In recent years, cosmetic surgery procedures have grown more than 40%. While much of that growth is attributed to the surge in fillers and injectables, the demand for facelifts remains strong. In this interview with Ben Talei, MD, a facial plastic surgeon and medical director of the Beverly Hills Center For Laser & Plastic Surgery who performs over 300 facelifts each year, we discuss how to get a facelift right the first time, as well as, and many other facets of the life of this extraordinary and interesting man. To watch the full episode of this interview, CLICK HERE, to listen to the podcast CLICK HERE. To learn more about Dr. Ben Talei, visit www.beverlyhillscenter.com.
How did you get started in facial plastic surgery?
I grew up in California and throughout my childhood I always wanted to be a doctor. In those early years I wanted to be a heart surgeon, or a brain surgeon, and throughout medical school I felt that I wanted to be some kind of life saver. Ultimately, I had to make a choice and I decided it was going to be between Head and Neck Surgery cancer treatments or orthopedic because I was good with my hands. I decided on head and neck because you really treat all of the body through the head and neck. All the symptoms of any disease come up through the head and neck, so for me that was very enticing. I went to residency in New York at Columbia and Cornell, and I loved everything related to the sinuses, the throat, the voice, the ears, everything. It was all amazing. At this time, I thought that I wanted to be a cancer doctor, until I realized that you had to actually tell people they had cancer. That was the tough part for me because I would end up crying every day with my patients and, after a while, I realized my energy level was dropping, and that this was not something I could do long term. I switched to the reconstructive part of the cancer but as I became more exposed to the challenges and intricacies of cosmetic surgery of the face, I fell in love with facial plastic surgery and have never looked back.
At what point did you set up your practice in Beverly Hills?
After I finished my training in New York, I did several fellowships in cosmetic surgery and then moved back to LA, where I almost immediately started my own practice. It took off pretty quickly and within six months or so I became really quite good at performing revision rhinoplasty, and developed a particular interest in the aging face, injectables and lasers. I was working very long hours, morning and night and, as I couldn’t really stop, I just went with the momentum. It was quite exhilarating as I was performing two or three surgeries every day, and then seeing 20 to 40 patients afterwards for injectables such as Botox® and Fillers. I think I was most probably the busiest single doctor injector in Beverly Hills for several years. Now I have a focus on facelift surgery, eyes and lips to which I dedicate four (long) days a week.
Why do you consider cosmetic surgery to be more challenging?
All surgery is challenging, but with most surgeries there is either a very important need, or it is a life and death situation and the possibility of it resulting with a scar or worse is accepted because of the necessity for the surgery. Most surgeries are also inside the body, rather than externally as is the case with cosmetic surgery. In cosmetic surgery, you are starting out with a healthy patient and even something as simple as inserting a needle into their skin tissue is causing a slight injury to perfect tissue so we have to be extremely careful and super precise about everything. The challenging part is obtaining a result that looks completely natural, rather than one where everybody knows you’ve had cosmetic surgery. So, for me, that is the challenging part. I enjoy the fact that I am gauged by the result that you see which drives me to attain as great a result as I can. For example, the three dimensionality of a rhinoplasty surgery, which is one of the hardest and most complex surgeries, is something that I wanted to master. I don’t set out to compare it to what anyone else is doing, but to prove to myself that I can deliver to my patient a result that is natural and perfect to them. Facelift surgery is another extremely challenging surgery because there is no room for error with a person’s face which adds another dimension of necessary precision.
What is the Auralyft Facelift Technique?
The Auralyft is a name I gave to my particular facelifting technique that I have strived to perfect over the years. The better question might be, what’s different or special about the way I do a facelift because there are so many different ways to do one. Each face is different and my approach varies in many different ways which I categorized under the Auralyft. The Auralyft is a specialized extensive and logical approach to returning a youthful appearance to an aging face. I say logical because my approach is to address and lift the tissue layer in the plane or direction that it moves naturally which we can only truly understand when we have extensive training in the anatomy. With the Auralyft we address all the signs of aging in the face including the eyes, brow, cheeks, chin, skin laxity and volume loss to provide the patient with as complete a return to their youthful self as possible.
Do you include a Deep Plane facelift in the Auralyft?
A Deep Plane facelift means that you are working in the glide plane which means that there are two layers of skin and muscle that are gliding over each other. To perform a facelift correctly these two planes have to be lifted in a way that allows that glide to remain. The glide plane is mobile and if you move it correctly allowing each plane to remain unattached, there should not be any bunching or rippling of the skin which means the underlying tissue and muscle planes have been taken back in the direction they need to go, giving the patient a beautiful and natural result. Working in the deep plane or glide plane is incredibly complex yet incredibly logical and is definitely an important part of the Auralyft.
Do you actually perform 300 facelifts each year?
Yes. I do. That is very comfortable for me and allows me to really focus my skills, training and expertise. Each case is different, challenging and interesting in its own way which keeps me on top of my game.
What other treatments are part of the Auralyft?
The Auralyft is a system of techniques that improve the face through surgical applications. To complement the Auralyft, and address other signs of aging we may consider using fillers and injectables, laser treatments, peels and regenerative skin care programs to achieve optimal results.
What is the typical age of an Auralyft patient?
As the Auralyft is a method that addresses facial aging through a variety of techniques, we see patients as young as 40 and as old as 85. Age is just a number.
Dr. Ben Talei also races cars and boats, is an avid fund raiser for many organizations including the Face-to-Face domestic violence program of the American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery, performs pro-bono surgery on children in need of cleft palate correction on missionary expeditions to Guatalmala and other countries, and loves to cook! To watch the full episode of this interview, CLICK HERE, to listen to the podcast CLICK HERE. To learn more about Dr. Ben Talei, visit www.beverlyhillscenter.com.