Christopher Chang, MD - Plastic Surgeon in Washington, D.C.

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. I'm your host Eva Sheie, and you're listening to Meet the Doctor. Thanks for listening to Meet the Doctor. I'm Eva Sheie, and I've got plastic surgeon Dr. Christopher Chang with me today from Tysons, Virginia. Welcome to the podcast.

Dr. Chang (00:32):
Thanks for having me.

Eva Sheie (00:34):
A lot of people like to start with things like, where did I go to school? How did I get here? But we'll get to that. I want to ask you first, did you always know that you were going to be a doctor or did it come to you later in life?

Dr. Chang (00:48):
That is super interesting. So when I grew up, both my parents were doctors. My mom was in allergy and asthma, and she was a pediatrician by training. And my father was a hematologist and oncologist, and he actually did a lot of research even though early in his career he did sickle cell anemia patients, people with blood cancers and things like that. But he started to get a little bit more into science and research and things with the NIH and the Naval Medical Research Institute. So in my upbringing, I knew what doctors did, doctors did science, doctors did research, doctors saw patients. My mom saw tons of patients every day. She was at the office from nine in the morning until six at night. And I had a lot of other friends who didn't have physicians as parents, so I didn't really know what they did.

(01:41):
They were in meetings or on business trips, but I just didn't know what that meant. And so growing up, I kind of had an idea that being in what medicine was like, what it was like from a lifestyle and things like that. And everyone in our family was doctors as well. My mom's parents were both doctors. Her sister's a doctor. Her brother-in-law, my uncle is a doctor on that side, his sister and his brother-in-law are doctors. And then on my father's side, he has two other brothers as well, and they're both doctors. One's an ophthalmologist, one's a radiologist, interventional radiologist, and so it's kind of in the blood and in the family. So we did that. And then as I went through school and everything, I got interested in saying, well, maybe I've just been railroaded into this. I haven't had a lot of choices or ideas. So I took some pre-law classes, some philosophy classes. I took some economics classes and I had a hard time. They were very difficult classes and things like that. And then I got to science, math and pre-med classes and I did well, and I don't know, it just stuck.

Eva Sheie (02:51):
It was destiny.

Dr. Chang (02:53):
That's how I got here.

Eva Sheie (02:54):
I'm curious if anyone wasn't a doctor, what do they do?

Dr. Chang (02:58):
In my family, they did things that were healthcare related, so people worked on various grants or administrative things that were related to healthcare. Actually, there's a lot of philanthropy or fundraising for nonprofits sometimes in science or technology and things like that.

Eva Sheie (03:21):
And is everybody in the DC area?

Dr. Chang (03:24):
No. No. All on the East coast, New York. My parents' families were based out of New York, New York City, so that's where I was born. That's where we grew up. That's where I spent many Christmases and holidays going up to visit my grandparents. And so really, really stayed along the East coast for most of it, but not in the DC area. Actually, my parents are the only ones really in the DC area.

Eva Sheie (03:48):
When did you decide to start your own practice?

Dr. Chang (03:52):
Well, after I finished my residency in fellowship, I came to decide really where I had a small child. I actually have two children and my wife is an attorney. And we had to decide, well, where am I going to go for my practice? I thought about staying in the New York metro area, Connecticut area, and ultimately decided that we really liked the DC Metro area. One because of my own family and upbringing, but two, I thought that it was a really cosmopolitan, wonderful community. Great town has a lot of diversity in terms of the patient base, ethnicities, culture, a lot of international people coming in and out. And it is a really great area that has a lot of people who are very educated, a lot of people who are movers and shakers in the world, and politics in medicine and science, and that's where we decided to plant our roots.

Eva Sheie (04:54):
What do you think is different about DC than maybe other parts of the country? How does DC end up being a little bit unique?

Dr. Chang (05:02):
I think DC is unique because of kind of the things that I said. There's a lot of people that come in and out of the area for various reasons, whether it's the change in the government, international reasons for education, for advocacy, there is a huge population of people that work for organizations such as the World Bank or for embassies. I remember growing up I had many friends, classmates in elementary school who had diplomat license plates, kids from all over the world, from Sri Lanka, from Bangladesh, from Africa, from Indonesia, Europe. So there's just so much diversity here. It's a really special and unique place. I think that makes it very different. I do think that other cities have very specific drivers that help identify their culture. For instance, New York City, which I lived in, I think New York City is very financially focused. Finance really drives New York City, wall Street, the banking industry are really significant influences in the culture there. I think technology in Northern California and Silicon Valley and all the development there, I think Southern California is probably a lot of media and things like that. So I think each city has a little bit of an identity. And I think DC has an international appeal, and politics are obviously the big driver here.

Eva Sheie (06:46):
Aesthetics has always required a little bit of discretion. I think people have secret entrances or exits. They want to sneak out the back door. They don't want anyone to see them coming or going. They don't want to run into their friends when they're coming to the plastic surgeon's office. But over the years, I think that's kind of lessened in some places. People are much more open, maybe too open with what they share. But do you think that has held true in your neck of the woods too, or maybe less?

Dr. Chang (07:17):
Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head. In the past it was sort of elite to have the secret entrances or secret procedures and policies for celebrities, VIPs and trying to protect those people because of the secrecy and the intimacy of whatever you're going to do based on cosmetic goals or things like that. However, social media has totally changed the game sharing and discussing what you've done or is almost a flex now. People sort of say, well, being open is rewarded particularly in social media. And so I think that you'll see celebrities getting a lot of engagement based on what they're honest and almost negative feedback for not being honest and being open about what they've done. So the pendulum has swung such that it's almost bragging rights or being proud of saying, this wasn't something I was happy with and that's okay, and this is what I did to fix it, and I feel so much better about it. And I think that's a huge paradigm shift in what we see in aesthetic medicine. now.

Eva Sheie (08:28):
Do your patients ask you to keep their identity a secret? Does that ever come up still?

Dr. Chang (08:32):
Different groups of people have different thresholds. I would definitely say that facial patients who are having some facelift procedure, eyelid procedure tend to be a little bit more camera shy. They are just nervous and don't need something else to add to the anxiety of undergoing the procedure. So sharing that and opening themselves up. There's some that are quite brave and are willing to pay it forward, so to speak, and talk about things on social media or allow you to use their photographs and share them with other prospective patients. But overall, the older patients do tend to be a little bit more shy, specifically facial patients. The younger patients are a little more comfortable with the social media generation and sharing and openness of things. No secrets really. And sometimes culturally, maybe that's a little too much sharing, but it's very helpful for us as a practice. It's very helpful for the future patients that are interested in those procedures. It's helpful for the people that follow them on social media they're following if they're influencers or if they're just have friends and family that are following their journey along. It is helpful when you feel like you're not going through something like that alone.

Eva Sheie (09:55):
One of the ways that people decide if a surgeon is good or not or if they're going to come pick up the phone or come in and see you is by how many photos you have. So if you had to kind of guess, and maybe you don't want to answer this, but I'm going to ask anyway. If you have X number of photos in your photo gallery, how many are not there?

Dr. Chang (10:16):
The photo gallery is a sampling and depends a little bit on what your patient population is like. So if you're in, I would just venture to guess Southern California, southern Florida, southern states, maybe Texas or Arizona, maybe some of those states where people are open. I mean, they show a little bit more of their body because they're in warmer climates, they wear more revealing clothing. They are a little bit just more free and open. So that's part of the environment and culture of the culture of those communities. The second factor then also becomes your patient makeup. If you have patients that are social media driven, they're all focused on finding the best doctor on social media or they use social media and they're younger and a little bit more open about putting things out there. That's also sort of the culture of your patient base.

(11:20):
And then the third thing has to do with the doctor or the practice and how sort of aggressive they are or how motivated they are to ask the patients or even push the patients to share. And that's a little awkward sometimes. I think for us, we don't like to put patients in a position where we are pressuring them to do something. I think it's a little uncomfortable. We have to ask sometimes to say, it would be great, we'd really appreciate it. But some places are a little bit pushier, a little bit more, and it benefits their patients going forward. But it also is the personality of the practice. So it's hard to say exactly what kind of sampling that would be, but it's definitely a minority of the total body of work that they have.

Eva Sheie (12:07):
How do you do it? Do you ask everybody or do you kind of pick and choose who you're going to request them from?

Dr. Chang (12:14):
Yeah, no, I mean, we ask patients, it's part of the intake process to say photo permission. And some people fill it out reflexively and they say, okay, no problem. I get it. And other people, if we have things going on and we'll say, oh, you're great example of a patient that was borderline for a breast lift and needed it or didn't need it, can we use your photos to help educate future patients? And sometimes people will say, sure, that's okay with me.

Eva Sheie (12:46):
If your patients have said, no, I don't want you to put my photos online or on the website or on social media, do you actually have a way to show them internally if someone's in there for a consultation, do you have more pictures that you can use in that conversation?

Dr. Chang (13:01):
Yes, some patients do agree to allowing photographs to be shared in person or in the office. They just don't want to be on the website or things like that. And that's okay too. And we can specify those platforms essentially where we use them. And again, patients like that to be able to see before and afters in the office as well.

Eva Sheie (13:22):
In a previous life I edited, I've probably edited thousands and thousands and thousands of cases in my work life. And I remember once doing an eyelid case, editing the photos, and I never would know who the person was. And then I found out later that the eyes were actually one of my closest friends, and I thought, how unusual is it to actually just see someone's eyes without the rest of their face? You can't recognize someone just from this much of their face. It's almost impossible. Once I knew who it was, I went back and looked at it and went, dang, she looks amazing. I had no idea it was my friend.

Dr. Chang (14:10):
Yeah, I think patients get scared if they're identifiable and they don't want to be identified, but I think that really a lot of people, you can't really be identified for the majority of things or it's difficult to, it's relatively benign, at least at this point. Things are starting to change a lot with our ability to have smart media, AI and that kind of thing. But at this point, I think it's pretty difficult to identify people from other things except for of course, the face full face.

Eva Sheie (14:44):
Do you ever tell people, I don't think you should do this thing that you're asking me to do?

Dr. Chang (14:50):
Oh, all the time. I tell people no, or I don't think that's a good idea a lot. Part of that, it gets sorted out before the consultation because basically we don't want to waste a patient's time or our office's time. We want to make sure that our goals are aligned. So a lot of education happens even before they come to the office. But there are patients that come through the office and they start suggesting a couple other things and I'll say, nah, you're not a great candidate for that, or That doesn't seem like a good idea. It's becoming a much bigger issue because there's so much self-educating out there and patients are researching stuff or their friend told 'em. So with this explosion of information of access to people sharing, there is a lot out of noise out there. And the patients, frankly, are uneducated and everybody kind of wants to be an expert, but really they've never done it before.

(15:53):
And they're dealing with an N of one, right, just me or my friend. So they're dealing with an N one, and when they come to see a plastic surgeon or somebody in practice, this is what we do. So we're seeing everybody and can help guide you toward what we think is realistic, reasonable, aesthetically appropriate, safe, and we're not dealing with an end of one. So I think that there's a little bit of a difference between your own opinion of what you've read on Reddit or on Facebook groups or something. And when you get the information from an expert.

Eva Sheie (16:29):
You're starting your own podcast now, and this is partly why is so that you can get the stuff out there that you really want to say, but say it to more people all at the same time.

Dr. Chang (16:43):
Sure. Absolutely. I mean, I guess the thing is everybody's looking for information and looking to learn a little bit. So we got to get the good information out there. We got to share with everybody. We want people to know what we're like, what it's like to come to our office, to meet our team, to get to know me, our staff, my other providers and nurses and surgeons. And I think that it's a great opportunity to really diversify our platforms to make sure that we're connecting with everybody.

Eva Sheie (17:18):
What else can you tell us about those people that you've brought together under that roof?

Dr. Chang (17:23):
I always say we're really lucky. I mean, I'm super fortunate to have a group of people that I really enjoy working with that I think are very committed to making sure the patients get a great experience, that they care a lot about everybody, each other as well as the patients. And I think if you meet us, if you come in, you'll get that sense. There isn't anybody who's like, oh, I'm taking off. I'm out of here. See you later. You guys clean up the mess. Everybody's in it together. And I'm very happy about that, and I feel very fortunate. So we got an awesome crew of people and we're happy to be able to take care of you.

Eva Sheie (18:06):
What do you think that the team understands about patients that maybe they're even better at than you are? Is there anything that comes to mind?

Dr. Chang (18:17):
They are all really dedicated to being good at communication and really, really available for the patients. I think one of the things that as I've been busier in both my professional as well as my personal life, I have four kids and my wife travels internationally for her job. So I think that as I've gotten myself really committed to many things in my world, they've helped be my eyes and ears and connections with the patients. So they really have helped me make sure that I'm hearing from people through text messages and phone calls and emails and follow-ups. And we are always keeping good communication with both each other as well as with the patients. So that's really been something where they're even better and really helped me keep my hand on the pulse.

Eva Sheie (19:10):
In terms of the procedures and the services that you do, what kind of overview can you give us and is there a specialty within the world of aesthetics that you try to focus on?

Dr. Chang (19:23):
When I first started in plastic surgery, I didn't really realize the breadth of plastic surgery. So as a resident and trainee, I wanted to learn everything and everything includes cancer surgery, head reconstruction, toe reconstruction includes hand surgery, burn surgery, cosmetic surgery. So we operated on everything. And as I got more experience and I finished my training, I ended up really, really focusing on facial surgery in the face. I really loved it, and I focused a lot on pediatric and facial reconstruction and operating on one week old babies and with facial and jaw deformities, I was operating and cleft lip and palate kids and people with genetic deformities that we were correcting and things like that. So required an incredible amount of precision, skill, judgment and expertise. And so that was sort of the background that I got. And as I got into cosmetic surgery, there was all these marketing agencies from the outside saying, well, I'm an expert in the face and I'm an expert in this and that.

(20:39):
And so it's not that I'm not an expert. So I said, well, you know what? Well, I'm going to take the board certification and be an expert just like you are with that organization. So I'll use the same marketing or the same branding, let's call it as used for all of your diplomats. So that's why I'm double board certified because I am both certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery as well as the American Board of Facial Plastic Recon Surgery because I love the face. I'm very passionate about it. I have a lot of great colleagues in both organizations, and I do pride myself on expertise in those operations, but I do bring that degree of precision and expertise and focus to all aspects of aesthetic surgery, breast and body surgery, breast lifting, tummy tuck and adominoplasty. And the world of aesthetic surgery is also quite specific and focused, and so we really try to be experts in all of those.

Eva Sheie (21:37):
And then in terms of the team around you, do they also do everything or are there people who subspecialize that are also working with you in the office?

Dr. Chang (21:45):
Yeah, so Dr. Jenny joined our practice and is freshly trained out of Beverly Hills and learned some really incredible cutting edge techniques from the west coast, which are great techniques that are going to be brought back to the East coast, I think out there. They tend to try a lot of stuff that's a little bit newer or more edgy, I think before it becomes popularized on the East coast. So we're happy that she's joined us and can provide those procedures and expertise with us. She is doing all sorts of things in terms of facial body breast surgery. Her particular expertise and niche that's kind of developed is with specialized fat grafting, nano fatt grafting and micro fatt grafting to the face to the body, the buttocks. She's really honed in on that, but she does a lot of good traditional facelift, deep plain facelift, rhinoplasty, breast augmentation, mommy makeover stuff.

(22:50):
She's really comprehensively trained. And of course she's got a Johns Hopkins residency background too, which means she's just a total allstar. So we're very happy. She's on our team. We have fully licensed esthetician, Carrie, who's been an esthetician for a huge number of years in our practice. I don't want to, I'll let her tell you on the podcast. And she's doing all sorts of great procedures, lasers, microneedling, rate of frequency, peels and things like that. And our injector. Monica is an expert in all sorts of non-surgical injectables, including Juvederm and Botox, Dysport, Restylane, and all the traditional things like that.

Eva Sheie (23:37):
What about GLP ones? Do you help people with weight loss?

Dr. Chang (23:40):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, we do. We have a weight loss program where we are monitoring people's metabolic profile. We're trying to assist people. It's super popular. I think it's the number one class of drugs in America now, and it's really been incredible to watch everyone get healthier, lose a little bit of weight, and really feel great about themselves. It's a really wonderful breakthrough in medicine. And yeah, we're doing those for the patients as well.

Eva Sheie (24:15):
It'd be hard to figure out if you don't do anything. It sounds like you have everything there.

Dr. Chang (24:19):
Yeah, we do a lot of different things. We're just trying to make sure we diversify so that everybody has their own area of practice and the area that they can help everybody in.

Eva Sheie (24:30):
What do you think people should understand about plastic surgery that they maybe don't?

Dr. Chang (24:35):
The number one thing I think people misunderstand about plastic surgery is that it's very common Once you come to the realization that it's very common, it becomes demystified. It's not just celebrities that did they have it or didn't they have it? There are millions of people that get plastic surgery every year, and just because you've seen somebody who looks weird and the gotcha tabloids are saying, oh, look how bad Meg Ryan looks, or Renee, look how funny Renee Zellweger looks. Those things are just rare. It's rarer to see somebody who has had a bad outcome because the good outcomes are all hidden from you. So all you see are these outcomes that are not natural or exaggerated or frankly, they're just not good. But that doesn't mean they had bad plastic surgery. They could have had bad fillers, they could have had way too many lasers.

(25:34):
They could have had weight gain or weight loss. And what you don't see is the 10 other people behind that person that also had plastic surgery or had some sort of aesthetic procedures that look great, and they just fly under the radar because they look natural and they feel good, but they're not sharing it with everybody because it's none of your business, frankly. So it's okay. It's okay to want to do something for yourself. It's okay to explore these options, and you're not alone. I mean, you can come be a fly on my wall and see there are tons of people that are getting these things done. It's okay. It doesn't mean you're going to look like a crazy celebrity.

Eva Sheie (26:16):
Have you ever tried to figure out how that even happens to celebrities though, because they have all the resources in the world, you'd think that they would know who the best plastic surgeons are and where to go, and still they get screwed up sometimes. How's that happen?

Dr. Chang (26:31):
That's a great question. I often say this to patients, and I talk about Michael Jackson in particular, and I say sometimes and in areas where celebrities are coveted resources like Southern California, sometimes the doctors are just starstruck and they can't make good decisions. Or maybe they're not good doctors, but they are starstruck and they're railroaded by the celebrity or the famous person. So for instance, Michael Jackson, he's at that time the most famous person in the world. He's rich as can be. He's super influential. He's the kind of guy that's not going to accept no. So if you say, Hey, can you revise my nose for the 15th time and make it smaller and make it cuter or lifted, or whatever, the right answer to that question is, I don't know, or I don't think I can make this better from the other 15 surgeons that did this before me. Or you have to have some degree of humility as to what you're expecting. But I think that someone that's powerful, influential, or famous can sometimes Nobody tells those people no.

(27:43):
Can push the doctor in the wrong way.

Eva Sheie (27:46):
What we don't know is how many people said no before you found the guy that did say yes,

Dr. Chang (27:52):
And the guy who said yes may not be the best or may not be ethical, or may not have the ability. They just sort of see the opportunity of being Michael Jackson's doctor, and that's going to bring me so many patients, so many famous people. Greed.

Eva Sheie (28:06):
I've seen that with not famous people. I know somebody who kept shopping and shopping until she found someone who would do the thing she wanted. And it didn't occur to her ever that the 10 surgeons before that who said no, might've known what they were talking about.

Dr. Chang (28:21):
Right. Might've been doing her a favor.

Eva Sheie (28:23):
Yeah. Yeah. We've covered a lot and there's an infinite number of things to keep covering, but you've given us lots to think about in a pretty good window into who you are today. And I'm grateful for you taking the time. Tell us where we can find you online and where can we follow you on social?

Dr. Chang (28:44):
Alright, so if you would like to find us online, you can find us at www.congressionalplasticsurgery.com. Our Instagram is Congressional Plastic Surgery and my Instagram is DC plastic surgeon, Dr. Jenny's Dr. Hillary. Jenny, DR Hillary Jenny on Instagram and on TikTok. We are at congressional PS. Doesn't let you have a longer handle or DR Chris Chang.

Eva Sheie (29:14):
I am not a TikToker, but I will say you have a very entertaining TikTok and I will lurk. I like it.

Dr. Chang (29:22):
Yeah, we're working on it. We are in the midst of a social media change, so we took a little hiatus over the holidays. We are going to ramp back up.

Eva Sheie (29:32):
I look forward to that. Thank you, Dr. Chang.

Dr. Chang (29:37):
Alright, thank you.

Eva Sheie (29:39):
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