Michelle Jones Singer, MD - Cosmetic Gynecologist in Indianapolis, Indiana

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 back to Meet the Doctor. My name is Eva Sheie, and my guest today is Michelle Jones Singer. And she's a plastic surgeon? Yes?

Dr. Jones Singer (00:39):
I'm a cosmetic gynecologist.

Eva Sheie (00:41):
The best kind, not a plastic surgeon. I'm sorry. I'm so used to talking to plastic surgeons that I just start there and I'm looking right at your website and I can see that you are a cosmetic gynecologist.

Dr. Jones Singer (00:54):
Yes, ma'am. I am.

Eva Sheie (00:56):
Welcome to Meet the Doctor. I'm so glad to get to know you today.

Dr. Jones Singer (00:59):
Oh, thank you for inviting me.

Eva Sheie (01:02):
Okay, so set the stage a little bit here because most of the doctors that I speak to do not sit in a professional voiceover studio, but that is where you are today. So let's start there. What's your side gig, Dr. Singer?

Dr. Jones Singer (01:16):
I wouldn't say it's my side gig. It's just what I love to do. So the name of my side gig, as you say, is Michelle Savory Voiceover.

Eva Sheie (01:26):
And what kinds of things have you done voiceover for?

Dr. Jones Singer (01:29):
Medical narration, corporate narration, commercials, announcements, those types of things. Anything that you can think of?

Eva Sheie (01:38):
Do you speak any other languages?

Dr. Jones Singer (01:40):
No, I don't. No, I don't.

Eva Sheie (01:42):
Just what they speak in Indiana. I can say things like that from Minnesota. And that's a different language.

Dr. Jones Singer (01:50):
Yes, yes. Some people say I have a little bit of a southern twang, but I speak Michelle. That's all I know.

Eva Sheie (01:58):
I like it. So cosmetic gynecology is relatively new in the history of the universe anyway. Did you always have an interest in getting off the beaten path of gynecology? Tell me about your progression.

Dr. Jones Singer (02:13):
Ever since I was in medical school, I knew that I wanted to be a gynecologist, but to be a gynecologist, you have to be an obstetrician gynecologist. So I spent many years delivering babies and being a gynecologist, that's just what I did and enjoyed it all the while that I was doing it. But from the very beginning, I knew gynecology is what I wanted to do.

Eva Sheie (02:37):
How did you know that?

Dr. Jones Singer (02:40):
How do you know anything about what you decide in your life? Yes, I love the surgery. I love the one-on-one back and forth with women. I love, love, adore women's health, and it was just a natural progression. I didn't have to say, what do I want to do in my life? I knew that that's why I chose obstetrics and gynecology and eventually gynecology.

Eva Sheie (03:03):
Some doctors I've found, and we've recorded over a hundred interviews this year, so it's been quite an education for me and for my team. Sometimes they fall backwards into the specialty, but other times they're like you and they knew exactly what they wanted to do all the way along. And there's not really much in the middle. Did you know you were going to be a doctor from the time you were little?

Dr. Jones Singer (03:28):
I knew I was going to be a doctor from third grade.

Eva Sheie (03:31):
Was there a story there?

Dr. Jones Singer (03:33):
Not really. I went to my pediatrician that was a woman, and so I'm like, okay. And I think that let me know that it was possible to be a doctor and be a woman. And so once that was that, I just knew I wanted to be a doctor and my mother would say, whatever you want to do, you decide to do it and you can do it. There was a time in high school when math wasn't flowing for me. The math wasn't math thing, and she just told me, you just do what you have to do, take it step by step. And that's how I became a physician. How that decision to say, I'm going to do this.

Eva Sheie (04:10):
It's really important, especially having an example early in life that's suggests to you you can.

Dr. Jones Singer (04:16):
Yes, it was indeed. And then cosmetic gynecology, just when I finished my residency, I moved to a place where there weren't at that time very many female gynecologists, and it was right outside of Detroit. I was in Flint, Michigan. There are a lot of Asian population, Sudanese population, middle Eastern populations, Indian, all types of populations where the practice of female genital mutilization is for cultural or religious reasons were practiced. So those women would come to see me once they became Americans or came to America and they had such mutilization, they would come to me right out of my residency and I was the only one. So I decided I was going to study female anatomy much better than I did than when I was just a gynecology because that's more intricate anatomy that's involved in the female genitalia. So once I felt comfortable with that, I was able to offer that service to them and change their lives.

Eva Sheie (05:24):
That is definitely an unusual past to cosmetic gynecology. Yes, it is. It's one of those things we hear about and are of course horrified by, but rarely understand how often it happens to women or what their path is to reach someone like you to actually get it turned around. So I imagine that that was a very rewarding time in your career.

Dr. Jones Singer (05:50):
It currently and still is. That was just the beginning to know what I'm doing, and it is much more common than you would think. Much more common. And so many women suffer in silence. And so I'm so happy to be able to have on my website what I do, to make it a thing that women can search and find. Earlier in my career, there are a lot of words you couldn't say on Google, but now I can say many more words that are more resonant with female anatomy. I would have to say female anatomical concerns, but now I can say words that they understand what they are.

Eva Sheie (06:30):
We have come a long way, haven't we?

Dr. Jones Singer (06:32):
Yes, we absolutely have. But currently in my practice now, I do vaginoplasty, labiaplasty, hylas. So there's so many things, clitoral hood remodeling or contouring, so many things that I'm able to say.

Eva Sheie (06:49):
I had my children very late in my life after both of them after 40. And so as a 40 something year old woman, this is the first time in my life that I've actually ever seen anybody else's bottom. I have two little girls. Okay.

Dr. Jones Singer (07:07):
Yes.

Eva Sheie (07:08):
And also combined with talking about procedures a lot on podcasts, what I didn't really realize the scale of was truly how different everyone is in that area. I mean, extremely different.

Dr. Jones Singer (07:24):
You are absolutely right and because of the internet, because women see how different everyone is, and someone can see on my website, wow, I look like that. I can do something about it. Women have problems with pain, discharge, discomfort pulling, pain with intercourse, embarrassment, and the look of it. So many women get so embarrassed and are so inhibited and self-conscious about what their genitalia looks like. And so by looking at pictures and I've got a lot of before and afters on my website, they feel comfortable and when they come to see me, they feel ready to see me and that's important to me.

Eva Sheie (08:15):
What percentage of women do you think don't even know what they look like?

Dr. Jones Singer (08:19):
I'd say 50% at least. Let's say 80. I was trying to be nice.

Eva Sheie (08:28):
It was very optimistic. Number that you started with 80% and the 20% that know what they look like. What do you think they did to get to the point where they went and looked? You have to do gymnastics to look.

Dr. Jones Singer (08:44):
Well, there's so many things out there that they can see what they look like. Sometimes the partner tells them that they don't like it and they have to look. Sometimes they're hurting and they feel like they're cut and they feel something. Sometimes when they're walking, they have to kink their legs over to the side because their labia get caught in it. Sometimes they're unable to have a bowel movement without pressing to help them have a bowel movement. Sometimes they're having a vaginal discharge. What the heck is that? So it's typically symptoms that make them say, I better look, but I encourage my patients, my gynecology, just for straight gynecology to look at yourself, understand your anatomy, and when patients come to see me for a consultation, I teach them their entire vulvar anatomy. And that's a great jumping part, a jump off point for when we can discuss things.

Eva Sheie (09:37):
Do you have a way of doing this that makes people feel really safe when this is happening? How do you do that?

Dr. Jones Singer (09:43):
Oh, absolutely. I reassure them that they're not the only one they think they are, but I reassure them. I tell them about the procedure and what's done, and then what I do is I bring out my anatomy and I teach them. And most of the time they go, I didn't even know I had that. I didn't even know that was there. Frenulum, what is a frenulum? What's the posterior force? I go over all of the anatomy so they can understand. The Prepuce. I thought that was a clitoral hood. I teach them, they understand from me, and then we go from there. And then I show them before and after pictures and then they understand.

Eva Sheie (10:24):
I can relate to what you're saying.

Dr. Jones Singer (10:26):
I think I embarrassed you a little bit.

Eva Sheie (10:28):
Maybe a little. I don't know what some of those things are, but I will tell you that last week I saw a pelvic floor, like that medical illustration of the pelvic floor, but animated for the first time in my life. And so I was this many years old when I saw a pelvic floor for the first time, which is kind of ridiculous.

Dr. Jones Singer (10:48):
Another thing that I do when ladies come in for labiaplasty, now you have two labia, the labia majora and the labia minora. Most ladies come in for labia, majora, plasty, the smaller lips, inner lips. When I take them for a physical exam, I actually show them what I do. I will do my surgical markings with my surgical pin on their labia. So they see where the incisions will be. They understand, oh my goodness. And then I fold them over and show them what it would look like, and that's when the light bulb goes off. And then after I do that, I get that same anatomy sheet and I have them copied in my office. Then I draw their labia on there, and then I draw their surgical incisions and the light bulb is bright and shining by then.

Eva Sheie (11:42):
That's amazing. And then what did they say to you afterward?

Dr. Jones Singer (11:45):
Thank you. Thank you. I didn't know. I just didn't know.

Eva Sheie (11:52):
No, we don't know.

Dr. Jones Singer (11:55):
And it's so very important. I belong to a group, the GYN experts. It's about six doctors that we just text each other all the time with new procedures or when someone does a presentation somewhere and we talk about procedures and that sort of thing. So we keep each other fresh with new things that go on. Then we also have ways to bounce ideas off of or concerns off of how would you treat this? So that has been very exhilarating to me also.

Eva Sheie (12:26):
How did you find this group?

Dr. Jones Singer (12:28):
Conferences. Cosmenogenesis, Urocosmenogenesis or those type of cosmetic gynecology conferences?

Eva Sheie (12:39):
Yeah. One thing I know about this group is that you always come up with things that are hard to say, urogynecology and then

Dr. Jones Singer (12:47):
Cosmetic gynecology. And so we have conferences. We are very educated and we share a cosmetic gynecologist, share new techniques, new concerns, new everything, and ode and review. So we met each other there and they said, Hey, why don't we do this?

Eva Sheie (13:10):
Are any of these people in your group nearby or are they all over the place?

Dr. Jones Singer (13:14):
Jamaica, London, Michigan, all over.

Eva Sheie (13:20):
So you're in Indianapolis now. Are you still close with people in the Detroit area?

Dr. Jones Singer (13:27):
Just a couple colleagues. As time goes by, you just don't, what happens?

Eva Sheie (13:33):
Everybody. And especially in your specialty, you're all a small but mighty group. How do people find you?

Dr. Jones Singer (13:43):
You know what? They Google, vaginoplasty is my most common search. Labiaplasty is the second, and then it kind of trickles down to other things, and then they see me, they see my reviews, they look at my reviews, and then they pop to my website.

Eva Sheie (14:01):
Talk to me about the technology that you have in the practice. What kinds of devices are you using? I know you're doing a lot of surgery and you're great at that, but what else do you have in that spectrum of treatments that are available?

Dr. Jones Singer (14:14):
I have something called a Mona Lisa Touch. It is a laser vaginal rejuvenation of the vagina and the vulva. I do radio radiofrequency that helps with that. Thermiva, I have Morpheus8, Morpheus V. That's microneedling with radiofrequency. Those are typical technology. I also do the OShot and the OShot helps with urinary incontinence, female intimacy, orgasms, all those types of things.

Eva Sheie (14:46):
Do you have a favorite of all of your lasers?

Dr. Jones Singer (14:48):
No, I like them all.

Eva Sheie (14:50):
It's just like having a bigger restaurant menu and all the food is good.

Dr. Jones Singer (14:55):
That's right. The specific tool, the right tool for the right purpose, and that's what that's for.

Eva Sheie (15:03):
Have you also been helping with weight loss and using Semaglutide to help women lose weight?

Dr. Jones Singer (15:10):
Yes. When Semaglutide went on shortage, I have a physician that I really, really enjoy. He told me about it. He invited me to join him and his whole establishment about offering semaglutide great deal of education for patient education for me, and I started offering semaglutide last year, probably spring when Wegovy and Ozempic, all of that went on shortage. And when it's on shortage, the compounding pharmacies are allowed to start compounding that semaglutide.

Eva Sheie (15:47):
I've heard that the shortage isn't going away anytime soon.

Dr. Jones Singer (15:51):
Well, everyone knows about it and it works, and we realize weight loss is not exercising yourself to death and cutting every food off. It's a brain thing. It is a chemical thing. Yes, you have to eat properly, but we realize and we're understanding more what weight loss is, and so we're able to help with this GLP ones.

Eva Sheie (16:16):
What do you think it's doing that's different? I mean, obviously we know what it says it does. It slows, emptying, reduces hunger signals, things like that. But there seems like there's something beyond that that isn't in the list of things. It does.

Dr. Jones Singer (16:32):
Well, those are the major things that we know, but we know that it makes people not have that food chatter. We know that it builds self-esteem when you're not thinking about the next meal where the refrigerator is stopping on the restaurant on the way there. It gives some type of impulse control that's related to food, and that's what I think that it does mainly.

Eva Sheie (16:57):
So do you have any patients that you can share? What kind of success have your patients seen so far?

Dr. Jones Singer (17:03):
My patients lose about three pounds a week, two to three pounds a week. Some weeks it's just a whole bunch, but then if you average it out, it's two to three pounds a week. That's what it is. They're just so happy to finally feel like they have some control over this.

Eva Sheie (17:22):
Yes, this is very well said. Talk to me about where you've been in the world. You said Flint, Michigan, and

Dr. Jones Singer (17:33):
Yes.

Eva Sheie (17:34):
And now in Indianapolis, but where else have you worked?

Dr. Jones Singer (17:37):
I trained in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I moved to Flint, Michigan. I moved to Indianapolis. I moved to a small town in Indiana, and then eventually moved to Indianapolis, and that's where I've practiced and that sort of thing.

Eva Sheie (17:51):
Where was the small town? What was that town?

Dr. Jones Singer (17:53):
Plymouth, Indiana.

Eva Sheie (17:55):
Oh, never heard of it.

Dr. Jones Singer (17:57):
I told you small.

Eva Sheie (17:59):
But they probably really needed a doctor there.

Dr. Jones Singer (18:02):
Right? Yeah. I've spent some time in South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, and help with that just as a, you just need a little missionary, something going on around here. So I spent some time in Cape Town, South Africa, and that's basically where I practiced my skills. Quite honestly, when I was in Cape Town, I saw a lot of genital mobilization and that more than anything solidified that I was doing what was right.

Eva Sheie (18:35):
What do you like to do when you're not at work other than voiceover?

Dr. Jones Singer (18:39):
I was going to say voiceover. That's what we do. That's what I do enjoy my husband and my dog, and he's sitting with me back here. He knows how to keep quiet when I do voiceover.

Eva Sheie (18:50):
He's a studio dog.

Dr. Jones Singer (18:52):
Yes. He is, and I don't have his collar on when I'm in here, so it won't, hear ching, ching, ching, when he is,

Eva Sheie (19:01):
If someone's listening and they want to come see you in person, or they want to reach out and get to know more about what you do, how should they find you on the internet?

Dr. Jones Singer (19:10):
Certainly my website, Michelle Jones singer.com. Really it's called Indianapolis- Cosmetic- Surgery.com, but you can still get me from Michelle Jones Singer.com.

Eva Sheie (19:22):
Very easy to remember.

Dr. Jones Singer (19:24):
And Instagram, Michelle Jones Singer.

Eva Sheie (19:28):
And I'll make sure those links are in the show notes so they're easy to find.

Dr. Jones Singer (19:31):
And I do Tik Toks too.

Eva Sheie (19:33):
Oh, you do?

Dr. Jones Singer (19:35):
Hm-hmmm.

Eva Sheie (19:36):
I'll have to check that out.

Dr. Jones Singer (19:38):
On my Instagram and my tiktok, I speak of things that people don't want to talk about. Embarrassing things women don't want to ask their doctor.

Eva Sheie (19:48):
You have a huge following on TikTok. Now I'm going to have to go figure out why. No I can see why.

(20:00):
Thank you, Dr. Singer. It was really a pleasure getting to know you.

Dr. Jones Singer (20:03):
What a pleasure. What a pleasure. Thank you for making this such a, I could just let you know what I do and who I am.

Eva Sheie (20:11):
That's what we're here for.

Dr. Jones Singer (20:12):
Absolutely. Thank you for inviting me.

Eva Sheie (20:18):
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, THE AXIS.io.