Michael Kluska, DO - Cosmetic Surgeon in Commerce, Georgia

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 Shea, and you're listening to Meet the Doctor. Welcome back to Meet the Doctor. My guest today is Michael Kluska, and he's a triple board certified surgeon. And what are the three things that you took a lot of tests for?

Dr. Kluska (00:35):
So I am triple boarded in general surgery. Did that for five years, did three years of plastic and reconstructive surgery. So boarded in that. And then I'm boarded in cosmetic surgery by the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery as well. So triple board certification.

Eva Sheie (00:52):
It's a little bit of an unusual combination in that you went and did the cosmetic surgery certification too. And I know this is always a topic that doctors are passionate about, but patients don't necessarily understand. So if you could sum it up in one really or two concise sentences about why those two certifications go so well together, can you do that?

Dr. Kluska (01:17):
Sure. I think the easiest way to put it is plastic and reconstructive surgery prepares you for a lot, but it does not necessarily prepare you for the aesthetic industry as we know it today. So not only being board certified in cosmetic surgery has prepared me for that, but continuing education. And actually I'm past president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery. So I went completely all the way through to get to the top of that organization as well, because it's so important with all of social media and all the things that have happened in the last seven years, including COVID, aesthetic industry has changed dramatically. And I think it's really important that if a patient's out there looking for a cosmetic plastic surgeon, that they definitely look at credentials and experience because that's the mainstay of what we do today.

Eva Sheie (02:19):
What drew you toward medicine in the first place?

Dr. Kluska (02:23):
Do you really want the story?

Eva Sheie (02:25):
I do. I love the story.

Dr. Kluska (02:26):
Okay. So just to give you a little bit of background on me, I played high school, college tennis and then played tennis professionally for a little bit. And my mother in the background filled out applications for me to go to medical school. And that's how it started.

Eva Sheie (02:45):
Your mom did. And what was your reaction when you found out she did that?

Dr. Kluska (02:51):
That's back in the day when you didn't sit and fill it out online. This is back, she filled it out by hand with a pencil, all the applications. Yeah. She said I needed to go to medical school. And you look back on it, I wasn't going to be a professional tennis player forever and I certainly wasn't Federer. So going to medical school was the next thing.

Eva Sheie (03:17):
Do you still play tennis?

Dr. Kluska (03:19):
I do occasionally. My two daughters played college tennis. My son was a tennis player before he went into baseball. My family still loves it. I play for fun now, obviously not for competition.

Eva Sheie (03:34):
Is it fun though really? I mean, you're still probably a little bit competitive.

Dr. Kluska (03:39):
Yeah. So it's hard when you get on to go do something like that. My wife's real into pickleball now too, and you get out there and you can't do what you used to do. I think that is the most challenging thing for me and the most frustrating thing for me as well.

Eva Sheie (03:56):
What part of the world are you in? Where is your practice located?

Dr. Kluska (04:00):
My practice is just north of Atlanta. So I have three different locations in Beaufort, Commerce and Monroe, Georgia.

Eva Sheie (04:07):
Have you always been in Georgia?

Dr. Kluska (04:10):
I have not. I have kind of an interesting path. I grew up in Pittsburgh. I then went to medical school, did all those things, came back and practiced in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for 15 years. I then got asked to spearhead a medical tourism program at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, which I did for five years. And then I got my next stepping stone. My kids, it's a long story about my children, but two of them lived in Greenville, South Carolina at the time and my wife and I were trying to get further south. So I ended up moving and taking a job in Chattanooga for five years. And then an opportunity for me to take over a practice came up about three years ago. So I did that and this is only an hour from my family and my grandchildren.

Eva Sheie (05:01):
I can see why you would jump on that opportunity.

Dr. Kluska (05:04):
Yeah. It's been great.

Eva Sheie (05:07):
I think it's also pretty unusual to move like that. I think most people set their stakes down and stay. And so is there anything that you found surprising or helpful about switching locations so recently?

Dr. Kluska (05:26):
I love that question because the answer is yes, it was the most beneficial thing I've ever done. And it helped me become a well-rounded plastic and aesthetic surgeon. Geographically, there are different trends. So I've been in all of the trends. I've also worked in private practice, corporate America, group practice and back into private practice. And I've learned a lot along the way, mostly what not to do when you run a practice. So now my practice is run exactly the way I want it. All my background and experience that I have with all of these different scenarios has allowed me to shape and mold this practice into what I feel is the perfect practice.

Eva Sheie (06:13):
What does that look like?

Dr. Kluska (06:15):
The perfect practice is a practice where your team is awesome. I have an extremely experienced team, but yet a young team. And I think that's really important because the young team keeps me on my toes, number one. Number two, it keeps me up on current trends and they're always helping educate me as I educate them. And the practice itself, it has its own heartbeat, so to speak, and that comes from the staff. Our staff gets along really well. It's hard to get staff to all be on the same page all the time and gel. We're completely gelled and I can say without a doubt, I have the best staff I've ever had.

Eva Sheie (07:01):
I see a lot of people get really hung up on how are they doing on social media and they hire huge teams to do social media and really oversize that resource in a way that isn't helpful to the practice.

Dr. Kluska (07:15):
As far as a patient looking for a surgeon, it's extremely important that they understand that that surgeon is well trained, educated and has experience. That's number one. That may not be the same guy that's on social media with one million followers, right? Conversely, if you're on social media and you post as frequently as I do almost every single day for the last eight years, I am showing consistent results time and time again. And that's extremely important to you, the patient, because everybody can hit a home run. But when you're leading the MLB and batting average, then you know that you're doing something well. And I think patients really need to look at that when they're looking for somebody. It's not just social media. Social media I believe is very important, but it's also their experience and patients need to look at how relatable that physician is on the social media.

Eva Sheie (08:24):
I think you're narrowing it down really well to two things. Are we looking at results or are we looking at personality? And when we're looking at personality, are we seeing the real you and can we get to know you? And that's what we want is we want to feel like we already know you when we come into the office, but we also need to see results.

Dr. Kluska (08:45):
It's funny you say that because patients literally come in and say that. "Oh my God, I think it's you. I know you. I watch you every day. I stalk you. It's Dr. Daddy K. And there are patients that don't know my real name, they just call me Dr. Daddy K. And I think that's important because they get to see me and relate to me every night when they're going to bed or doing whatever. And one of the things I try to do is keep it real on social media and that is be transparent, show people who I really am and who my patients are and who my staff is, and most importantly, consistent results without a lot of hoopla.

Eva Sheie (09:34):
Did you name your Instagram Dr. Daddy K in a moment of, "Oh, I'll just make it this," and then you got stuck with it or was it strategic?

Dr. Kluska (09:42):
No. So there's a couple reasons behind that. When I launched Dr. Daddy K, my whole family was with me and I have three daughters and a son and we were trying to figure out a name and they named me Dr. Daddy K. That's really how it came to be. Spring forward, as time went on, it fit so appropriately because all of my staff calls, they don't call me daddy, but I'm a father figure to them. I'm always trying to teach them and train them and encourage them and pump them up and scold them when something's going on. So they think the name's appropriate as well.

Eva Sheie (10:22):
Like most practices, you probably have an almost all or entirely female team. I do. And that takes a special skill set to be the old...

Dr. Kluska (10:35):
Yes, it does. Look, I've worked in the industry with all females as employees, as patients for the most part. 90% of my practice, 95% is female. I have a wife, three daughters and a female dog. And my son and I just, we've learned our place.

Eva Sheie (10:56):
He's your guy though. You have him. Oh, that's really fun. Oh, okay. What's your dog's name?

Dr. Kluska (11:04):
Missy. Missy Joy is her name. She's a five pound, eight year old Papillon.

Eva Sheie (11:09):
Oh, she's so cute. I don't even have to see a picture and I know she's cute. Oh, sweet.

Dr. Kluska (11:20):
Yeah. She's the best and I'm her person, so I'm her go-to. She loves me.

Eva Sheie (11:26):
And then, so you have the three locations. Are you traveling around or do you stay mostly at one?

Dr. Kluska (11:32):
My primary location is Commerce because that's where our surgical suite is. And then my Beaufort location, which is 20 minutes outside of Atlanta, probably, I don't know, every couple of weeks I go down and see patients for the day. And then Monroe, I go quarterly.

Eva Sheie (11:51):
And so are they just med spas there in those other two locations?

Dr. Kluska (11:54):
Correct. Yeah. Primarily med spa services, injectables, peptides, weight loss, hormone replacement therapy, that type of stuff.

Eva Sheie (12:04):
Yes. Okay. This is the future. So weight loss, peptides, peptides is new for most people. Can you go into that a little bit and explain what that is?

Dr. Kluska (12:15):
Sure. Peptides are precursors to every hormone we have in our body, and they're natural precursors. It's not like bombarding your body with synthetically derived amino acids or compounds like testosterone or anabolic steroids or anything like that. So they're naturally occurring. And what they do is they help stimulate pathways that maybe as you're getting a little bit older or have shut down for some reason, even in a young person, they help open up those pathways again and they help maximize or optimize those pathways. So they work well with weight loss. We know the GLPs work well with weight loss. We also know that things like KPV and BPC157 TB500 are great products that help with inflammation, with decreasing visceral fat and improving muscle mass, et cetera. So I truly believe it's the way of the future. I take peptides to help my longevity. I take NAD, which helps as an antioxidation process at the mitochondrial level, as well as retatrutide, which is a GLP-3.

(13:33):
And it works on three different receptors in your body to stabilize. It's not just for weight loss. It's more about stabilizing insulin sensitivity, decreasing insulin resistance, and helping your body optimize its processes, processing of simple sugars, complex sugars, et cetera.

Eva Sheie (13:55):
That's what reta's doing as you're -

Dr. Kluska (13:57):
Yeah. I truly believe reta is the ultimate drug. It literally tells me what to eat when to eat.

Eva Sheie (14:05):
How does it do that?

Dr. Kluska (14:07):
Honestly, I don't know. I mean, from a scientific standpoint, I have no explanation, but I can tell you that I know what I'm lacking, what nutrients I'm lacking better than I've ever been. I'm more aware. It tells me when I'm hungry and what time to eat, when do I optimize food? So I've really found it beneficial for what I do since I put in long hours, start very early in the morning, that type of thing. And it's really helped.

Eva Sheie (14:40):
How did you get into the peptide thing? And it sounds like you maybe started doing it for yourself and then -

Dr. Kluska (14:48):
No, a little bit of both. Our practice has always dealt with patients for weight loss and hormone replacement therapy. Weight loss started with GLP-1s and got into semaglutide, and then we got into tirzepatide, which is known as Zepbound or Mounjaro, and then got into tertiary peptides such as retatrutide. The natural progression is what else is out there, right? I always try to stay cutting edge in all technologies, not just a specific laser, but this is a technology and I want to offer my patients the absolute very best opportunity for them to be their very best. And these are ways to do that.

Eva Sheie (15:37):
I totally agree.

Dr. Kluska (15:38):
All of my patients that come in that have a BMI that is above 27, I give them the opportunity to do peptides first and then have their surgery. And there's a specific reason for that. Peptides optimize the body. They make it healthier. They make it thinner. There's less visceral fat, so their belly doesn't stick out as far. There's more laxity to the skin so I can pull it tighter. And ultimately, at the end of the day, I can give them a much better result when their BMI is below 27 than when it's above 27.

Eva Sheie (16:13):
Is 27 about the number that is where most people should be? Is that the number?

Dr. Kluska (16:20):
I personally think I would love to see most people somewhere in the 24 to 25 range BMI. I think that's the optimum for their body's health and it also is optimal for surgery, but you got to have a starting point and an end point. You got to have a cutoff point. My cutoff point on most patients is a BMI of 30 or over for surgery. I highly encourage them to get on the peptides first, but I will operate between 27 and 30.

Eva Sheie (16:52):
When someone comes to see you and isn't even aware of peptides, how do you introduce the topic?

Dr. Kluska (16:57):
So my patients, when they come in, I like to present them with a full holistic approach. They don't just come in and I'm saying, okay, we're going to cut. That's not how I do it at all. A, I listen to what their interests are. I'm there to guide them. I'm not telling them what they want, but many times patients don't know what they need. They just say what they want, right? So I help guide them, educate them, and then I offer them the opportunity to improve the total outcome by introducing them into peptides. It's a package deal. I mean, if you want to get the Ultimate and pay for the Ultimate, why would you be skipping a step? There's no shortcut. All of this works together synergistically. Patients that are on a GLP, for example, postoperatively, they heal better. They have less swelling, less inflammation.

(17:58):
So that's just one example. I can put them on a peptide that helps them heal. It works.

Eva Sheie (18:06):
I talk to a lot of doctors and I just encounter a lot of content in the world, and I think you're the first person I've ever talked to who's not just using them before, but also including them after as part of healing.

Dr. Kluska (18:21):
Oh, it's essential. It's essential. And I mean, truth, straight up. My patients that come in with a BMI over 27, each point above 27, I charge them more. I charge $1,000 more per point.

Eva Sheie (18:38):
As a disincentive?

Dr. Kluska (18:41):
What's that?

Eva Sheie (18:43):
I was going to say, as an incentive?

Dr. Kluska (18:45):
Yeah, it is an incentive, but hear me out. When you listen to it and you rationalize it, right? So let's say you have a BMI of 31, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31. You've just spent $5,000 extra. If you spend $1,500 on peptides, you just saved yourself $3,500 and you're going to have a hell of a lot better outcome than you would if you wanted your surgery at 31. Makes sense, right?

Eva Sheie (19:20):
Sign me up. I totally understand why you're doing this and I like it.

Dr. Kluska (19:26):
Right.

Eva Sheie (19:27):
So tell me more about the consultation process. What might you do and who might you encounter before I'm in the room sitting down with you, and then what is it like when I actually make it into your office?

Dr. Kluska (19:42):
Yeah. So Eva, a majority of my patients come from all over the world, not just a local community, right? And as a result, they contact me differently than picking up the phone and calling the office. It's usually on Instagram or TikTok or Facebook or a Google review or whatever, something like that. I have my own little micro website, drdaddyk.com, where patients can go and look at before and afters and then message me, which by the way, I have no automation. Every single patient that contacts me via those portals, I personally touch, each and every one. So with that said, after they have an inquiry, they then go and I have my patient concierge person reach out to them, talk to them and get them scheduled for me either virtually, if they're far away or in person in my office if they want to drive in.

(20:45):
And we do a consult. So they come in, they check in, my staff greets them, they have to fill out some information via the iPad, and then they go in and have their consultation. My nurse goes in, does a quick history, and then I come in. And then we sit there and we talk.

Eva Sheie (21:02):
In terms of understanding costs and payment plans and financing, is that all done before the consultation or after?

Dr. Kluska (21:10):
No. Absolutely not. I don't know how people do that. And in truth, we don't quote patients' information as far as pricing in general, because each and every patient is unique, individual. And I don't cookie cutter anything. I hate the idea of, oh, it's a tummy tuck stamp making sugar cookies every day. I don't do that. Each person needs something different, some little tweak, a different technique. They may have an umbilical hernia. I may want to do a different technique on them than I did on someone else, and it includes liposuction with or without fat transfer or BBL or anything. So normally the consultation process ends when I'm leaving the room, I say to them, "Next, my patient care coordinator, Monica, is going to meet with you. She's going to go over pricing, scheduling, financing, all the details. You go home, you think about it. If you go home and you say, I want to do A, B, and C, but not D," I said, "Come back and see me or set up a FaceTime because I may guide you to do A, B, and D, not C." And it's really important because patients, just because doctor social media said so doesn't mean it's true.

(22:30):
And I can't stress that enough. Just because there's a personality on social media that you follow doesn't mean that that personality is 100% correct all the time. And look, there's a lot of art to this. You got to give your surgeon, at least for me, I expect you to give me a little bit of artistic license in this. After all, I have an art degree from college. Let's use it.

Eva Sheie (22:57):
You stole my question. Yes. Talk to me about that art background. And I also, I happen to know the photography on your website is special and I want to hear more about that too.

Dr. Kluska (23:10):
I'm right brain and left brain, 100%. There's no one side for me or the other. I'm athletic. I can play sports and I can go ahead and sit down and draw and paint and sculpt. And that to me, you can't put a price on that when it comes to doing what I do. People don't understand how physical my job is. They think we just sit here and may wave a magic wand, but physically it takes a lot of strength and conditioning to do what we do. We are long-term athletes at some level when we're body contouring for five hours in a row. Liposuction is extremely hard and tedious, so there's that side of it. But then there's also the whole time I have to stay in the zone artistically to make sure that everything's matching up, right? You can't just go and do a technique and have it be a cookie cutter and get great results.

(24:11):
So there's that whole thing and my art background really affords me the opportunity to sculpt each patient differently.

Eva Sheie (24:19):
And then the famous photography.

Dr. Kluska (24:23):
There's a lot to it. So way back in the day, my wife was my model for my logo. When I got my fellowship to plastic surgery, I stayed up one night with her for two hours from like 12 to two in the morning. I drew a picture of her and that became my logo for my entire career. Additionally, when my wife decided to retire from modeling for me, because she did all the modeling in the first stages of my practices, my daughter, my oldest daughter took over and became our model. And then the most creative person in my entire family is my next daughter who helps design and develop all of the branding for me for the last, I would say, eight years, extremely talented. She's the one that should be doing what I do, but decided she didn't want to go put the extra time in over the years.

(25:23):
And it is a long haul. I mean, you can't do this and do it right and come out before the age of 36. You just can't. There's no quick path to do it. So anyway, she didn't want to do that, but she helps design and brand anything and everything I've done since Dr. Daddy K's inception in December of 2019.

Eva Sheie (25:51):
She's doing a remarkable job. And there's a saying that -

Dr. Kluska (25:54):
She's gifted. Yeah,

Eva Sheie (25:56):
I agree. She is. When I talk about aesthetic branding, there's a saying that I use all the time, which is that we have to ratchet up the uniqueness so that we don't look exactly the same as everyone else, because that uniqueness, those little elements, the details, the lines, not everything can look the same because unfortunately, a lot of people just look at what their neighbor is doing down the street and say, "Oh, they're successful. Let's do that." And we've ended up all basically doing the same things. And so your website is absolutely beautiful and it's different and it' special. And that's what I wanted to uncover was how did you do that? And it's because someone who knows you that well had their hand in creating that and patients can tell. I know they can.

Dr. Kluska (26:51):
Yeah. You say that and it's interesting because my other two daughters are both attorneys and they've been influential from their side of things in helping me do the right thing, create the right product, create the right contracts, create the right paperwork that we need that supports everything that I do. So it's a family affair for sure.

Eva Sheie (27:15):
And those details are really important.

Dr. Kluska (27:18):
Yeah. Yeah, they are.

Eva Sheie (27:20):
I never wanted anyone, any patient to ever run into... It would be like a rock in your shoe. You can kind of overlook one thing and then you can kind of overlook another thing. And then at some point there's too many things that you have to overlook and you lose your ability to trust that doctor and the doctor might never know why the patient disappeared or didn't move forward.

Dr. Kluska (27:46):
Yeah, I agree with that. That's a very deep, valuable statement.

Eva Sheie (27:53):
Thank you.

Dr. Kluska (27:53):
Patient retention is huge. It's what drives your practice.

Eva Sheie (27:59):
And that trust is built little tiny steps along the way.

Dr. Kluska (28:06):
I often tell my staff that a good outcome, your patient will tell three people, a bad outcome, they'll tell a hundred.

Eva Sheie (28:16):
Very true.

Dr. Kluska (28:17):
Right? So you got to make sure that everybody's on point continuously 24 hours a day.

Eva Sheie (28:25):
Well, I'm certain that we could talk for another hour. I do want to ask you one more fun question that I try to end this podcast with every time that I remember too, which is when you're on an airplane and the flight attendants get up and say, "Is there a doctor on the plane?" What do you do?

Dr. Kluska (28:50):
Well, okay. I'm going to go there. Here's the deal. I'm fully trained in hand surgery as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, but I would never go to me for hand surgery because I haven't practiced hand surgery in 27 years, right? With that said, I know the basics of being a doctor, but I don't know if I'm the one you want coming to your rescue on a plane. But that said, if they need me, I'm there.

Eva Sheie (29:24):
Has it ever happened to you?

Dr. Kluska (29:25):
It has not. It has not yet. No.

Eva Sheie (29:28):
You're one of the exceptions to the question then.

Dr. Kluska (29:31):
Yeah. I have not had that experience on a plane.

Eva Sheie (29:35):
I know a surgeon who looks around when it happens. It seems to happen to him a lot. Do they need breast implants?

Dr. Kluska (29:46):
Yeah, exactly. Right?

Eva Sheie (29:49):
Yeah. Well, where can we find you online? I know you've said it a few times, but what's the best place?

Dr. Kluska (29:56):
My practice website is aestheticarts.com. My handle @drdaddyk will get you to find me on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. And then I actually have a micro website that I use and just keep in the background called drdaddyk.com. All of those places are great ways to reach me, message me, talk to me, the whole nine yards.

Eva Sheie (30:24):
Wonderful. I'll make sure those links are all easy to find in the notes. And I am excited to have you come back and talk to us more about all the things.

Dr. Kluska (30:34):
Yeah, I love it, Eva. Organic like this works great for me.

Eva Sheie (30:39):
Let's do it again. Thank you, Dr. Kluska. There's no substitute for an in-person appointment, but we hope this comes close. 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 meetthedoctorpodcast.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.