Skin & Vein Center

Who remembers the Hair Club for Men promotions where the guy would say, “I not only the president, I am also a client?”  Well, I am not just a cosmetic surgeon.  I am also a patient.

You see, I started to lose my hair at age 28.  By the time I was 38, I had a big bald spot on the back of my head.  My attention was on it all of the time and it drove down my self-confidence.  I would paint it and do other things to cover it up, but nothing worked.  Needless to say, quite a bit of my time and energy was devoted to finding solutions and work-arounds, but to no avail.

Finally, I decided to get a hair transplant.  And you know what?  It made a world a difference.  Immediately, my self-esteem was back to normal and my attention could now be diverted to thinking of more constructive ways to make a difference in the world rather than worrying about my hair.

This is what cosmetic surgery can do for you.  Getting older is not easy.  For me, it was losing my hair.  For others, they may lose structure in their face.  Regardless, this can result in a loss of confidence and even depression.  The most common thing that I hear is people who look in the mirror their look is not consistent with how they feel inside.  While they don’t want to necessarily change their look, they just want it to be consistent with how they feel inside.

By performing a mini-facelift, we are able to “refresh” their look and take them back to how they looked about 10 years ago.  It is incredible to see when patients look in the mirror for the first time, give a great big smile and say, “That’s how I feel inside and how I want to show myself!”  This moment brings goose bumps to me every time.

Recently, I started thinking of new ways the Skin & Vein Center could give back to the community to those who cannot afford to have these types of procedures done.  We have been doing Freedom Ink, where we remove tattoos from ex-gang members at the Detroit iHisHispanic Development Corporation for several years now.

In May, we launched another program called Project Uplift, where, once a month, we are gifting a free-mini facelift to someone who could not have otherwise afforded this procedure.  The great thing about this program is from the nomination and voting process to the procedure, the whole office gets to be involved in making a difference in someone’s life.

In the end, the emotional rewards we get from making a difference in people’s lives through the procedures we perform is far better than any economic rewards we can gain.