Robert Wald, MD - Plastic Surgeon in Fullerton, California

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 on the podcast today is Robert Wald and he is plastic surgeon in Fullerton, California, which is near the Bay. Am I right?

Dr. Wald (00:42):
It's near actually Disneyland in Orange County.

Eva Sheie (00:45):
Disneyland. Well, I screwed that up. Didn't I?

Dr. Wald (00:47):
It's close.

Eva Sheie (00:49):
I am from Minnesota. I can't be held responsible for my California geography.

Dr. Wald (00:53):
It's not your fault.

Eva Sheie (00:55):
But there's a Cal State there.

Dr. Wald (00:56):
There's a Cal State Fullerton.

Eva Sheie (00:58):
Yeah.

Dr. Wald (00:58):
Yes.

Eva Sheie (00:59):
So tell me a little bit about your practice. What's that like?

Dr. Wald (01:03):
Well, I've been in private practice for a long time, almost 30 years. Came there after training at UCLA and joined another plastic surgeon, and he retired about 10 years ago. But I have my own surgery center, so I do all my surgeries in my cosmetic surgery center, which is really great. And I'm really at the point now that I'm doing only cosmetic surgery. I did a lot of reconstruction throughout my career, but now just because of the timing and everything else, that's what I do now.

Eva Sheie (01:35):
Are there certain procedures or sets of things that you're known for?

Dr. Wald (01:40):
I think just because I've been doing this so long and I used to do four or five breast augmentations a day that all these ladies now are older. So now I'm doing more facelifts probably and eyelids, than just direct breast augmentation. But there's still a fair amount where I do breast augmentation. Mommy makeovers, tummy tucks. But a lot of it's the facial things that I do.

Eva Sheie (02:04):
And so lots of word of mouth?

Dr. Wald (02:05):
Yes, most of it's.

Eva Sheie (02:07):
So you're not buying big billboards on the five?

Dr. Wald (02:10):
No, no. I see a lot of 'em, but I don't do it.

Eva Sheie (02:14):
And you think to yourself, I'm so glad I don't need to do that.

Dr. Wald (02:17):
Yeah, that's what's great about where I'm at in life. We're doing fine and we have probably 50 to a hundred thousand patients that know of me. And over time, that's pretty good.

Eva Sheie (02:28):
That's a substantial number.

Dr. Wald (02:31):
It's been a long time.

Eva Sheie (02:34):
Yeah, you're not wrong.

Dr. Wald (02:37):
And that word of mouth is so great because they know who we are and know the type of kind of surgeries you do and the results and it's really great.

Eva Sheie (02:47):
What about your team? Have they been with you for a while?

Dr. Wald (02:49):
Yeah, we actually had, one nurse was with us for about 15 years and she just retired. And another front office lady, her daughter got pregnant, so she went to raise the new baby up in Idaho. So we now have had a little transition with two newer people, but they're great. And so we have still similar team, but just different than what it was.

Eva Sheie (03:13):
So if a patient calls or a new patient calls for the first time, who might they expect to talk to?

Dr. Wald (03:18):
Her name would be probably Denise. She's the front office lady, or there could be Barbara that is the office manager that they would talk to.

Eva Sheie (03:25):
Both good choices.

Dr. Wald (03:27):
Yes.

Eva Sheie (03:28):
Okay. Was there a point where you decided, I think I'm going to focus on breast and body?

Dr. Wald (03:37):
I think that this is important. I'm board certified both in ENT, ears, nose and Throat. And following that four year residency, I went to become a plastic surgeon and did two years and got my board certification in plastic surgery. So when I finished after eight years of training, I thought that I would be the rhinoplasty expert of the world, especially in Orange County. Very unique. It's not many people do this. And as it turns out, I've done more breast augmentations than rhinoplasty throughout my career. And it's very interesting because I love noses. I'm really good at it. But I think what's happened is the ENT doctors, most people go to them for breathing issues and then they turn into rhinoplasty. And so I think they do the majority. And then there are a few plastic surgeons, which I didn't do, especially, I just thought they would come to me because of my training, that I would do more noses. But it was demand supply and demand. There were just many more breast augmentations in those days, and that's kind of the way I grew up. It's very interesting. It was at UCLA. Yeah. And plastics at UCLA as well, all in Southern California.

Eva Sheie (04:57):
But did you grow up there too?

Dr. Wald (04:59):
I was born in Evanston, Illinois. My dad taught at Northwestern when I was born. Got born at Evanston Hospital. My wife was born at Moena Park. She's local. So when I came out, when my dad was transferred when I was about eight, and then grew up in Woodier and then went to USC undergrad, went to USC medical school and then met my wife when I was in medical school. And then after I finished, after going to UCLA, we decided to stay in southern California. And that's why we ended up in Fullerton where she was close to where she grew up, but just to great schools and great places to bring a family. We have four kids and they're all grown now, but they've all done very well.

Eva Sheie (05:44):
It's awfully hard to leave a place like California, especially since you already knew what it was like in Illinois and the weather that came with living in Illinois.

Dr. Wald (05:54):
Well, it's true. I mean, my kids actually, one of my kids was back there for three years. Her husband was transferred back there. They're back now to California. But we love Chicago. I mean, it's a great city. It's just the weather is just not great.

Eva Sheie (06:09):
Not great.

Dr. Wald (06:10):
It's not great. On a great day in Chicago, though, you can't beat it anywhere. I mean along the lakes and the walks and the restaurants and fantastic. But the weather just can't go back unfortunately.

Eva Sheie (06:27):
When someone comes to see you for the first time, what can they expect from that visit?

Dr. Wald (06:33):
Well, I think we're a little bit different in the sense that we're a very personal practice. We're not a glitzy practice. I don't advertise a lot. I don't need to or want to. I actually trained a guy that is on TV all the time now and had that possibility of doing that as well, but it's just not me. And that creates pressures and demands that we're different, but our practice is just, it's homey, it's personal. And if somebody is looking for that personal nature to it, they're going to be thrilled because it's such a great team that's together. We have our own surgery center, anesthesiologists, they're all both certified. It's just a great experience and different than going to a big practice and med spas and all these people trying to sell their products and everything, that's not us.

Eva Sheie (07:28):
Is there anything you wish patients knew about you before they came in?

Dr. Wald (07:32):
I think most patients now do their homework. I think everybody's online. They know who I am before they come. They've gone through real self and Yelp and all the reviews, and they go through the websites and they have a real good idea. So I don't think there's anything I could say right now that they probably don't know. Today's social media, they see the reviews, they're really pretty accurate. You're going to get some that are not good, but there's not many, which is actually kind of good in some ways. Then they realize that they're real. But anyway, we always strive for perfection, do our best. We listen. And I think that's the other thing, again, talking to a lot of my friends, there's a lot of upselling patients that come in and they say, well, gee, I went to this other doctor and I went in for a nose and wanted to do liposuction, breast augmentation, all these other procedures, and I just went in for my nose. So we're not that way. And I think that would be maybe the message to pare that we're there for you, whatever you want to discuss. We're not there to force you into surgery. There's no pressure, there's no sales. We're here to educate and I'll give you the best possible opinion and experience if you choose to do it.

Eva Sheie (08:47):
If someone is listening and they want to come see you in the office, where should they go online and learn more about you?

Dr. Wald (08:54):
I would have my own website. Look up Dr. Robert Wald. It's very easy to find in Fullerton. It'll pop up. It's got all the information there.

Eva Sheie (09:02):
Do you do any social media?

Dr. Wald (09:04):
Yeah, I do some Yelp, but RealSelf Instagram. I don't do Twitter. TikTok,

Eva Sheie (09:11):
No dancing videos.

Dr. Wald (09:12):
No dancing videos. That's not me. I'm not that good a dancer either.

Eva Sheie (09:18):
I sort of wonder about the decision-making skills as someone who would choose their surgeon based on their finding them dancing on TikTok.

Dr. Wald (09:28):
There's a group, they're younger obviously, but it's interesting. Social media, as you know, is very interesting. And some people want that kind of doctor that's hip, that's cool, that dances the parties and that's okay.

Eva Sheie (09:46):
I have learned so much from these kids. And I was just thinking about the first time I went to Disneyland, we were on the shuttle from the parking lot to the gate, and this girl on the bus kept double tapping, double tapping, and she was going so fast, zoom, zoom, double tap, zoom, double tap. I said to my friend, what is she doing? And she was like, she's on Instagram. And I thought it was like my mind was blown. That's what they're doing on there. And the speed with which they were consuming the content and engaging with it was so shocking to me. And then it just happened again. That was in 2017. I know exactly when I had that revelation. This one was, and sorry for the ramble.

Dr. Wald (10:35):
That's okay.

Eva Sheie (10:36):
A patient of one of my clients in San Diego made an Instagram to document her skinny BBL a page just for that. And I said, why did she do that? Well, we interviewed her and she said, I looked on TikTok and there was nothing. Nobody was talking about doing skinny BBL. So I thought, well, I need to do it.

Dr. Wald (10:58):
Wow.

Eva Sheie (10:59):
So because there was nothing on TikTok, therefore there must be nothing and I will create it myself. And this is how this is happening.

(11:06)
You're right. That's very interesting.

Eva Sheie (11:08):
So if I've been saying we don't need to bother with TikTok for a long time, I have been saying that I am changing my mind because that can't be the source of information.

Dr. Wald (11:20):
It's not my source.

Eva Sheie (11:22):
It's not mine either. But

Dr. Wald (11:24):
It's there though.

Eva Sheie (11:24):
It's there.

Dr. Wald (11:25):
It's big.

Eva Sheie (11:26):
Yeah.

Dr. Wald (11:26):
That's why you mentioned the dancing doctor and that's what they're on. And it used to be Snapchat too. That used to be a big thing.

Eva Sheie (11:36):
Talk about a marketing waste.

Dr. Wald (11:38):
But I don't know. I mean, there's younger generation that's just coming out of school, especially if you're interested in cosmetic surgery. They have to do it to be known. It's a certain niche.

Eva Sheie (11:50):
They do. Well. What do you like to do when you're not work?

Dr. Wald (11:54):
Well, I like to have fun. After I retire I'm and to become a sommelier.

Eva Sheie (11:59):
Are you practicing every day?

Dr. Wald (12:03):
Not every day, but I've been practicing for many, many years and we've traveled the world and in search of great wines, and I love history. I love culture. And it all kind of blends together. There's nothing better than searching out great wines, at little expense. But I just have so much fun with it. We also like to exercise. I run, we bike. We just got back from Ireland on a bike trip, which is really fun. So we're very active in that sense. And we have seven grandchildren, so that keeps us busy as well.

Eva Sheie (12:41):
That's awesome.

Dr. Wald (12:41):
Which is really fun. So we're active and it's great.

Eva Sheie (12:47):
Well, thank you for sharing yourself with us today. It was a pleasure getting to know you a little better. Come back anytime. 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.