Barry Weintraub, MD - Plastic Surgeon in New York City

Eva Sheie (00:03):
The purpose of this podcast is simple. We want you to get to know your doctor before meeting them in person because you're making a life-changing decision, and time is scarce. The more you can learn about who your doctor is before you meet them, the better that first meeting will be. There's no substitute for an in-person appointment, but we hope this comes close. I'm your host, Eva Sheie, and you're listening to Meet the Doctor. Welcome to Meet the Doctor. My guest today is Dr. Barry Weintraub. He's a plastic surgeon in New York City. Welcome Dr. Weintraub.

Dr. Weintraub (00:40):
Good morning.

Eva Sheie (00:41):
We're looking forward to getting to know you today. So let's start with, tell us about yourself.

Dr. Weintraub (00:48):
Well, I was born and raised in New York City and I practice in my hometown of New York City. I am a board certified plastic surgeon. Educationally, I was very fortunate in that I went to Brandeis University as an undergrad and then I wound up in Cornell Medical School. Then my general surgery was done at UCLA Cedar Sinai and then back at Cornell for my plastic fellowship. So I love New York and I'll defend it to the end. My specialty is highly detailed, understated less is more cosmetic, surgery of the face, eyes, nose, jowls, and neck. I will now and then do a body case, but I did more of those when I was a much younger surgeon. It, it turns out that the head and neck is the really the next frontier and it is much more difficult to get consistent beauty. The whole key to this field, and I don't mean it's something, it's everything, and that is to look like no one touched you. You have to look, you know, certainly solve the problem, get the result, but never shout cosmetic surgery. Cosmetic surgery should whisper, never shout. 

Eva Sheie (02:15):
I like that. Can you tell when they look like no one's touched them, but they have.

Dr. Weintraub (02:21):
With my eye I can because I do this for a living. But there are some beautiful results out there and the lay public generally would not know.

Eva Sheie (02:33):
So what is it that you like about the face in particular? And I'm curious why you include jowls because most of us would think jowls are just part of your face, but you say you're specializing in jowls. I kind of like this. So tell me more.

Dr. Weintraub (02:49):
Well, as I mentioned, it's face, eyes, nose jowls are part of the jawline and neck. And as we all know, when we get older everything falls forward and downward. We want to pick it upward and backward, but never look like a lampshade or like you're in a wind tunnel. You have to look like you and you have to have a keen eye towards natural beauty. So if one talks about the face, the face is divided into thirds, the upper third from the scalp to the corner of the eye, the midface from the corner of the eye to the jaw. And the lower third jaw to clavicle. And face lifting in involves re- suspending those tissues that were once higher up to a position that's much more youthful. In doing the facelift, there are many, many tricks and fantastic information that I've learned over the years that I've been doing elective cosmetic surgery.

(03:52)
My facelift is called the Tri Planer Facelift, in that it enters three different planes in different places. The deep plane needs to be entered to solve the problem of fat in the jowl area, the SMAS or the submuscular, A neurotic system fans down onto your neck and that has to be addressed to get a beautifully sharp jawline. And the last place is the subcutaneous skin. That's the final place we dissect and then trim away the excess with all incisions in the inside of the ear or in the crease behind the ear. Again, less is more get the result, don't change expression. When it comes to eyelids, the eyelids are the finest skin in your body and the thinnest skin in your body. So around age 35, 40 people start realizing that their upper eyelids are hooding in, they're losing their natural crease in the upper lids. And often you'll see fat pads in the lower eyelids that pooch out make someone look older and tireder than their stated age.

(05:00)
So the upper eyelids are handled with a gentle elliptical excision of unwanted skin and the fat pads are entered from the behind the pink side of the eye. So there's no scar under the lashes. Lastly, the nose, which is such a big secret because I have a whole series of patients now where I, after I do the facelift, they're consented for a tip lift. Now about one third of my patients are male, the rest are female, and the procedures are a little different from one to another. But suffice it to say that with respect to the nose, the upper half is bone and the lower half is cartilage and the delineation point is right in the center. So I generally do not break bones in nasal surgeries. I find it traumatic, uh, leaves a patient very black and blue and is often not necessary. I have a series of files with fiber optic lights on them.

(06:01)
So I go underneath the skin and file a bony abnormality. It's kind of like if you clip a nail with a nail clipper, it's better. But if you take a nail file and you go stop, look at it, stop, look at it, it's much more precise. And it's precision that I'm after cartilage, which composes the tip is sewn in various patterns, moved, discarded, such that when I'm done with the nose, with the nasal boney elements and cartilage elements, then the skin will drape over the nose in a different way. And that's what the world will see. One last point on mentioning those facial surgeries. I have a series now that I started studying on my own by adding a nasal tip lift to a facelift surgery and it, it has improved results in easy 25% because the slightest lift to the tip is very juvenile. You almost look like a kid. I'm not talking about looking in the nostrils, but as we get older, the nasal tip can plunge. So it's plunging and covering the upper third of the lip lifting it ever so slightly is a wonderful adjunct to a facelift.

Eva Sheie (07:20):
The facelift surgery fixes the structure, fixes the falling, corrects, the gravity issues. What are you doing to also help with the texture and the surface of the face?

Dr. Weintraub (07:32):
The surface, um, is very important. And I have an aesthetic nurse who runs all of my lasers, Botox fillers, p r p, uh, bioidentical hormones and an aesthetician in the office. And their job is to get the skin in as best to shape as they can get it in certainly prior, but definitely after the operation. Both of these two women, Michelle is my aesthetic nurse, and Ella is our aesthetician. Michelle may perform various lasers or peels, uh, or p r p, and our aesthetician is more concerned about just topical wellness and improving the color of the skin.

Eva Sheie (08:18):
So do your patients typically see all of you when they're coming through?

Dr. Weintraub (08:22):
Yes, it's a whole team and it's an amazing team. We have our own fully licensed and accredited ambulatory surgical facility in New York City. It's probably of the one of the most beautiful in Manhattan, and that's where I do most of my surgery because all cosmetic surgery can be done as an outpatient. However, what's also terrific about our setup is we have an agree agreement with the Pierre Hotel right across the street. So all facelifts manly go across the street to the Pierre for two nights on the morning of the third day, the nurse takes off their head dressing and puts them in the shower, then they go home. The hotel provides the following. First of all, it's dirt cheap because we have a arrangement with them. Two is a visiting nurse with that facelift patient for the entire time from the time they leave my recovery to the morning of the third day. And third and very important is that I'm right across the street. So I get to visit them every day when I have overnight facelift patients at the Pierre Hotel.

Eva Sheie (09:32):
Do you live nearby too?

Dr. Weintraub (09:33):
Yes, I just live up the block.

Eva Sheie (09:36):
Do people come from all over the world then to see you?

Dr. Weintraub (09:39):
They do and it's always so interesting and you have to have a great staff to be able to do that. I will always get on the phone and talk to the patient first, but there's all these log logistics about getting medical clearance, certain things that we take for granted, like chest x-rays and cardiograms are not always as easily gotten and so swiftly in other countries. But yes, they come and the Pierre is perfect for that too.

Eva Sheie (10:08):
So do some people stay longer?

Dr. Weintraub (10:10):
Yes. If it's a facial surgery, I insist that they're there about seven to 10 days. The suturing is all dissolvable, so they don't have to do anything during or after the aftercare. But the hotel is, is like having my own private hospital <laugh>.

Eva Sheie (10:29):
That's wonderful. Is there anything related to the face that you don't do?

Dr. Weintraub (10:36):
No, I do all cosmetic things that are above the clavicles or in the head and neck. Less is more, don't look tampered with cosmetic surgery of the face.

Eva Sheie (10:49):
Do you have patients that return later, 10, 15, 20 years later for a second facelift?

Dr. Weintraub (10:55):
I do. I, I not only have returned facelift patients, but I've got a whole collection of rhinoplasties where the parent had their her nose done and then it's the daughter or son's time and it's a parent child thing. And I've been around fortunately long enough to be able to care for both of them.

Eva Sheie (11:17):
So let's switch to talking about you a little bit. I'm curious, it sounded like you stayed in New York for all of your training. Did you ever go anywhere else?

Dr. Weintraub (11:26):
Yes. So my college was in, in Walth Mass. 

Eva Sheie (11:30):
Oh, that's right. 

Dr. Weintraub (11:31):
Uh, Brandeis. And then, uh, Cornell School of Medicine is in Manhattan. The underground is in Ithaca. So I was in Manhattan and then I went out to UCLA and Cedar Sinai in California for my general surgery and then back to Cornell.

Eva Sheie (11:46):
Uh, tell me about your family.

Dr. Weintraub (11:49):
So I was blessed to have two amazing parents and they were just supportive of everything I did and a beautiful sister. The reason I got into medical school is that I am a, a passionate science lover. I started with fish tanks and growing vegetables with my grandfather, which I still do and just kind of stuck with it. Majored in biochemistry and I have found when I had to make this decision that why cosmetic surgery? And the answer is it's the only subspecialty of medicine that crosses medical science and artwork at the same time. So in essence, I go into a room and I get this incredible chance to sculpt people and it is a privilege and the challenge is always to get that understated, beautiful result.

Eva Sheie (12:51):
I'd argue that there's some engineering and physics involved too.

Dr. Weintraub (12:54):
Little bit. 

Eva Sheie (12:57):
Yeah. It is, i's a beautiful thing. What did your parents do?

Dr. Weintraub (13:01):
So my mother met my father when she was 13. My father was uh, 17 and they married, she was 18 and my father was 22. So they had myself and my sister very, very young. My father was in the, uh, textile industry and my mother was very creative with interiors, anything artful. She's actually the first person that designed a turbine for women who were having chemotherapy and their hair falls out, but I mean, beautiful turbines, not like a towel wrapped up on your head. And um, we were all proud of her for that and I was lucky to have them around.

Eva Sheie (13:46):
Was she designing that for a friend or someone she knew originally? She, how did that happen?

Dr. Weintraub (13:50):
No, she, she, well, since I was here in New York, she would come to visit of course with my father and I would show them New York Hospital and hospital for special surgery and of course Memorial Sloan Kettering, which the training takes place in all of them. So when she came in and, and really got a glimpse at women who had had their hair lost from chemotherapy, she got this turbine idea and off she went.

Eva Sheie (14:18):
How inspiring.

Dr. Weintraub (14:19):
Yeah, they were fantastic. I was very lucky kid. I was very studious. I mean, I took my education seriously, but my sister and I just were indoctrinated with the idea that there's nothing you can't do when you put your mind to it. 

Eva Sheie (14:36):
Mm-hmmm <affirmative>, you just have to figure out the steps.

Dr. Weintraub (14:39):
That's it. And you have to show up and you have to concentrate.

Eva Sheie (14:44):
So how long have you been practicing?

Dr. Weintraub (14:47):
Oh, at least 30 years. 30 years. And you get the experience in this field. You can't say how important that is. I mean, it takes years and years and years of tissue handling. I remember early, early on, it wasn't until the fifth or sixth year out of practice that I got really savvy with nasal surgery. It just takes time. 

Eva Sheie (15:12):
Mm-hmmm <affirmative>, who's on your team?

Dr. Weintraub (15:15):
So I have an office manager, Jill, who runs the practice. I have two upfront ladies in reception. Now we have actually a third one who is actually a visiting professor from Ecuador who's spending some time with me. And then there of course there's the aesthetic nurse and the aesthetician, and that's the entire front office. The back office is where we do our surgery. So we have three board certified anesthesiologists that are on staff 24/7. My circulating nurse, my recovery room nurse and instrument person that takes care of my instruments and hands them to me. So it's a nice little bunch.

Eva Sheie (16:03):
How would those people describe you?

Dr. Weintraub (16:06):
That's kind of an interesting question. I, I like to think of myself as fair, even level. I don't have mood swings, compassionate, kind, and really just having everyone else believe, like I believe is that we're there to do the best for the patient and that's really the focus of what we do. And I try to rule softly, let's say I'm the opposite of a iron hand and I tend to find the people perform much more when they know they want to please their employer.

Eva Sheie (16:47):
New York has changed a lot since Covid. And I wonder what your experience was like during that time and, and how you've seen, is the city bouncing back? I mean, I'm, I'm just sort of curious what your experience has been like for the last three years.

Dr. Weintraub (17:03):
New York City is the most amazing city in the world from my point of view. It's basically the center of the earth, whether it's business, finance, industry, medicine, art, music, chandeliers, fashion, it goes on and on and on. When Covid came, I had to pack up my ventilator and put it in the vestibule of our office to be taken to uh, one of the hospitals cuz they were, they were short ventilators. And the government closed our office for three straight months. March, I believe, through May. At which time I just went out to East Hampton and stayed as safe as I could. It's changed our field enormously, but it's, it, I think it's bounced back enormously cosmetic while people were really having trouble with. Covid was not a priority, but we all managed to to get through and I think at least in my practice, things are busy as hell <laugh>, which is fine.

Eva Sheie (18:06):
That's good.

Dr. Weintraub (18:07):
That's a good problem.

Eva Sheie (18:09):
What about the city itself? You have a neighborhood, you know that's really, truly yours. Like you probably know everyone and

Dr. Weintraub (18:18):
I think it's important that you pick a neighborhood and declare your domicile. The city is a dynamic place. I mean some can complain about homeless folks and squeegee people and <laugh>, but every block is another interesting story and I think it's over 90% back from the covid times.

Eva Sheie (18:42):
That's good to hear. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,

Dr. Weintraub (18:44):
It's stimulating. Yeah. I mean every little person is another story and every shop is, do you know that there are over 30,000 restaurants on the island of Manhattan and that if you tried to go to each one for the rest of your life, you wouldn't manage? Never made it to do. So. There are about 50,000 people per city block in New York. Never. And the population is a little over 8 million.

Eva Sheie (19:08):
Just on the island.

Dr. Weintraub (19:10):
Yeah, just on Manhattan and the Boroughs. Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and Manhattan.

Eva Sheie (19:16):
That's incredible. Well, let's talk about the future a little bit. Where do you think that you're headed? Obviously after 30 years, you probably have an idea when you're gonna retire or maybe not, maybe you're just gonna keep going. What do you think?

Dr. Weintraub (19:30):
Uh, I don't see retirement. I love what I do. I mean I'm still passionate about it. Every case is different. I sit in a chair or sometimes stand and I get to do this artwork on a person so I don't see retirement, maybe semi-retirement slowing down a little. But I love being up on new techniques and technology and I think as mentioned, this little addition of a nasal tip lift to a facial surgery is just something people don't think of. But when you look at the photographs, they're very powerful.

Eva Sheie (20:08):
Are there photos we can see on your website or,

Dr. Weintraub (20:11):
Oh yes. There's tons of photos. There's over 95 videos from Oprah on down and there's thousands, if not many hundreds of befores and afters.

Eva Sheie (20:22):
Wait, you've been on Oprah?

Dr. Weintraub (20:24):
Yes.

Eva Sheie (20:24):
What was that like?

Dr. Weintraub (20:26):
Fantastic. She was very special. She flew myself, a patient, and her mother out to Chicago. And the topic of the piece, which is on my website if anyone wants to see it, was about how do you handle a pushy parent when a teen does not want a rhinoplasty but the parent does. And it turns out this woman was a corporal in the army and her daughter was absolutely beautiful and she on stage, as you'll see, she describes wanting her daughter to look like Sharon Stone. And my job was to politely and elegantly tell her she's a wonderful mom, but that she doesn't really understand what this field does and what it doesn't do. And that I had refused to operate on her daughter because she was beautiful as she was.

Eva Sheie (21:20):
That is controversial <laugh>.

Dr. Weintraub (21:22):
Yeah, well it's, it was a great piece. Pushy parents.

Eva Sheie (21:27):
I can't wait to watch that.

Dr. Weintraub (21:29):
<laugh>. There's Sally on there, there's Geraldo, there's tons of CNN, there's all sorts of reveals. In other words, sometimes when a patient is willing in their office visit to remove a splint or a dressing, they'll allow us to videotape their response when they see themselves for the first time. I would say over 60 of the videos are those reveals. And sometimes there's tears, sometimes there's so much joy. Sometimes a parent is in there and the parent starts crying. When someone sees something that they wish they always had and suddenly it appears on the face or body, it makes for a very happy patient.

Eva Sheie (22:11):
That reveal video is one of the, the finest things about Instagram, because that moment is what it's all about. Where can we follow you on Instagram? What's your handle?

Dr. Weintraub (22:23):
That's a good question. We're actually getting it worked on now. 

Eva Sheie (22:27):
Oh. 

Dr. Weintraub (22:27):
But that one we can get back to. I think it's Dr. Barry Weintraub. 

Eva Sheie (22:31):
So these reveals are all on YouTube?

Dr. Weintraub (22:33):
Uh, they're all on YouTube. They're all on my website. 

Eva Sheie (22:37):
Okay. Wonderful. What do you like to do away from work?

Dr. Weintraub (22:41):
Ah, <laugh>. So I have been playing tennis since I'm seven years old. I started with my father and I'm still playing and I play pretty advanced, wonderful tennis with some great people. I'm also a swimmer, so keeps me lean a little bit., when I'm not swallowing gigantic subs from the a street vendor <laugh> and I grow vegetables. I started with my grandfather. Right now I'm growing cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers. So if you come over you'll have a great salad.

Eva Sheie (23:19):
I'm sure. Maybe a funny question, but do you, do your vegetables compete like <laugh>? Are you competitive with this vegetable growing or is it just for fun?

Dr. Weintraub (23:28):
No, it's just for fun. I give them as presents to people. I mean, could you imagine being handed some gigantic ripe beef steak tomatoes? 

Eva Sheie (23:35):
I can imagine. 

Dr. Weintraub (23:36):
It's wonderful. This, you can only eat so much. But I like to give it away as it as it grows.

Eva Sheie (23:41):
I have lived in both Minnesota and Washington and people are like that with vegetables, with the things they grow up there. Texas is very hard to grow vegetables so those people hoard their vegetables, and don't give them away.

Dr. Weintraub (23:54):
<laugh>. But it's, it's so joyous cuz again, it's science and understanding how plants work just falls into my whole kind of love list of things I like to do.

Eva Sheie (24:09):
So is this a good vegetable season so far?

Dr. Weintraub (24:11):
So far magnificent. 

Eva Sheie (24:12):
Oh good. 

Dr. Weintraub (24:13):
You know, there's soil preparation, there's all kinds of other things you have to do, but I'm staking my tomatoes already <laugh>.

Eva Sheie (24:21):
And I imagine still learning every year with every, everything you try do, you document it all. Like this is what worked and

Dr. Weintraub (24:29):
Actually I take photos of the garden every year, but it becomes rote in your mind what you did before and what you may want to try this time. Yeah.

Eva Sheie (24:39):
Well my last question, taking it kind of back around to the people who are listening today who are trying to get to know you better, what can they expect when they come to see you in the office for the first time?

Dr. Weintraub (24:51):
A lot of smiling white teeth.

Eva Sheie (24:54):
<laugh>.

Dr. Weintraub (24:55):
Basically my, myself and the people around me provide for an up environment. It's private and professional, but it's very friendly and disarming. Once the patient comes into the waiting room, they're next brought to a treatment room where I get to meet them and do my history and physical examination, take their photographs. I then take them on a tour of our outpatient facility and lastly back to the office manager to give them some printed material on what they're interested in. So it's a very happy place with the chandelier collection in it. And um, again, I feel very fortunate.

Eva Sheie (25:35):
Is the chandelier collection on Instagram, can we see it somewhere?

Dr. Weintraub (25:38):
Uh, you may see a couple of them. You may see a couple of them.

Eva Sheie (25:42):
Any specific type of chandelier?

Dr. Weintraub (25:45):
Well, I actually collect them as well in my home. Those are four feet in length. I have a Russian one from the 1860s and a Flemish one from about also 1800 alabaster fixtures. I just love things coming outta the ceiling. <laugh>,

Eva Sheie (26:05):
Huh, fascinating. Yeah. Where should we find more information about you and your practice if we're looking online?

Dr. Weintraub (26:13):
So if you type in Dr. Barry Weintraub.com, that will bring you to our website. You'll also find RealSelf where I have a nice listing. And our office is at 800 A fifth Avenue Street level. Our number's 2 1 2 7 3 7 7500. And I look forward to meeting anyone who's interested in slightly rearranging things.

Eva Sheie (26:42):
That sounds perfect. Thank you so much Dr. Weintraub. It's a pleasure getting to know you.

Speaker 3 (26:48):
Thank you very much.

Eva Sheie (26:53):
If you are considering making an appointment or are on your way to meet this doctor, be sure to let them know you heard them on the Meet the Doctor podcast. Check the show notes for links including the doctor's website and Instagram to learn more. Are you a doctor or do you know a doctor who'd like to be on the Meet the Doctor podcast? Book your free recording session at Meet the doctor podcast.com. Meet the Doctor is Made with Love in Austin, Texas and is a production of The Axis, t h e a x i s.io.