Proctologist Expert: The BRUTAL Truth - Dr Albert Chung

Looking for a personal consultation with Dr. Albert Chung?
Share your story so I can help guide your recovery. Please note: there is a fee for this service. Email for details: YourFriendlyProctologist@gmail.com

Sponsors for this episode:

• Vessol Health – Doctor-backed supplements for gut, rectal, and vein health.
• ManyBidets.com – Your online BIDET superstore with top-tier service to help you find the right fit for your personal needs.
• Pranicura – Targeted relief for hemorrhoids, anal fissures, and itching.

I’ve put together a list of products I personally recommend—tools to help you manage, treat, and heal more effectively. Every click helps support this show and keeps these episodes coming!

Recommended Recovery Supplies:
Stool softeners:

• Colace (100ct)
• Colace (400ct)
• Miralax powder

Skin care essentials:

• Desitin barrier cream
• Calmoseptine cream
• Dove hypoallergenic soap

Moist wipes:

• Honest baby wipes

Hemorrhoid relief:

• Preparation H Max Strength
• Tucks pads
• Preparation H with Lidocaine
• Recticare 5% cream

Wound care basics:

• 4x4 gauze pads
• Paper tape
• Blue disposable underpads

Contact Dr. Chung's Office

Address: 30212 Tomas, Suite 365, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688
Phone: 714-988-8690
Fax: 714-988-2235
Email: YourFriendlyProctologist@gmail.com
Website: https://www.CRSurgeryOC.com Check out reviews on Google and Yelp! 

Follow me on social media for more tips and updates:
Facebook: Your Friendly Proctologist
Instagram: @yourfriendlyproctologist

Disclaimer: This podcast is educational in nature and does not constitute medical advice. All content reflects my personal opinions and not those of my employer(s). Use this information at your own risk. I assume no liability for any outcomes—economic, medical, or otherwise—resulting from its use.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

So hi Doctor. So today we'll be asking you a few questions to help our audience to our different platforms on social media to get to know you a bit better to understand your background. To start off, uh the first question is how did you get here? Tell us about like who Albert Albert Chung is before medicine. What kind of kid were you? Was there a moment going up when you realized you wanted to be a doctor or that came late? Yeah, great question.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Um so I was brought up and raised by my family as an immigrant family, and it's either you were going to be a doctor or a lawyer. That's pretty much the only choices that I had. For that reason, the way I was brought up in our household, I was a very insecure, introverted, scrawny kid. Some people would say I'm a total nerd, and you that's a pretty good description of it. You got the picture there. I didn't play any video games, but definitely not the sociable kind. I was hiding always in the corner like a wallflower. In school, you know, I was pretty serious about it up to high school, but when I got to college, it was my time to be free from my household, be completely independent and on my own. And that's where I started to screw up because there was no experience in my entire life of making decisions on my own and understanding the consequences of my decision. So I played a lot of video games and I screwed up my first year of college. My uh I did terribly in all my classes. Um, and so when it came time towards the end of my college years to pick something, I didn't know if I was cut out from medicine. So I looked at other options and I saw this like business aspect of medicine, like health administration, right? Be the guys in the suits and ties. And there was a program in New York that was allowing me to kind of explore that along with taking some more advanced science classes because I haven't completely given up on medicine. So I went that route and found that I actually enjoyed being in the business part of medicine. As I was doing the program, I found out that I actually enjoyed the personal interaction. I missed that. And that's why I continue to pursue medicine and go into med school and do all that track.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

I do have another question. Uh since you mentioned you, so I'm I'm pretty sure this is going to be question a question to a lot of your audience. Well, what was your favorite game?

SPEAKER_01 2:37

I I played StarCraft, and there were like 12 of us who would you know play from 6 o'clock at night all the way to like 5, 6 a.m. in the morning, and that's why I missed all my classes and failed a lot of tests.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Well, yeah, I know the game. It's a pretty amazing game, honestly. The next question is why cautorectal surgery? Was there a patient experience early on that uh solidified this as your calling?

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Yeah, colorectal surgery was well, I knew I wanted to be a surgeon when I got into med school, and um, but there was a particular um surgeon there at the hospital named Dr. Harand Upcaring. He's the godfather of, to me, of colorectal surgery. And the way he interacted with his patients was I mean, it was unbelievable. He had a presence, and when he walked into a room, he would actually um know all the details about a patient. He hasn't seen this person for like five to ten years, okay? But the patient would be so overjoyed in seeing him, and he connected so well, like remembering their daughters and their you know what's been going on in their life. I said, I want to be exactly like you. So that's where that completely started with. I wanted that personal connection that he had with his patients.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Why do people misunderstand uh most about your work?

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Yeah, I think most people don't understand the emotional aspect or the emotional toll that these conditions, bottom line conditions have on people's lives. Okay, everyone thinks like, oh, if you got a bleeding butt, you got a bulging hemorrhoid, you know, just cut it off or band it or do something quick to it, and then the person should be fine, go back to work, and do whatever. Or it can't hurt that bad. You got a little bumps, so what? You know, it's gonna get better, put a bunch of creams, not take a bath. But no, no, these conditions ruin people's lives to the point where they are almost in a near panic attack when they come into my office. And so it's at that point, the doctor has to understand how much they impact people's mood, their sleep, their interaction with their families to hold a job. I mean, it's immense the impact.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

So now this is about the person behind the doctor who want to know. So, how would your closest friends describe you off camera, off the scrubs?

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Um, I'm a pretty loud and expressive person. Uh that's I think that my friends would say. I love to laugh a ton. Um I love to have a really good time, and I like to support my friends. You know, if there's an issue, I want them to think that they can come and talk to me and we can do some sharing and most of all just have a good stress-free time. That's that's what I live for outside of work and outside this office for sure.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

And so the next question is what's something about you that would surprise your patients?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

I think the biggest thing is people will be surprised I'm actually a control freak. Uh, I look so relaxed in the views. I know, like everyone says, like, come in into my office, say, Oh, hey, Dr. Chan, like, I'm some chill, really cool guy. But actually, I'm not. I'm uh I need to control, I'm a micromanager, and it's because this office needs to be very professional, very considerate, respectful of people's conditions here and how much they're suffering. I mean, I had a receptionist in here once, great person. She was super great with everybody, but that wasn't the issue. It's because if she said something wrong on the phone that I didn't like or she uh and she knew that I was always listening, then that would irk me, right? And so that's something that um people may not have known about me. Um I'm that kind of kind of guy.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

And and for that, and for you know, going to all that at work at your in your clinic, what do you do usually to decompress yourself after a long day or like an emotionally heavy day?

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Yeah, uh mountain biking and not just mountain biking, I do enjoy it, but it has to be with my friends. I I find our community, our group of friends to be so oh, I mean, we talk about everything, we are joking around, and me not that's how I can not think about work at all, and that really helps me get through and um yeah, de-stress.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

So, what's a question patients are too embarrassed to ask? Uh, but absolutely should.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Yeah, I think patients should ask their doctors, how do I take care of this myself? How do I touch myself? Um, I think self-examination, learning about your body and exploring your body is very important. I mean, we do it for everything else. We do all other private parts. You know, they say expect you inspect your penis and your testicles, women, vagina, how about breast exams? You know, the anus should be the same exact thing. So asking a doctor, hey, if I were to check this myself, how should I touch myself? What would you recommend? Another one is can I have sex again? When can I have sex again? That's another great question because sex is one of the greatest pleasures in life for so many levels. We should know. Everyone should know when it's safe to go and proceed.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

But uh, I'm pretty sure like you get some kind of reaction whenever you talk about your profession or what you do as a doctor. And I want to know like what's your reaction when people find out uh what do you do for a living?

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Um I think most people would say that, or people I at least I read on their faces, that I'm uh really a disgusting person. You know, like um a gynecologist doesn't get that reaction because they're delivering life into the world. But the the butthole, only excrement comes out of there. So how could you possibly want to touch or smell this stuff? And um after that, then they kind of laugh at me. Uh that's the other thing. It's like, you know, you gotta be kidding me. You know, what kind of person you have to be to want to do this is so embarrassing and disgusting to even think about.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

But um, you also started your YouTube channel, and you're doing you you you keep posting all these videos about different areas of your work, and you keep letting people know, uh addressing questions that people might be afraid of asking usually. But uh what made you decide to start YouTube and why this tone?

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Yeah, so I think the YouTube channel came out of me being extremely bored during COVID. Um, and I'm a YouTube addict, so anything I need to research on, YouTube is my primary source. So YouTube is obviously feeding me a lot of stuff about hemorrhoids, about anal conditions, because it knows who I am, right? Has all my data. So I'm seeing all these things, but I'm seeing zero teaching. I understand it because I'm in the field, but if I was a normal person, would that person be able to get anything out of it to heal or get help or understand it? No, none of that. I mean, if I want to fix a pipe, I can find from beginning to end what parts I need, how to do it on YouTube. And so that's where you know there needs to be a doctor, a professional who can explain things to people so that they can help themselves no matter where they are in the world.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Right. And were you nervous pulling your putting yourself uh out there at first in front of all these audiences?

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Oh yeah. Uh really, really actually, there's a lot of hesitation. You know, I want to do it, I didn't know how. Um, my brother actually does a little bit of um he does it, well, he does not little. Back then he was doing a little bit of acting and actually getting on social media, and he told me, just put a video out there, Albert. Just see what happens. If you like it, you like it, if you hate it, don't even don't worry about it. And that's what got me started. So that's what got my foot in the door.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

What feedback from viewers has stuck with you the most?

SPEAKER_01 10:45

I'm still actually I'm still kind of accepting it. It's really hard for me because um when people say like how great the help is, how great the videos are, it's it's a compliment and the people are being genuine. I totally get it. But the thing is, is for me to accept that internally, it's it's a little it feels a little bit like an embarrassment, is my best way to describe it. It it's hard to accept. I'm I'm just super stoked and happy that people are getting something out of it, right? Helping themselves. But um that that's I mean, it's it's I just feel so warm. You know, I feel like um a purpose in life that I was meant to be here on Earth for is being fulfilled with that, you know, helping people from everywhere. It it's an incredible experience.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Um so let's jump on to life lessons from the back side of humanity. So uh what has your work taught you about human behavior?

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Oh wow, uh a lot. Um you know everyone walks in here with a disturbance to their emotional health anxiety, depression, sadness, that's uh nervousness, like anxiety, okay, said that. So definitely if you don't read or smell that aura, that emotion coming out of people, how do you really treat the whole patient? And I you know, sitting here listening to people that are out of their mind freaking out, that it takes understanding of the other person sitting across from you. You know, you can't be sitting there thinking, God, when is this person gonna finish talking? Or is this person, you know, I'm not I'm not their mother, you know. Why are they rambling on and on about their problems? There's a reason why people are doing that. So if you you have to understand human suffering. And in my opinion, I think a lot of people agree, if you've never suffered yourself, you will never understand other people suffering. Accomplished a lot. Oh, thank you. Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

You're well, very well accomplished, doctor, and uh we can see everybody does. But what's something that you still want to accomplish in medicine?

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Oh man. Um I want to make people aware that you have choices. So educating the public on uh uh that they are a consumer and they can actually defend themselves against this machine of of of the healthcare system, right? Many people feel like, oh, insurance denied my care. I'm not gonna pay for anything. Uh I can't find a doctor, you know, I can't seem to get people to give me care. I feel like I'm being gaslit. Those are the types of situations where I feel like there are options, but people aren't being people don't know about them. And I want to that's my biggest thing. Defend yourself, be s and speak up for yourself so you can get the care that you feel you need.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

That's amazing. And uh how do you want patients to feel when they hear the name Albert Chunk?

SPEAKER_01 14:04

I guess the biggest thing is, you know, I am just like everybody else. You know, um I one comment that I keep getting once in a while on the YouTube channel is you have hemorrhoids, Dr. Chung? Like, are you how kind of doctor are you? You know, it sounds like you don't know your field at all if you have hemorrhoids. But when I I I don't respond to those comments because it's just gonna turn out to be negative. But honestly, you know, doctors, chloretal surgeons get rectal cancer, they get colon cancer. Yeah, and I have hemorrhoids. So just because I learned about it, it doesn't mean I can't be afflicted with it. Because I am uh I'm an organism just like you. I have a butthole and I eat food and pizza and candy just like you. So um, so I'm a normal person, but I want to be somebody that's friendly and approachable, and someone you can get help from. Uh I want to be I want to feel like I am a solution. Uh I uh I I do my job well and you're and people are getting better because of it.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Right. What impact do you hope your friendly proctologist has 10 years from now?

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Well, I hope I hope I'm still participating in the channel 10 years from now. I you know, um, you know, the our human bodies probably won't be completely evolved. You know, I think the anus will still be there, you know, 10 years from now. So I I hope that these videos will be a way for people to still get help. And then other doctors jump off this platform, you know, like the other people have different ideas of how to teach people and treat people and continue the research that I've been doing in this office.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Yeah, let it be a platform too. That's cool. And uh that leaves us to our last question. Uh let's do a powerful ending here. If you could tell one thing to someone who's embarrassed, scared, or putting off seeing a doctor, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 16:04

I would say that use the power of the internet, right? You're too afraid to talk to anybody, um your family, your brother, you know, your friends. Look stuff up at Google, use Chat GPT and AI and use all those tools. I am a doctor who says the internet is can be a very good thing. It can be also negative too, but I don't criticize people for trying to research and figure out what's going on with their body. Absolutely get as gain as much knowledge as you can. Then hopefully, with that knowledge and having some questions to ask doctors, hopefully you can, or approaching your friends, whoever it's gonna be, that you have some courage to talk about because you feel like you have some knowledge, right? That's knowledge is power, and I think that is how you begin your journey. But yes, I do recommend seeing a doctor at some point or some clinician. Hope you can and get some trust with somebody to speak on that level because this is your health we're talking about. And at some point, if your options, whatever ChatGPT told you, doesn't work out, you need to get the help for your own benefit, whether it's for your family, your kids, you know, your parents. You I highly advise that you get to that point however however necessary.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

All right, so that's all for today. I know you have a patient coming in in like 15 minutes. So, but yeah, thank you very much for your time. And uh the questions were great, the answers were great. Uh we really appreciate that. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Hey, thanks for coming out. It was a pleasure talking to you.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Pleasure is ours.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Bye.