafter, which is the 457,000 of them, she can't control. And naturally, if you compare just 3 months ago to her current image, they're two different people. But are they? So what happens is the following thing happens. She gets a facelift. All patients— I literally just did a facelift last week. She's in for her suture removal. She's a week out. In one more week, she's going to look spectacular. She could do a red carpet reveal. Why? Because she's tight. She's swollen. Her skin is immaculate because it's hydrated and full, and there is not a flaw within 100 miles. That's not because I walk on water, because it's just the nature of facelifts early on. Secondly, she has this tight skin envelope. Great. That's because she had a reasonable surgery done by a reasonable surgeon, and then she photoshops it. And what made her reveal Even more spectacular was she had not a single pore. Go look at that photo. The photo, it was perfect. Not a wrinkle, not a pore, not a— not a dent. That's a big giveaway, right? So the reality is, no matter how good your surgery is, you are still 48, 52, 70. And even though you've been using tretinoin and you laser and you wear a hat and you use sunscreen, you are the best version of a 49-year-old or a 60-year-old. But you are not immune to the changes of 50, 60 years. So she comes out, she does that. It's clear as day to anyone who knows that that's not really a real photo. Fast forward 3 months later, she has a normal outcome. She has got a little bit of relax because the swelling is gone. The tightness in all the areas, the 3 areas, the neck, the jowl, and the marionette, has slightly given way, and she has normal 70-year-old texture. And so whether or not she is or isn't unhappy is not relevant, but the fact of the matter is that for what she had done, she looks great.. But in comparison to the unrealistic image she set out, this is a bad transition. There's just so much confusion with images and AI and Photomorph and Photoshop, and it just makes it very difficult. It's kind of— I always use the idea like someone keeps sending you a postcard from this imaginary, mystical vacation. You're like, look at the water, it's amazing. Not a single mosquito, temperature's perfect. You keep seeing these postcards and then you go there and you're like, Well, this is a shithole. And you realize the postcard was just— just Photoshop.

Well, you said you were happy that the facelift conversation's out.

Why did you say that? So I think this is the story. So every procedure— and I happen to be unique in the world of plastic surgery, not because my mother said so, but I tend to do a very broad gamut. Most surgeons today focus on facial plastics, eyes, Breasts, weight loss, right? And you would think, oh, that's great, right? Because they're specialists. Well, it turns out that we only have like 20 years of training. And for you as a cordon bleu chef to only make pasta, it doesn't mean you're well trained. It means you're actually underperforming what you should be doing. So I have all this training and I actually— the only reason I'm still sane is that I do a nose job on Monday, facelift on Wednesday, circumferential body lift on Friday. And a mommy makeover on Monday. So I do a little of everything and I feel I do everything very well. The one area that I was— all of us were frustrated on, which is going to explain you the whole filler phenomenon, which is actually really apropos for the listening audience, is what do I do when I hit 40? So if I may, let me just tell you what happens physiologically. 20s, golden years. Physiologically, you're your peak. Peak skin, peak tightness, peak muscle, whatever. If you maximize your genetics, you'll never look as good as you're in your 20s. You'll look amazing in your 30s, 40s, 50s, but you— if, if you do exactly the same thing, you'll never max out because physiologically you're at your best. 30s, you do pretty good. And as you get to your late 30s, 39, 42, 4— that transition hormonally, physiologically, exposure-wise, I've been around 40 years, you're going to see a more visible notch. Up until then, everything is very incremental. Grass growing, grass growing. Oh, I never noticed anything. And then you hit that, that one phase and you notice a click. And that click is a few notches all at once. And you'll start to notice very predictable things, different in each person, but always going to happen. By the way, every single human being at the end, at 80, will look the same, meaning all the same things will have happened to everybody. So the first things you notice is, huh, I go to putting on some makeup, my eyeshadow is smudging and my mascara is a little difficult to do. I got to raise my eyebrows. So the first thing you're going to notice is the corner of your eye is starting to settle.

Sierra has all the best active and outdoor brands you need, from athletic stuff like a full-court pickup game. Swish! To athlet-ish stuff like a half-mile stroll. Get those steps in! And for morning hikes up the mountain trail, good pace! To nighttime ghost stories from the camping chair. What a twist! Whatever level of active, Sierra loves it all. Head to Sierra or sierra.com for the brands you want at the prices that let you do it all. From athletic to athlet-ish, Sierra's got it.

Ready to soundtrack your summer? With Red Bull Summer All Day Play, you choose a playlist that fits your summer vibe the best. Are you a festival fanatic? A deep-end DJ? A road dog? Or a trail mixer? Just add a song to your chosen playlist and put your summer on track. Red Bull Summer All Day Play. Red Bull gives you wings. Visit redbull.com/brightsummerahead to learn more. See you this summer.

If we knew more about our sleep, what would we do differently? Would we go to bed at a consistent time? Or take steps to reduce interruptions to our sleep? With Sleep Score, Apple Watch measures your bedtime consistency, interruptions, and sleep duration. Then, every morning it combines these factors into an easy-to-understand score from 1 to 100. So you'll know how to take the quality of your sleep from okay to very high. Know your sleep score with Apple Watch. iPhone 11 or later required.

The next thing you're gonna notice is Is that a little duplication of skin above and below my eye? Next thing you notice is I never had this bulging under my eyes. This is a fat pocket, or what is that? And the last thing you're going to notice is that I have a little bit of a jowl here. My jawline was so sharp, it's a little bit obtunded, meaning it's not sharp. I have a little bit of a marionette, which is the line that connects the mouth to your chin. And my neck skin's a little loose, all of which feels like it happened overnight. And that's the beginning. And what used to happen is you're basically sitting there waiting to do a facelift because it's the beginning of the changes that we address when we do a facelift. Right. Prior to this recent boom, you'd sit there because you're too early to do anything surgical. Like, I'm not going to get a brow lift at 40. At 46, I'm not going to go get a facelift. It was considered early, insane, aggressive, whatever you want to call it. Right or wrong is irrelevant. And what would you do? Oh my God, there's this new thing. What is that thing? It's called a filler. Ah, okay. And what do I do with it? I fill in the areas that are lax. Okay, so then I filled it and oh my God, it looks better. JJ, I look better. Yeah, because you have a little bit of laxity and a little bit of volume, even though the issue may not be volume, makes it look better. Then you go, you're so happy, you're happy as a clam. You go look in the mirror and then you start panicking. Is it going away? I think it's going away. What's going away? The filler. It's going away. But it's only been 3 months. No, no, I definitely think it's going away. You go back and see your one of 8 million providers. You're not going to the highest echelon. You're going to this provider, that provider, this injector, this pediatrician, that nurse practitioner. Right. And you ask them, hey, do you think my filler's going away? Yeah, I think it's going away a little bit. And there goes another syringe. So you put in 3, you went in when only 1 had gone away, you put in 2. So if you do the math, you're 4 ahead now. You're actually moving forward. And this continues, this 3 steps forward, 1 step back, 3 steps forward, 1 step back. Next thing you know, you don't know it cuz it's so gradual, but your friends and family are looking at you going, What the hell? JJ looks swollen. She doesn't look like herself. She's not animating like herself. She looks pillow face, puffy face, whatever the hell the term is. And it's so gradual, you don't know it until one day you see an image of yourself, a photo or a video, and you're like, oh my God, oh my God, filler is poison, we need to reverse it, etc. So that's just, by the way, how this whole filler craze happened. Nothing wrong with fillers. There's nothing wrong with salt. It's the injector, the chef, and how much of it they used. So they were using this filler to take the place of laxity. Mm-hmm. When you age from 40 to 60, you lose weight in your face and you gain skin. So you lose volume and you have skin excess. Skin excess can only be fixed by surgery. And so what happened with this whole internet craze is that we gave the green light, which we should have a long time ago, for women who are between 40 and 55, which historically was in the desert, the no man's land, without any guilt, without any issue, to allow you to surgically correct. And the reason why the results are spectacular now is not because we have new techniques. This whole deep plane nonsense that everyone's talking about has existed for, for 35 years. No one came up with anything. Dr. So-and-so in New York, Dr. So-and-so in all of them. Are posers. There are guys, giants on whose shoulders we stand on, they just love gimmicks. It's that we're operating on better patients. So when you operated on Gayle at 68 with thin elastic skin with no nothing holding it together and you did a facelift, she looked like she came out of a tunnel. When you operate on Barbara at 47— and I use Barbara and Gayle not to suggest they're only women, but it could be guys— they look amazing because you're going from 7 to 9. Not from 3 to 7. And so now we are operating on younger, healthier, better qualified patients doing lesser changes at an earlier age.

So this, this is actually what happened. I was under the assumption, and I don't know where I got it from, that you should wait. And then when I was reading about Kris Jenner, in the article it said the reason it worked so well is because she'd had a facelift years ago. And I went, I've been told the wrong information. And then I thought about— I thought, I'm spending so much money on lasers and Botox and filler that if I just did the thing, I would not have to spend all this time and money doing all that stuff.

Right. If you wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Let's say when you're in your early 40s, mid-40s, early 50s, whatever, you're a 3. And then when you get to 65, 70, you're an 8. Right, in terms of how bad things get. Well, you're going from 8 trying to get back to 2, but if you, when you get to 4 or 5, go back to 2, then when you go back to 4 or 5, you go back to 2. Chris did her facelift 15 years earlier. She did it with my previous associate Garth Fisher, who's my mentor, great guy. And so she's pulling less when she does it the second time. There's just a little bit of 10, 15 years went by.

This makes so much more sense. It's like when I heard it, I was like, why didn't I know this before?

Well, you didn't know it because it was So I operated, I did my 4 nieces' noses. Okay. Lucky for them, Middle Eastern, their uncle's a plastic surgeon. And when I did, one of them was 17. No one even blinked an eyelash. You operate on a 17-year-old? Yeah, I did her nose. Oh, okay. But if I did a facelift on a 45-year-old, let's call it a mini because everyone likes the term of that. It was like, you did a facelift on a 45-year-old? Are you crazy? Well, what do you mean? She had sagging. It's based on anatomy. It's not based on age. If you are beginning to show the signs of sagging, and you don't want to wait till it's so bad, then the answer is you address it at the time. Not the 28-year-old I mentioned who doesn't have anything. But if you lost 100 pounds and you're 37 and you have a turkey neck, you need it fixed. Nobody would— so the problem was we were fixing a screw with a hammer. Screws need screwdrivers, nails need hammers. And that really is when it cracked open. And I hate to admit it, but celebrities did it. Because they, you know, these 45-year-old celebrities were getting these facelifts done. Some of them admitted, some didn't. But you can just see their before and afters. Yeah. And they looked really good. Not because they went to the best guy. They were better candidates.

Got it. Well, how do you know who the best guy is or gal? There is no best guy or gal.

There's just good and bad.

Okay, so how do you know? I— obviously, I spent years looking for the person when I had mine done. My husband and I did it together. And I can't believe people wouldn't look at pictures.

Like, so it depends on you as a person. Number one, you need to understand the hierarchy or the alphabet soup of doctors. This is going to blow everyone's mind away, so pay attention. Plastic surgeons are not cosmetic surgeons. So let's start with that, because I think if you don't learn this, you've learned nothing, and you basically potentially will end up in the wrong place. So All this wording is marketing mumbo-jumbo. When you go to med school and you decide, I want to be a neurologist, you become a neurologist. When you say, I want to deliver babies, you become an OB. When you say, I want to take care of kids, you become a pediatrician. When you decide, I want to do aesthetic surgery, you become a plastic surgeon. The end. There is no cosmetic surgery residency.

So is that just a made-up— because I, I had some friends in the past who were cosmetic surgeons, and is that just someone who doesn't— isn't board certified in plastics that wants to do—

so it can be anything, and therefore it's meaningless. It can be a plastic surgeon who's doing cosmetics and just use that term. Why would they do that? Because the patients— they've done such a good job of marketing cosmetic term that patients look for it. So you have to do what you have to do. So let me explain something to you. So if you're a plastic surgeon, you went to 6 to 8 years of plastic surgery school, right? Residency. If you're a cosmetic surgeon, you could be an OB-GYN. What do you— what do you mean? You could be an ER doctor, an interventional radiologist. They created a parallel universe. Just think about it as the dark web. There's the web and then there's the dark web. So you are creating a parallel universe in which you give yourselves training, you train each other, you give each other all kinds of accolades. They even created their own board, which is actually the worst scenario that could happen, because before I could tell you, make sure they're board certified. And I'll explain that in a second. But they just— this is an alternative universe and you need to keep digging and digging and ask them where was their residency? Was it in OB-GYN, pediatrics, neurology, neurosurgery? Where was it? Because there is no cosmetic residency. So they became a doctor and then later said, screw this shit, I don't want to deliver babies. Hell with gallbladders. I am done putting in shunts. I want to make money, so I'm gonna go and get additional training, whatever that is, weekends, a seminar, my buddy, and then I'm gonna go into the dark web and onto the dark side, call myself a cosmetic surgeon. How do they allow it? Who's they? There is no overriding arching umbrella. No society. Wow. Like it's like natural in food. There's no one saying this is or isn't accurate. Do not look for the medical societies. Do not look for the board. Do not look for the FDA. Do not look for the EPA. Do not look for nothing. Zero. They can call themselves whatever the fuck they want. It's on you to figure it out. And then they start practicing, and some of them have really fancy websites and actually have some decent results and whatnot. But you as a person should know that it should be disclosed to you if you decide to go to an OB-GYN for your tummy tuck and you know it. God bless you. But they never really tell you. So here are the things you need to know. Number one, the word plastic surgery should pre-exist. Not facial this, that, the other. Now, if you want to get a facelift, there are two routes. You can do ENT, you can do plastic surgery. They call themselves facial plastics, we call ourselves plastic surgeons. If you want to do eyelids, you can go to a plastic surgeon, you can go to a facial plastics, or you can go to an oculoplastic. What the hell? That's an ophthalmology guy that only does eyelids. But one thing for sure, if you do not see the word plastic, there's something wrong. Then you need to make sure they're board certified in plastic surgery. So you— these are things you can look up, you just have to dig. Then not board certified in some other nonsense, board certified in not cosmetic surgery, plastic surgery. Then you want to go and check out that they're part of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons or the ASAPs, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. There's only two societies that exist. A-S-P-S, A-S-A-P-S. That's it. Then you want to make sure there are no lawsuits, and you want to make sure that they don't have any infractions and they're able to operate. Then you want to go look at their photos, and you don't want to see 6 or 7, you want to see a ton. Then you want to read all their reviews, even though they can be made up. And at the end, then you got to go and visit a handful, and then you got to use your gut. But social media has taken— has gone to number 1. What I just said to you, social media is like number 46. Yeah, because social media is the highlight reel. I hate to say it, but even with all the amount of due diligence you do— so what I was saying to you is you want to find a good, competent surgeon who's safe, honest, and it's going to do a good job. This idea or notion that there's this best when there's 5,000, it's just not going to happen. You just want to find a really, really competent surgeon.

Who you like. How do you know it's time?

You have to physically have the issue. Now, some people like to wait till they have zero gas and they'll get gas. Some people like to get gas as soon as they start to see it, because they get, you know, they're the type of people, what if I don't get a gas station? What if I can't? So you have to have the issue, albeit mild or more significant. Second, you have to have the finances. You shouldn't be, as I said before, mortgaging your, uh, leveraging your mortgage. You have to be in a good space. I've had women and or men come to me at difficult times in their lives. I had a young lady I saw for a breast aug, and, you know, I spent a lot of time with people. I spent about an hour, which is unheard of in plastic surgery. You're just like 15, 20 minutes, we chat, I look at your face, your breast, whatever. I was chatting with her, and then she couldn't— wasn't getting eye contact. Bad sign. And then I kind of pushed. I like to push. And, hey, tell me what's— and next thing you know, she was bawling. Next thing you know, I find out that she had recently broke up with a guy. Next thing you know, this was her fix-it solution. Right. And so we had a long conversation. I said, listen, I don't think this is the right environment for you to do this. I'm— don't get me wrong, I have two small kids. I could use your money. Very expensive mortgage here in Beverly Hills. But why don't you give it— why don't you come back? Let's just do it in 12 months. She came back in 12 months. She was in a much better space. We did the surgery and it was ideal. So you need to be in the right mental space. I think when those things collide, it's the right time for you. Do not look for external confirmation. Don't ask your friends, because for, for Bob, he would wait till his neck is, you know, terrible, or he'll never do it.

I always love the celebrities, the 20-year-olds that, that say very vehemently that they will never have plastic surgery. So let's wrap this one up with, um, I'm actually going to do a speed round, but with this one bigger question. I like to think of aging powerfully because I'm all about muscle. But when we think about, say, aging beautifully, what does that mean to you?

So for me, beauty is that when, when the outside packaging, which I like to play with, merges with the inside. And when I see you after surgery, you shine a bit more. And that's part of the charm of a person. And I like that. And I can tell you in 21 years, the number of enthusiastic, positive, happy, you know, that little glitter in your eye of patients that I've had is so many that it reinforces my enthusiasm to do it. You know what I mean? If you did something every day and it just sucked, you worked out every day, look at your— and you have no veins, no muscles, you— there's no way you would do it. Not after, because you see nothing in exchange. And no amount of money can fill my bank account to put hours and hours and sit there bent over, hunched over, stressed out, patients complaining, writing Yelp It's not a fun way to make a living if you don't love it. Yeah. You know what I mean? People also glamorous. No, it's not. It's not glamorous at all.

That's great. Okay. Speed round. Ready? Ready? I'm ready. What creates confidence faster than any cosmetic procedure?

I don't think there's a lot of things that can create confidence in such a short period of time. I think that's what makes plastic surgery so desirable and addictive is that you go to sleep, you wake up, and it's so quick for you. I'm not sure there is anything because working out takes years. Eating right takes years. Working on your internal personal interactions with other people in therapy takes years. Everything else takes years. This is hours. I would say that it's probably the most powerful. Again, back to what I said to you earlier, assuming everything else is fine, I don't think there's anything that will create that confidence change in such a short period of time.

What predicts a happy result most? A reasonable patient pre-op.

I do a lot of noses where you are the most critical. And I tell patients, I circle it in big circles. I said, you will not be perfect. I tell it, I write it. And I said, the only barometer of your happiness is how, how satiable you are. And if you are, as am I, a nitpicky person, you will never be happy because I will find— I can tell you I can find the error in the floor, the carpet, the door. And I'm a horrible candidate.

Good thing I am satiable. Yes. What is the biggest lie women are told about beauty after 40?

That if you eat well, you work out, and you have a good mindset, that the beauty will come along with it. And it doesn't.

What habit makes someone instantly more attractive?

Smiling. Smiling is— if you look at the anatomy of a smile, it turns your eyes upwards, it turns a corner of your mouth upwards, it sharpens the angle of your jaw. So people who smile are prettier, with the exception of noses plunge, but altogether, globally, they're prettier than when they don't. So if it's a habit, if you can remind yourself to be mindful of having more smiles and having— because, you know, I, I don't do much yoga or any of these things because I'm inflexible, but I remember That's why you're supposed to do this.

Yeah, I understand.

I remember them telling me, relax your face, and then you realize, oh wow, my face is— I'm tight. So you can relax your face into a smile.

What's one thing women should stop apologizing for in midlife?

Wanting to be aesthetically attractive. I think, you know, we've— it's funny because in the '50s and '60s it was all about beauty and it was vanity and it was very outward and accepted and you talked about it. Then we've gotten into this whole love yourself phase where, like, being fat and out of shape and whatever is like— it's swung the pendulum to the point where now you see these ads where they're using overweight people to promote their products, which, listen, I don't care you're overweight, but don't tell me you're healthy. So I think that this idea that now I want to be beautiful, but I have to do it in secrecy, like, I won't admit that this— what do you mean? That's the part that frustrates me. It's kind of like being successful now, you need to be— you need to hide it because being successful is— you're bad.

All right. For everybody listening, I know you got a lot of stuff going on. You're a busy guy and you have little kids. I have a 4.5-year-old, 2.5-year-old.

I have my podcast. I got a lot of things going on. But you can tell I am very— I flew here to see you. I know. I know you have an audience that would really deserve to hear this. And I know when I do things via Zoom or not in person, it's just not the same.

No, we stopped doing the Zooms because it just, it just wasn't the same. Yeah. This is such good timing for everybody to hear this too, especially after, after the November facelift saga. Yes. Yeah.

I have a podcast, as you know, it's called Plastic Surgery Uncensored, which is basically this style of dialog about every subject from complications, body lifts. We have experts, we have patient journeys, etc. And then I'm on Instagram at Dr. Dr. Rady. R-A-D-Y R-A-H-B-A-N, which is my name. Rady Rahban. Cool.

Well, we will put all of that at jjvirgin.com/DrRady. Rady.

Dr. Rady.

I think Rady because of Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego.

Because it's spelled as Rady. It's spelled as Rady.

So, guys, it's spelled as Rady. But it's Roddy. Yeah. Just to throw you off.

The Persian parents.

There you go. God bless them. Well, I appreciate this and I know we're coming back for a round two. So if you're listening to this, make sure you listen to part two too. I'm excited. Be sure to join me next time for more tools, tips, and techniques you can use to look and feel your best and be built to last. Also, I'd love to connect with you and hear your thoughts on the podcast. Here's how. First, subscribe to the podcast and leave an honest review. Second, take a screenshot of your review. And third, text to 2-813-565-2627. That's 813-565-2627. When you do, I'll reply using my brand new Virtual JJ. It's my on-demand virtual self built from my books, talks, and years of experience so I can interact with you directly. You'll make my day and I can't wait to hear from you. Thanks for tuning in and I'll catch you on the next episode. Hey, JJ here. And just a reminder that the Well Beyond 40 Podcast offers health, wellness, fitness, and nutritional information That's designed for educational and entertainment purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for, nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional. Make sure that you do not disregard, avoid, or delay obtaining medical or health-related advice from your healthcare professional because of something you may have heard on the show or read in our show notes. The use of any information provided on this show is solely at your own risk.

Struggling with weight loss? ProLon's 5-Day Fasting Mimicking Diet is a clinically developed nutrition program designed to promote fat loss while protecting lean body mass. Developed at USC's Longevity Institute, it assists the body in entering a fasting-like state that helps reset metabolism and target visceral fat. In just 5 days, ProLon offers a science-backed approach to weight loss without extreme restriction or guesswork. Get 15% off plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe at prolonelife.com/now.