Vegas Circle

Scar-Free Revolution: Dr. Christopher Costa on Transforming Plastic Surgery & Building a Premier Practice

• The Vegas Circle

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Paki :

Welcome to Vegas Circle Podcast with your hosts, paki and Chris. We are people who are passionate about business, success and culture and this is our platform to showcase to people in our city who make it happen. On today's podcast, we have in the circle top plastic surgeon who specializes in a scar-free breast augmentation, tummy tucks and BBLs. Let's dive into the transformative world of cosmetic surgery. We welcome in the founder of Platinum Plastic Surgery, dr Christopher Costa. Good to have you in the circle, my man.

Christopher Costa :

Thank you very much. I'm so excited to be here.

Paki :

You got a great social media man. I was laughing when I was doing my research on you man.

Christopher Costa :

You guys have a lot of fun in your office, man I was seeing so I think that's like super important actually um you know there's, uh, there's a lot of, I think, office culture, like you know, even as a as a medical office. Yeah, uh, you know the people that are there, like you know, that energy, like patients see that For sure, like they feed off that. So we try to make it. As you know, it's still obviously a serious place, sure.

Paki :

Like there's still work.

Christopher Costa :

that has to be done. But we do try to like, make it fun and like not just that corporate, oh, like it's fake fun, but like you know? Yeah, try to find people who enjoy what they're doing, for, you know, try to find people who enjoy what they're doing For sure.

Chris :

You kind of bring up a good point there right off the bat is that you know medical business in general. Every time I've gone to a medical office I kind of had that experience where it's very quiet, very serious, I'm like I get a little nervous just being there. It doesn't create like an exciting atmosphere. Do you put a lot of effort into doing that for the practice as a whole?

Christopher Costa :

Yeah, we definitely. We spend a lot of time with our whole staff talking about the experience. Okay, like you know, as opposed to a medical office, like you get diagnosed with something, you have to go somewhere. You have, no one needs to come to my office. Nobody needs plastic surgery.

Chris :

Good point yeah.

Christopher Costa :

You know what I mean. So so everyone is there because they want to be there and because they're interested in you know in. In selecting our office, and a lot of it does come down to, results are important, like surgical results are important right. But for a lot of patients, it's about that feeling that they get when they're in the office. This is a place that you're going to want to come back to for your follow-up appointments.

Christopher Costa :

If you have a problem, these are the people you're going to be talking to on the phone if the prescriptions don't get filled right or something like that. So we try to create that seamless kind of experience and hopefully it's reflected like in the social media too.

Paki :

Yeah.

Christopher Costa :

Because everybody is kind of on that same page, like it's all obviously about the patients, sure, but it's not just about the medical side of it For sure. Yeah, making sure that everyone has a good experience, that's good stuff.

Paki :

Yeah, so you're originally from Nevada, right? Yep, okay.

Christopher Costa :

So born and raised your whole life in this area. I grew up in Reno. Okay, oh, awesome Okay.

Paki :

So uh, grew to Hawaii actually. So that's a big yeah, that's a huge difference yeah.

Christopher Costa :

Uh, you know, jumped on an airplane and just said, okay, like, uh, I want it to be in the most totally different place that I can love. Uh, and spent, you know, a lot of my time kind of like figuring out who I was like out there. That's awesome, yeah, yeah, I was out there for through undergraduate and medical school, okay, and then I traveled all over the country for my medical training, so I spent a lot of time on the East coast. Um, I was at um in Boston for a little bit.

Paki :

Okay, what part, yeah, what, what, what area? I lived in New England for a long time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, awesome.

Christopher Costa :

Okay, trained at Beth Israel Deaconess, one of the Harvard hospitals, and then from there I went to Hopkins in Baltimore. So I spent a few years in Baltimore.

Paki :

Awesome.

Christopher Costa :

Okay, and then after that moved to Texas and spent a long time in Dallas. Actually, that's awesome. All over.

Paki :

Look, I applaud you, man. I did an internship at Tufts Medical for three years and I was like I can't do that. I couldn't do the blood, I couldn't do the anatomy labs. I was like I'm not built for this.

Christopher Costa :

And I'm happy I did the internship it was the most intense thing I've done. Yeah, it was very intense.

Paki :

Yeah, that's good stuff, man. So what made you get into plastic surgery? What was that decision?

Christopher Costa :

I usually tell patients plastic surgery shows me I didn't really choose it. I actually wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon. I was really into, like you know, the bros and the heavy machinery equipment and the drills and stuff and they were like you're just like a scrawny, like you can't catch a ball, like I don't know, that's hilarious, I just didn't like connect like with that group of people I guess.

Christopher Costa :

And so I was kind of following my passion, going through more trauma stuff. I wanted to be that guy that could save the life of somebody who shows up a bloody mess or something in the ER. So that's kind of the direction I was headed. But a lot of my mentors and people they were like, have you ever thought about reconstructive surgery? But a lot of my mentors and people they were like, have you ever thought about reconstructive surgery? You just seem to have kind of a good you'd be a good fit for that and I thought it was a little crazy. And then things just kind of fell into place and that's you know. I started off really with a passion more for hand surgery and for reconstructive surgery, reconstructive breast surgery, like after I had breast cancer, and that's really where it kind of stemmed and started. And as it evolved I moved to Vegas with the plan of working more on the reconstructive side and the aesthetic side of my practice, really just kind of flourished and I love doing it.

Christopher Costa :

I love our patients. I feel like I get to really make a lot of difference for a lot of people.

Paki :

I bet yeah.

Christopher Costa :

And in a way that you know, they're so much more appreciative almost than the guy who gets three gunshot wounds.

Paki :

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that's very true.

Christopher Costa :

So it's a stark contrast to kind of like where I started, but a lot of things are still the same, like in terms of being able to help people in a different way and in almost in a way that I'm really like under the microscope right, because everything we do in my field, whatever I do, it gets posted on Instagram.

Paki :

Oh that's a good point.

Christopher Costa :

You know like whatever that patient has, like they're telling their friends about it. You know they're showing their friends like if you got your gallbladder out, like nobody knows if they did a good job or a bad job right. Everything I do is really under the microscope from not only my peers but just people in the community, and that kind of thing. I like it because it's a constant challenge. You constantly have to evolve. I think that's part of why we've been successful is just because I'm always trying to get better.

Chris :

And do you have like an option to do one or the other Like, or do you have a combination of both? Is it just all aesthetics or is it all you know like reconstructive?

Christopher Costa :

Yeah, no. So at this point in my career I'm like 99% Got it, yeah, Got it.

Chris :

So even like you know, just from my own understanding, like when you pick a field and you become an expert in that field, like do you still have the capabilities to jump into different things if you want to, or like are you pretty much pigeonholed now?

Christopher Costa :

Yeah, that's a good question. You know, the most traditional like kind of branching point really is like when you finish medical school and go into residency, and that really does usually kind of like determine the track that you're going to stay on. But you know, in surgery, for instance, there's, you know, eight to 12 different surgical subspecialties. So there is some flexibility there. And then you know, my story is like I said, it's just a little unique because I did really, I was really passionate kind of about one thing and then I was able to be fortunate enough to kind of like step back and just kind of pivot a little bit and take a different course.

Christopher Costa :

So I didn't start off wanting you know, coming from a background of plastic surgeons and saying I was going to be a plastic surgeon. I came from a background of nothing.

Chris :

You chose your own lane.

Christopher Costa :

I just had to figure it out on my own. I'm really fortunate that I found something that I really am passionate about and that I really enjoy getting up and going to do every day.

Paki :

Backtracking a little bit. You talk about breast cancer and stuff like that and you have to reconstruct it. That has to be powerful, Because that changes people's lives a lot of times, man, and gives them some confidence back.

Christopher Costa :

It truly was. There's amazing centers across the country that are doing this type of work and stuff. It's more about getting without getting too controversial. It's more about getting not getting like too, uh, controversial, like you know. It's more about getting like the health insurance companies to kind of help participate though yeah, which which is why I'm. I just didn't want to even be involved in that headache anymore.

Christopher Costa :

So yeah I like I almost feel you know the big complaint people have about medicine is like you show up for a service and nobody knows like what the bill is right. Like it's like they charge one person one thing, yeah, person another thing. I feel like I'm in the most, I'm in the purest form of that business because everything I do you're gonna like there's a price and you get that price.

Paki :

Yeah, exactly what's on the paper. You?

Christopher Costa :

know there's no like shell game. There's no switching and fixing it's just very like clear cut, like what, where everybody ends up.

Chris :

That's great. How do you like navigate the pressures of it? Because it is elective and it is cosmetic and people go in there with a big expectation of how they want to look or how they want they want to feel, and it's not one of those things. You could do it and then, if it, you know you mess up, it goes a different direction.

Chris :

Like you're pretty much you know, locked in at that point. So to me it's a lot of pressure and obviously you're very experienced at what you do. But how do you navigate that situation?

Christopher Costa :

a little bit yeah, so there's two things, and the first thing is very much what you actually are. You kind of alluded to it is management expectations. Um, from the moment we I meet a person to talk about what they're looking for, you know, I I want to, I want to assess, like, what their end goal results are and I want to make sure that their expectations are appropriate. Um, my office, uh, you know this leads into.

Christopher Costa :

The second thing is that I'm very uh pessimistic, okay, so, like I'm, I'm always thinking of kind of like what's the worst case scenario? Um, when I'm talking with people, cause, like I don't want to disappoint, I don't want to disappoint someone you know who's coming to me and like they're putting their trust in me or whatever. So, um, so I tend to be very much like you know when, when I'm meeting with them, I'm like, okay, well, this can go perspective that this is surgery, that everyone's human anatomy is different, that there's sometimes things we can't predict Now, that being said, usually everything's great, yeah, and from that standpoint I'm even pessimistic about myself.

Christopher Costa :

I'm like man, all right, what is this patient not going to like about their result? Like when I'm looking at them on the operating room table. Sometimes that means I got to like take those stitches out and like redo it or reclose it or cut some more skin out here, change the shape of the nose a little bit, because I know like, okay, I don't want this. I want this person to be happy and I don't want them coming back and expressing disappointment.

Christopher Costa :

Maybe I'm a little bit of a people pleaser. I think that probably factors into it a little bit, but I think for most people I don't think it matters what type of career you're in. I would say an overwhelming majority of people just go to work and they just kind of go through the steps.

Christopher Costa :

And they don't think about the steps, and I think a big part of success, in whatever field you're in, is just just pausing at each step of you know, whatever you're doing and just evaluating yourself and evaluating your result, and evaluating what you're doing and saying, you know, having that self-reflection to uh realize like, okay, is this going the way I?

Paki :

want it to or do.

Christopher Costa :

I need to make an adjustment or pivot a little bit so um so, and I think in my field that's like very important you know, does it seem like?

Paki :

it's like, for example, like I think it was uh, Korea, right, South Korea is like the big, that's like the capital for cosmetic surgeries and things like that. How do you feel we compare, you know, in the States compared to what they're doing there and the transition with technologies and things like that?

Christopher Costa :

In terms of cosmetic surgery.

Paki :

Yeah, cosmetic surgery.

Christopher Costa :

No, we are just as good, if not better, when it comes to developing new techniques and all that kind of thing. The difference is that health care in the United States is obviously very, very expensive, right?

Chris :

Yes.

Paki :

I was getting that.

Christopher Costa :

It's very, very expensive. And in other countries, because they have different standards of everything, not in a bad way, necessarily, but the cost of doing business is just so much, so much less, and so the cost of those procedures is less.

Paki :

They are versus here, yeah.

Christopher Costa :

So the barrier for entry is much, much lower, which just means the volume is much higher, and when you really increase volume, you're going to get better and you're going to be known as being the place to get something done. So the volume in places like Korea and Taiwan is just so much higher because they are able to do those procedures for at a fraction of the cost that we do them here in the United States.

Christopher Costa :

It doesn't necessarily mean that they're better, like when we look at, you know, in our medical journals, like you know who's doing the cutting edge research, who are the people who develop these techniques. You know a lot of it did come out of the United States, not to say, but you know they're doing some awesome stuff over there too.

Paki :

For sure You're seeing like a lot of people now you're to your point going to places where it's a little bit cheaper, like turkey and mexico and a lot of those are very you know nervous, but I'm seeing even more and more people here locally going to mexico for surgeries like how do you, yeah, so this is obviously like a very touchy subject yeah

Christopher Costa :

because, um, it's there's. When you look at it on paper you're like, oh, I can go here and it's, it's a fraction of the cost, maybe, that it is here, but, um, but the standards of what what are offered are very different. You know, when I do surgery here, you know I am in a state, certified, accredited surgical facility with every life-saving measure like known to man. That if you know, if, if the lights go off in all of vegas I have, you know the capability in the facilities that you know there's going to be power in my operating room and there's a lot of like life-saving technology, that's like available, and that's because that's we're in the united states.

Paki :

I would have never thought of that. I would have never thought of that. That's the standard here, right, and so that's the standard here, right, and so that's not the standard.

Christopher Costa :

when you go to Mexico, that's not the standard. And not to say that those like I said that they don't have good doctors and good facilities, but it's different. Anyone who's been to Mexico just knows you go into any sort of restaurant, it's different. So those are the kinds of things I think that people sometimes willingly overlook because they're just very focused on price and cost. And I usually say there's certain things that you want to try and find the best product on?

Chris :

Yeah, that's not one of them. Maybe this isn't one of them.

Christopher Costa :

And because that cost correlates to something, there's a reason why things just are more expensive here. Um and so, uh, you know, there's uh, there. There's obviously been horror stories of people going to other countries.

Christopher Costa :

I know like recently there was somebody who went to get a tummy tuck in Turkey and they took out our kidney and like yeah, so there there is like that kind of stuff that happens, um, our kidney and like, yeah, so there, there is like that kind of stuff that happens, um, you know, but uh, and, and that doesn't happen in the united states different countries all the time.

Christopher Costa :

So uh, so there is. You know the reality. Like you guys talk about business and stuff like that, the reality is there's, there's a market for everyone, and I mean the people who are going to prioritize that, like if cost is like your ultimate, like priority, like that is the thing that is most important to you.

Paki :

It's not a lot of times it moves in safety.

Christopher Costa :

Then you're probably not the right patient for me because, like that's not what I'm focused on, Like my my goal is not to do your surgery as quickly as possible. My goal is to do to get you the best result. So that's going to be. It's almost like a self-selecting thing, Got it?

Paki :

Okay, I'm glad you brought that up. So you have a specialty with the scar-free breast augmentation right? I did not know you do this. Is it underarm, in the crease of the underarm?

Christopher Costa :

Yeah, Okay so you know we're in Vegas. There's a lot of entertainment. You know a lot of people who work at, like you know, cocktail waitresses people who work at the day clubs and stuff like that.

Christopher Costa :

People don't want scars. Like we're in Vegas, we show a lot of skin right, so a lot of my patients do. They want to have those results, but they don't want the stigma of having undergone surgery. So a technique I learned when I lived in Texas was how to do breast augmentation using an endoscope, going through an underarm incision, and that, for me, I just said, hey, if I was a woman, this is the way I would want it done. These results are really, really awesome. Woman, this is the way I would want it done. Like, like, these results are really really awesome. So it's something that I, uh, I, I personally like went out and looked into and tried to learn, um, and, and kind of, you know, put my own energy into it. Um, you know, it's not something that's commonly done. I never heard yeah when.

Paki :

I was doing.

Christopher Costa :

I was like, wow, I didn't even know you could do that yeah, there's a few barriers, like from as a plastic surgeon, like number one. There's some special equipment that you have to have and that you have to kind of be trained on how to use, and so that's a that's a big limiting factor for a lot of surgeons, sure, um, the other thing is, uh, most, most surgeons who do a lot of breast augmentation, um, uh, they do a lot of them very quickly and, and obviously, going through this technique takes a little bit longer, and so, um, so some there's just people that are like I'm good doing it, sure do it and again, like you know, I we offer, we offer every different sort of incision, but the thing that people travel here for, you know, if they're coming to me for an augmentation, it's usually because they're like hey, you do this and you do it well.

Christopher Costa :

Like you know, um are with, with some of the new advancements in our newer implants, the use of funnel devices, our understanding about, like um, some of the long-term complications associated with implants, like that's what I wanted to ask you about.

Christopher Costa :

Yeah, I can get I get the same results, if not my, if not better, like you know, using this approach um in my patients than I do with you know other approaches. So it's something that, like I like it because, like I said, if I was doing a breast augmentation, that's the way I would probably work.

Paki :

Yeah, yeah, very interesting. How does it like? Because you hear a lot about that, right. You hear about people getting, you know, breast implants and things like that, and then you hear them being removed for some reason. Right, maybe it is the, I don't know what you would call them, not the material, but what? What are you putting inside? You know a person's body Like, what is it that's actually going inside their body, that that it's getting better, if that makes sense. I don't know if I'm asking the right question, cause I'm hearing a lot of stuff about, like, the stuff that you used back in the day was horrible, and then I'm going to take it back.

Christopher Costa :

So the first. So going back to like what the first breast augmentation was, the first breast augmentation was done with a sponge.

Paki :

Oh, okay, a sponge. Yeah, that makes We've come a long way. Yeah, okay, very good point, yeah.

Christopher Costa :

So you know now we're using highly cohesive medical grade. You know silicone is. You know what most surgeons prefer. There are still like saline options out there, but like, if you cut this thing in half it just stays there, it's not going to like leak through your body okay, you know so so the implants we have are very safe.

Christopher Costa :

You know, the reality is is, uh, there's a moratorium put on silicone implants in the 90s and everyone had to use saline and you know there was thoughts that silicone implants may cause cancer, may cause yes, all these things right.

Christopher Costa :

This is one of the very few devices that the FDA has ever like come back and said like you know, we did a lot of research on this, we did multiple studies, we looked at all the data from Europe and all over the world and we don't have anything to say that this should not be FDA approved, got it.

Christopher Costa :

So it's very rare for the FDA to like turn and then come back. You know what I mean, so, um, so, so I feel very confident in the safety of, you know, of the devices that we use and the and the prostheses we use. Um, now, there's no doubt that, uh uh, that there are. There's a very small group of patients that have something called like breast implant illness, which, where they are having symptoms of that, are very nonspecific and and they, you know, really feel like it's their implants that are creating those symptoms.

Paki :

And I hear that multiple times. That's why I wanted to ask you that. Yeah.

Christopher Costa :

Now, the, the, the, the. The hard part about this is that these are very non-specific symptoms and these are very like inability to focus, um, restlessness, hot heat intolerance, cold intolerance, waking, mental fogginess. These are all things that, like I don't know about you, but like adds to your balance, to your body yeah that's me all the time.

Chris :

That's just me, you know, like that's just that's just me not being 20 years old anymore, right.

Christopher Costa :

So there is some it's very, you know doing all the things that we do, we're not really able to like to really hone in exactly on, like what's happening. But my approach to this is just, you know, if you feel like this could be a factor like this could be creating this problem, you know we'll take them out.

Christopher Costa :

It's not a big deal and um, and I can tell you that you know, for for a lot of patients, that just gives them that peace of mind. Um, now I will say also that there is a little bit more of a trend of patients who are, um, just you know, they've had their implants in for 10, 20 years and they're like it's done with them.

Christopher Costa :

It was fun when I was 20 years old or 25 years old, and now they're in their 40s and they have some extra weight and they just kind of want to be smaller buses. So it's not uncommon to remove the implants and you know, and do a lift or, you know, do whatever we need to do. And I think that that's awesome because I think we're seeing, like I said, like, just because you have an operation when you're 20, it doesn't mean you have to, like, keep getting implants till you're 90 years old or whatever we can always take them out and you know different phases in life.

Christopher Costa :

I think one trap people sometimes get caught in is you know they're like, oh well, I want to do procedure X, but I got to wait till this happens in my life, or I'm done having kids or I'm done. You know, and the truth is is you know you're only going to be this age today. You know. So if you want to, you know, if you want to enjoy that, you know, live in the moment, that kind of thing Like it's, you can. We can always do other stuff later. You know we can always take them out or or or change things. You know there's obviously some, some exceptions to that. You know we don't want to like be doing tummy tucks and people are going to have more kids. But enjoy it now. Our goal is really to enhance your natural anatomy and your natural self. So just make you kind of the best version of yourself where you are today. If you're 25, I can make you the best version of your 25-year-old, but when you're 35, I can't make you the best 25 year old.

Paki :

That's a good point. So you're honest, Like go back to Chris's point. We was asking you earlier Do you have to tell a lot of people no? Like hey, this is not realistic on what you're trying to accomplish?

Christopher Costa :

Luckily I do not, because I'm very fortunate that I just have a lot of really normal patients.

Paki :

That's good, okay, normal patients.

Christopher Costa :

That's good, okay. Yeah, it's not like what you see on tv. Uh, like you know, beverly hills and everything's exaggerated with their giant lips and they're like, yeah, you know, whatever, and they all, they're all crazy or whatever it's. It's really just a lot of normal people. It's just, you know, I got two kids at home, I'm, you know, I I work out six days a week or four days a week and I just don't, I just can't hold it all together. Kind of the same way, like you did before.

Christopher Costa :

So they're looking for a little liposuction, they're looking for things to be a little tightened up and, like I said, they're just so. I am very lucky. I don't know about other offices, but for the most part I have very normal patients and they're normal people.

Paki :

Yeah, what's the percentage of men that you work on? Do a lot of men get you know plastic surgery that they're getting done?

Christopher Costa :

So I think I think At your office.

Paki :

I'm saying this is just a general, yeah.

Christopher Costa :

Yeah, nationally it's probably like 10% In my office it's more like 20 to 20. Oh, so you? Do a good amount we're very high. Oh, okay, I didn't realize that In that sense for a few reasons.

Christopher Costa :

One, I do a lot of rhinoplasty. I do a lot of men for noses, and then I also specialize a little bit in gynecomastia surgery, which is male breast tissue, which has been one of the most gratifying procedures I do, because it is literally a lifestyle debilitating kind of thing for the men that I see. See in the sense that they're like I can't wear certain clothes, I'm really nervous to take my shirt off at the pool. I just don't feel comfortable wearing certain things and how my chest is going to show through. And it's this super common thing that guys do not want to talk about. We don't all sit together and talk about it.

Paki :

I didn't even know that was a thing. I didn't even know it was a thing until you just brought it up right now.

Christopher Costa :

Yeah, and so, um, you know it's uh, but when guys start finding it or start looking for it you know we they usually come across our website and we just have lots of pictures. We have. We have hundreds of before and after photos of every person. So you know, they kind of get the idea that we treat a lot of men and to that point, like I try to keep our office relatively gender neutral, I guess you'd say just because like there's no reason the guys can't look good too.

Christopher Costa :

You know, I mean we all, everybody there's when you, when. It's not about vanity and it's just about being like the best version of yourself, like that's everybody. It's not about vanity and it's just about being like the best version of yourself, like that's everybody. That's not just a woman thing, that's all of us.

Christopher Costa :

You know we all kind of whether it's doing it in the gym or you know diet or you know like it's a synergistic thing. Like you know, we try to add all those things together. It's how you get to the best version.

Chris :

One thing I'm curious about is, like you know, you're one person right and I feel like it limits the amount of growth opportunity from a business perspective. You know, as you continue to want to drive and promote and compete and, you know, try to get people into the office, you know, by doing the right things, but really isn't there a ceiling of how much you can realistically do and how do you manage that expectation of how you want to grow?

Christopher Costa :

Yeah, 100%. So you hit the nail on the head, right, I mean among most surgeons, not just plastic surgeons, obviously, but everyone in their respective field is always thinking of, like, what's the exit strategy?

Paki :

Of course. How am I going to?

Christopher Costa :

move on to the next thing. And I'm in a field where, if I take vacation for a week, we don't make any money.

Christopher Costa :

You know, right, like, like, like I have to literally working with my hands for us, for the office, yeah, and we have to be getting good results and all that stuff. So so it is a hard thing cause it's it's very, very difficult to scale. And I know that there's like there's one group over in, I think, north Carolina, who's got a pretty big group and they're trying to figure it out. But even they have a lot of problems, because the problem with surgeons is, let's say, we want to recruit another surgeon is, we're all pretty smart, we all went to medical school, we all want to be the hero of our own story. Everybody wants to build their own thing. It's hard to create a model where you can scale and grow that way. To answer your question, I'm just probably going to work forever.

Chris :

Make good investments, make good investments, yeah, exactly.

Christopher Costa :

I think, but seriously, I think that's where it goes to creating the right brand, that it is true that our results really are, I think, what have propelled us to our level of success. Like that we do get really good results, but it's that other side of it. It's that the infrastructure and the logistical side of how you treat patients, how are you able, are we, we're able, to manage a large number of people, of patients, and give them all like an individualized and kind of in a personal experience?

Christopher Costa :

that's hard to do like that's you know and and being able to kind of figure that part of the model out is just as important as learning how to be a surgeon or a doctor or you know, because, like said, it's people, people have a choice, they don't have to come to you.

Chris :

So it's almost you got to create the demand, create the experience and obviously give the results, and ultimately, the goal would be to have so much that you can raise prices, etc. And that's what really drives the growth.

Christopher Costa :

Yeah, you know um I I hate this cliche, but you know that plastic like we're, like art meets science and all that kind of stuff, like it's very cliche but um you know very true that you know that plastic like we're like art meets science and all that kind of stuff, like it's very cliche. But you know, very true, that you know people pay very different prices for artwork, right.

Christopher Costa :

And it's very much based on, you know, some of its reputation, but obviously it's result and expectation and there's a reason why. You know know some people can charge exponentially more for a surgery than other people and a lot of it has to do with that. You know they've shown the pudding.

Paki :

Yeah, and that kind of thing.

Christopher Costa :

So so there is. There is some some of an extent of that and I think everyone. It's based on your personality too, you know, I think I think my office uh attracts a certain type of person and, um, you know, and it's probably just based on my own personality, like people seeing my own personality, like on social media, um, uh, people like said, like coming in for consults, and you know if they like our office or if they don't like our office, you know I.

Christopher Costa :

I always say, uh, you know, there's, there's a plastic surgeon out there office, you know. I always say you know there's a plastic surgeon out there for everybody, you know, and if you were to take all the plastic surgeons you know just in Vegas, for instance, we all have very, very different personalities, and that's kind of the nice thing about it, right.

Paki :

As a patient.

Christopher Costa :

You got choices and you know you can find the person that you vibe with and that you like.

Paki :

Yeah, no-transcript.

Christopher Costa :

Do you feel like it's hurting the youth or helping the youth? So this is something that I like, have to like, deal with every day right Cause I'm on social media every day and we're showing our results every day. And and then I'm also getting like the Instagram bots that are um flagging my content saying that it's not safe for children, you know that kind of stuff. So so, trust me, like, I'm like very very aware of like what of that.

Christopher Costa :

We need to be sensitive to that, and I have two daughters myself. I think the perspective of keeping it educational, that these are the things that are possible, these are the things that we can do, and then also trying to be real with results. Plastic surgery can create some amazing results, but like the process you know, there, there, there can be a lot of there's going to be a lot of fluid.

Christopher Costa :

You know there can be a lot of, a lot of draining right, like there's a lot there's like there's there's a medical side to it too, right, and so you know being able to be open about like hey, like this is a, this is a procedure, this is what it is, this is what it isn't. You know making like, showing honest photos, not not altering any like content or something like that, like just being real with people. And I think that you know, when it comes to people having um and then not attributing necessarily like value to that sort of result, like, like we're not. I'm not telling people like, oh, this person got a rhinoplasty now they're so much better than everybody else. Like you know and I think that that's important you know, if content is being exposed to like a younger audience that they're they're not perceiving that somehow getting plastic surgery is going to like make them more of a person or more of a human.

Paki :

I love that. Yeah, do you have to talk with your daughters about that, because I talk to my boys all the time, man.

Christopher Costa :

Well, luckily they're still very young, they're three and four.

Paki :

What do you do if they come to you and say hey dad, I want to get some breast implants. Man.

Christopher Costa :

Would you try to talk them off the ledge or would you applaud it? No, again, applaud it. No, I again, I I'm. I'm totally for like self-enhancement and improvement. I think it's more about like understanding the motive behind it. So, same thing, even when a patient comes in my office and they say they want, you know, a rhinoplasty, sure, or a breast augmentation, it's like why, why do you want this? What do you? What's your goal with this? Like, what are you trying to do? And, like I said, like most of my patients are pretty normal people, they have, they just say the kind of like normal stuff. And, and I appreciate it, it's when there's other answers like, uh, oh, this is, you know, I'm, I got it, I'm, I'm in, I, I'm, I'm trying to get into promotion with my career and and I keep getting passed over, and I think it's cause I'm not pretty enough. And you know they keep picking the young, pretty girls like that kind of thing and that kind of secondary gain.

Christopher Costa :

um, that's usually not good, because then they're they're really attributing that value to like, you know, a lot of their external value, to like something that they're expecting me to be able to get them, which it doesn't work that way.

Paki :

Yeah, there's a psychology side to it. Yeah, it's tough yeah for sure I like how you were talking about the education too, is really sharing the education of everything too, which is awesome. That's good stuff. What do you think is like the biggest misconception about plastic surgery? Because I, like you, were talking about like doing hand surgery and nose surgery and breast cancer and things along those lines reconstructive surgery. But what do you think is the miss the biggest?

Christopher Costa :

misconception of plastering. Okay, uh, it's probably that everyone asks me uh, like the first thing people say when they hear a plaster, and oh did you ever watch nip tuck like? Nip tuck, like people who will imagine that guy driving the lambo on miami beach like, and you know, being a big womanizer and um and it was like a reality show this.

Chris :

No, it's like a scripted show. It was a scripted show from, you know, from a big womanizer and um, and it was like a reality show this no, it's like a scripted show.

Christopher Costa :

It was a scripted show from, you know, from the 90s and like, and everyone just assumes that it's like this big flashy thing and actually, and actually that's why I command actually like the show botched. Like I love like that show botched because they're very real on that show and like those guys are pretty like very real and you know they they're all about setting those expectations and you know, and they're like just kind of normal fun guys, you know, and so, um, you know, the ability to uh like, like I said, talking to people is it's when someone hears I'm a plastic surgeon and they don't know anything about pleasure.

Christopher Costa :

It's always. It's always men, by the way, right, women like girls know.

Paki :

That's me all day. That's why I wanted to sit down with you, because I have no clue anything about plaster surgery, yet it's usually guys.

Christopher Costa :

It's usually the guys and it's like you just have to be kind and, like I said, I think just normalizing it. Like you know, I got a job, I go to work, I just try and do whatever the best I can at work and then go home to my family.

Paki :

Yeah, it's got to be intense, man right, it's got to be stressful, the position that you're in. You know at times, I would assume, who's kind of like in your circle, With us being Vegas Circle like, who's in your circle that you can kind of like bump things off, or mentors and things like that that can kind of help you and kind of keep you on the right. You know, the right mindset and the right going in the right direction.

Christopher Costa :

Like nowadays yeah, nowadays yeah.

Paki :

Or maybe in the past, maybe it's something that subconsciously you know can help you.

Christopher Costa :

Yeah, you're, you're totally right. I mean, uh, there's definitely times where I feel like I am on an Island.

Paki :

Yeah, by yourself, especially having the home practice.

Christopher Costa :

Yeah, and I think anyone who is a business owner can probably like sympathize with that, because, uh, there's, there are just certain stresses that are involved with like running a company, that and you can't, you can't go to your employees to like talk to them about it. Yeah exactly you know what I mean. Or or man, like you know it's it's surgery, like complications happen, like it's it's part of the, it's part of the what you signed up for what we signed up for Exactly, and that's, and you know you can do.

Christopher Costa :

You can do everything right and still, like you know, if you chose the wrong patient, you know they just want to blame you or you know whatever.

Christopher Costa :

And I think the things that have really helped me is number one we actually do have a very good community of plastic surgeons here in Vegas, Like I do know you know, the majority of people around town and I know you know, and I know, that most of them are good, so I know that if a patient comes in my office and is trashing one of them, that it's probably them and not the surgeon, and that's really helpful because it's always good to have peers that you can talk to.

Christopher Costa :

I have people that I trained with, mostly, that are in other parts of the country, literally people from coast to coast, that I can talked to. I have people that I trained with, mostly you know, that are in other parts of the country, literally people from coast to coast, that I can talk to about, like hey, like, so I have this case, you know, and it's it's always like that, it's like somebody is if I, if I'm calling somebody or they're calling me, it's usually because we got to like we have an issue that we want to like kind of like collaborate on or, you know, see if we can kind of get better.

Christopher Costa :

I'm very fortunate that I did have some really awesome role models coming up through my education to that. You know, I've had some really bad role models too. One of my, one of my one of the most interesting role models I had was someone actually when I lived in Baltimore and I was doing a bunch of research and moonlighting and I was working under this insanely productive orthopedic surgeon who had multiple personality problems, just to put it like that, and he said look, man, when you get out of here, you got to figure out what I did. You got to emulate my good qualities and forget my bad ones. And if you do that, like you're going to be fine in life. And I've kind of taken that that.

Christopher Costa :

You know, everyone has something that they can offer. Um, figure out like who you know, try not to try not to be the smartest person in the room, try to surround yourself with, with other people that you can learn from. But just because you are in that situation, like see, and and I think that really helps with my approach with people too is that like I've worked with a lot of what people would consider to be like very hard individuals to work with or work for. Yeah, and I think that's because if you go into any sort of situation with the with the mindset of like what can I what? Why, like? This is a person who's clearly successful, like, how did they get successful? Like, what do they do? Like? What is it exactly that they, that they're doing like? Maybe maybe it's the same thing that why everybody hates them.

Paki :

You know like, but they're really good at what they do, so figure out. That's solid on it, right? Yeah, that's a good point.

Christopher Costa :

So um, I, I have all I'm. I'm actually not I'm. We joke about my instagram. I'm very much an introvert. I'm not a like social, go meet everybody type of person. Yeah, and I think one of the really cool things about being alive today, or like, if you're like, a youth coming up, is that your role models don't have to be people that you interact with on a daily basis, like. There are a lot of really awesome role models out there that are like on youtube you can see them 100%.

Paki :

Yeah, like online mentors in a way.

Christopher Costa :

Yeah, yeah I mean, and people, and so there are people who I have, you know, been in, I've been exposed to in my life that, honestly, like, didn't really want anything to do with me but they had a big impact on my life because I saw the value of what they had to offer and I just tried to take advantage of it, like every chance that I had to like, yeah, they weren't, they weren't actively trying to mentor me or give me advice or show me how to run a business or you know any of that stuff. Right, it was. It was just something that I kind of internalized myself.

Paki :

For sure. Yeah, for, like, business advice, right, like is there's so many different ways people can go right, so what would you leave somebody out on? Maybe they want to go to medical school, maybe be a plastic surgeon. They have something else that you know, a dream that they want to accomplish. What's a nugget that you can kind of leave for them, that, uh, if you want to go into business?

Christopher Costa :

don't go to medical school.

Paki :

We'll start there.

Chris :

We'll start there, the loans are crazy.

Christopher Costa :

Yeah, if your goal is to be successful and make a lot of money, there's a lot of other ways to do it that are probably going to be more successful.

Christopher Costa :

So obviously go into medicine if that's what you really care about. But you know, I would say when it comes to like let's. I'll kind of rephrase the question Like one question I get from a lot of people are people who are maybe in residency and they've seen what I've done, which is like go out on my own and start my own practice, and they're like man, I kind of want to do what you're doing.

Christopher Costa :

I don't want to work for somebody else, I don't want to work for the university or hospital, like what is some advice that you could give me, and so I think the first thing I'd say is YouTube. All right, do your own research. Do your own research. I literally learned how to run a business from YouTube.

Chris :

I learned like you know YouTube.

Christopher Costa :

I love that you're saying this how do you start a business in Nevada, like you know, you're, you know, and then there's a five minute video on like these are the things you need to establish a business. And then um, and, and you just start doing research like that on your own and I think that, um, there there is. I mean, I know that's cliche, but there is no limitation today to start doing anything that you want to do.

Christopher Costa :

You can literally look it up and kind of do it yourself you know, like it goes to show that there are some, though, for instance, like there are so many highly successful entrepreneurs, people out there, right, like doctors, people who went to law school, medical school, but like they can't take that extra step, right, like they're, they're always going to like just kind of work for an institution or um, or something along those lines, and they're never going to kind of like excel to that next level. And maybe they don't want to, and that's fine too, um, but uh, but that the research shows that it's a very small percentage of people who step out and do that next thing and start a business and I think my dad told me.

Christopher Costa :

He said that 95% of all businesses are the exact same they are, and he's totally right. Like it's, you know, there's obviously costs, expenses.

Chris :

There's revenue uh, you know marketing uh and then.

Christopher Costa :

But then there's also like managing people, Like how do you treat people? How do you, how do you generate like value, how do you generate loyalty, how do you like? All of these things are um, they're, they're universal, it doesn't matter what you're doing. Yeah, it really doesn't matter if you're a plastic surgeon, or if you're an auto repair shop.

Paki :

That's true. Yeah, that's very true.

Christopher Costa :

It's all really the same stuff. It's just a matter of like what you're, what, what service it is that you're providing, so, um, so I, from that standpoint, uh, it's, it's really just like empower yourself, to like learn it yourself, and that you, you know, if you can, if you can figure out medical school, you can probably figure this part out too. There's, there's a lot of people who didn't graduate high school that are running very successful businesses because they get people.

Paki :

Yeah, I get it. I love that you're saying. I love what you said about YouTube Cause college and everything, but I wish I would have had better YouTube back in the day.

Christopher Costa :

Me too.

Paki :

I wouldn't have to read so much Good stuff, transitioning a little bit, we always ask our guests about restaurants. What's your favorite restaurant in Vegas?

Christopher Costa :

I've had to think about this because there's a lot of good restaurants in Vegas.

Paki :

Amazing food in Vegas.

Christopher Costa :

Right now. For sure, though, I had to ask my wife, it's probably La Strega.

Paki :

Oh, it's probably La Strega. La Strega it's a town center, very good Italian place we've been there multiple times. They're handmade pasta and stuff that sounds fantastic what was the other owner, harlow? Same chef for downtown Summerlin, harlow, la Strega so good.

Christopher Costa :

I'm Italian, I've lived in a lot of places with really good on Summerlin, harlow, and then you're right, la Strega Excellent food. Yeah, so good, like I'm Italian and I've lived in a lot of places with really good Italian food. Yeah, and I don't get me wrong, there's a lot of very expensive Italian restaurants in Vegas.

Paki :

It is yeah.

Christopher Costa :

But I haven't really liked a lot oflla.

Paki :

I don't think anybody brought that up. That's good yeah.

Christopher Costa :

They make all their own pasta. They make all their own sauce, like it's it's really really good.

Paki :

I've never been there. It's very good. We've been there multiple times. It's reasonable. It's not like too crazy. Yeah, I would have said your name, was it Gina? Gina, I'm sorry.

Christopher Costa :

Chef.

Paki :

Gina yeah, we met her. Before I apologize, Gina.

Christopher Costa :

I think I met her too.

Paki :

She's great. What else is up for you, man? What else is that we forgot to that you want to leave us out on, man, that we didn't ask you?

Christopher Costa :

If anything. I feel like a lot of stuff we talked about is you of? Like, that's just the side.

Chris :

Sure.

Christopher Costa :

That's the stuff that we do you know, what I mean, but you know, a lot of it is more of the ins and outs of like the run in the business and you know I think that that's really important.

Chris :

I think you said a great point about you know all businesses are the same but the service is what changes and I think that's really focusing on those pieces of what drive a business are extremely important.

Christopher Costa :

Oh, I cried for that. Yeah, that's a good one.

Paki :

That's a great one yeah.

Christopher Costa :

That's awesome, yeah, yeah.

Paki :

What's your social? Handles man that um yeah, so uh you can find me on.

Christopher Costa :

Instagram is where I post most of my stuff. That's Dr Costa underscore platinum. Uh, I A lot of fun times yeah, you know, as long as we're not getting banned by the Instagram bots and all that kind of stuff, obviously we're looking at growth.

Christopher Costa :

We're definitely looking at expanding. We are, you know, kind of that question about like how do you scale in surgery? It's literally something I've been asking myself like for the last like five years, and I know that some people have done it, but I've also seen them not do it very unsuccessfully, you know, and and lots of hurt feelings. And sure, um, there's some statistic like very high percentage, like over 80 of people who join a practice uh will leave within the first three years, like, um in in our field at least.

Christopher Costa :

Yeah, it's very, very true. So it's trying to find a model that will be successful for growth and longevity but also treats people fairly and keeps people happy to where they want to stay in it and they don't feel the need to leave. Because there is a paradox of if you're starting a business and you find someone who's very successful or who's very good, you want them to kind of like that's who you want to hire right, but if they're very good.

Christopher Costa :

They probably want to our MAs and everything is is trying you know, finding and retaining talent like which I know, is something that people talk about, but like it's, something like it's it's definitely hit me a lot over the last couple of years, in the sense that like you can't, you can't grow almost until you have those pieces in place, and and it's almost like anytime you lose someone like that, you have to restart you have to almost restart right yeah, exactly, and yeah, and it's like okay, like you know, trying to move forward.

Christopher Costa :

So that's that's the goal is is trying to trying to grow in a way that is going to um be be successful and and long doing it the right way and doing it the right way, yeah, doing it the right way, which means like long term and you know where it's sustainable. And yeah, hopefully I can maybe take a little vacation.

Paki :

Yeah, take a break. Yeah, take a break, man. Well, we applaud you, man, we appreciate you sitting down with us, man, and shout out to Connected that's Lindsey Feldman with Brand Bomb PR. I've known her for a while, but we appreciate you, man, and definitely check us out at thebakercircuitcom.

Christopher Costa :

So thanks for your time. Thank you so much, I appreciate it. That was good stuff.

Chris :

Yeah.