Faces, Function, And Finding Confidence

Your face tells your story—through expression, voice, breath, and the quiet confidence to be seen. We sit down with Dr. Paige Kennedy, a facial reconstructive plastic surgeon, to unpack what it really takes to restore identity and function after trauma, cancer, or congenital differences, and why the best results honor both anatomy and emotion.

Dr. Kennedy traces her path from early mentors to high-stakes operating rooms, revealing how creativity drives reconstruction when injuries defy the textbook. She opens the door to the trauma bay and the Mohs dermatology suite, showing how flaps, grafts, and meticulous tissue planning help patients regain normalcy. We dive into cleft lip and palate care, facial nerve reconstruction, and airway-focused jaw surgery—team-based efforts that blend surgery with speech therapy and psychosocial support to change daily life, not just appearance.

We also tackle the noisy world of filters, trends, and “before-and-after” photos. Dr. Kennedy explains why standardized photography builds trust, how she screens for body dysmorphic disorder, and the emotional arc many patients experience during recovery. Social media has made patients more informed than ever, and we explore how that can sharpen consults while still requiring careful guidance. On the horizon: preservation rhinoplasty and deep plane facelift techniques that protect structure, maintain function, and deliver natural results with less downtime.

If you’ve ever wondered how reconstructive plastic surgery can restore confidence, breathing, speech, and presence in photos and real life, this conversation offers a clear, compassionate tour. We also share practical advice on advocating for yourself: get multiple opinions, align on goals, and choose a surgeon who will partner with you through the full journey.

Enjoyed the conversation? Follow, rate, and share the show so others can find it—and tell us what surprised you most about reconstructive surgery.

Transcript

High Stakes And Purpose

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Because I really like challenge and I really like, you know, high-stakes type environments. Really? Yeah, I thrive in that. So, you know, every time I enter it, I'm like, what am I doing? Um, but I find it's like the most incredible feeling afterwards when you really can make that difference.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Welcome to Posture and Purpose, where both healing and community come together. Make sure to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Let's get into this episode with Dr. Michelle Car Frank.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Hello, and welcome to this episode of Posture and Purpose. Today I have Dr. Paige Kennedy, who is a facial reconstructive plastic surgeon in Lafayette. So welcome, Dr. Kennedy.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Thank you, and thank you so much for having me. Thanks to be here.

Choosing Surgery And Finding Mentors

SPEAKER_02 0:44

Thank you for being here. I always like to know how did you get started on this journey into facial reconstructive surgery?

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Yeah, so um I come from a background with a lot of medical folks in my family. So that was sort of early exposure. And um, as I decided, you know, through college that I wanted to go to medical school, once I made that decision, uh, you know, as I started learning in school, I was sort of trying to decide between medicine and surgery. That's sort of the first fork in the road, as they say. Um and I'm a doer, I like immediate results. I'm, you know, I'm very hands-on, so I felt like surgery was more of my calling. I had some early mentors who were pretty much telling me that I was made more for a surgical type of specialty, just personality-wise. So as I headed that direction, of course, you know, you go through all the rotations, you get kind of a flavor for everything. And um, I really liked that there was a slightly subjective component in plastics and in reconstructive surgery. So, you know, there's there's the the rules and the surgical kind of guides, but then there's scenarios that maybe no one has seen before, or combinations of injuries or things like that that aren't necessarily written in the exact specific way. You know, it's not like open heart surgery or something like that where it's step, you know, A, B, C, and that's how we do it. Sometimes you have to get creative. Right. It's not a cookbook. Exactly. Yeah. So there's a little room for for that.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

And what really focused your attention on facial reconstruction? You said you had some mentors. Maybe tell us about those mentors and how it led to that specifically.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

So I have a couple of your nose and throat doctors in my family. I have a first cousin and then my older sister. Um I shadowed them, of course, going through rotations and trying to delineate what I liked and what I wanted to pursue. And of course, a a branch of that is facial plastics. And so I was exposed to that early on. And I love that the face is such an intimate part of you. It's your identity, it's very uh emotionally triggering. And so I I found that the surgeries that were being performed in that space were just so impactful and so meaningful and challenging because I really like challenge and I really like, you know, uh high-stakes type environments. Really? Yeah, I thrive in that. So, you know, every time I enter it, I'm like, what am I doing? Um, but I find it's like the most incredible feeling afterwards when you really can make that difference and see the change that you've made.

Why The Face Matters

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Was there ever a defining moment in your training that you said, okay, it's not gonna be ear, nose, and throat, it's not gonna be general surgery. This is what I am meant to do. Was there a defining moment that you can remember?

A Defining Mentor’s Story

SPEAKER_01 3:39

I got to work with an incredible surgeon. So I went to medical school at Baylor and I was in the Texas Medical Center, which granted me exposure to, I mean, just incredible medicine and a huge scope of it. Um, and I worked with um a plastic surgeon there who he had been in a horrific accident himself. He was actually wheelchair bound, but he was still operating. And I went to his OR a few times, and just the the level of perseverance and the level of attention to detail that he and his team continue to give to people. And I went into his clinic and saw these patients come in afterwards, and you know, that kind of seeing the journey all the way through, because a lot of times in medical school, you're in the operating room, but you don't necessarily see the follow-up, and you miss the story. Yes, you know, you see just that moment. Yeah, so I think just the the luck of being able to see some of those stories, I was like, this is this is awesome.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Oh, they're so gratifying. Have you noticed um through your training or through your experience being a female? Has there any has there been any um demands? Let me just put it that way, or challenges that you've seen? Um, I know when I was in chiropractic school, uh, there were few and far between as far as females went. But how has your experience been?

SPEAKER_01 5:00

So I think I was I'm a little lucky in the timing of things because there it was kind of right around the time when I was in medical school where the class was about 50-50 male to female.

SPEAKER_03 5:12

Really?

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Um, and you know, of course, the world of surgery, as you sort of get closer and closer to the specialty that I'm in now, the level of female involvement dwindles drastically. So lots in medical school. As you get to surgery, the numbers plummet. As you get to facial plastic surgery, the numbers are really small. Um, so I think I was told really early on, um, there was a pediatric surgeon when I was a medical student, she was the dean of students named Mary Brandt, and she was super important in my life and was really adamant that I had female mentors. She was like, if you have strong female mentors and you see this playing out and you see people at different stages of their career, because you're in babyhood, you know, and the world is glitter and gold. And then as you kind of have these moments where you start to question if you belong and start to question, you know, if you're making the right choices, you see these people who are further along in that career path, and you're, you know, it's it's pretty clear that it's doable.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

And more confident for you. Definitely. Have you ever felt underestimated when you when you said those numbers dwindled? And when it really got down to the brass taxes of it all, how did you feel, or did you ever feel underestimated?

Women In Surgery And Mentorship

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Maybe you didn't, but in a sense, yeah, I would say, you know, and there's there's the comments that happen. People, I'm sure any woman who has been through surgical training will tell you, there has been a time where someone said to them, Well, don't you want a family? Or how are you gonna balance that? Or you know, is this kind of a selfish little path you're taking? Because tradition tells you that, you know, you're gonna need to be sort of the the matriarch and the head of your house at some point, you know, swearing an agent. Assuming that that's what you want, you know, before we even ask. Exactly. Um, you know, of course, yeah, I wanted a family. I came from, you know, a big family. And I think that it's doable when you have people who are supporting you, no matter what direction you're coming from, whether you're in the male role, the female role. Exactly. Whatever it is, you know, if you have good support and you're motivated, you'd be good to go. You're good to go.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

What advice would you give to a young woman that is just starting her journey, either in medical school or general surgery or getting more uh specialized?

SPEAKER_01 7:21

I would say, you know, just go for it. If something seems hard, it's hard for a reason and you can do it.

unknown 7:29

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

If you have if you have the wherewithal and the desire and that burn in your soul, you can do it.

SPEAKER_03 7:36

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Um, some sometime early in my training, too, when I was in medical school, one of my my dad's friends is a cardiothoracic surgeon at Texas Heart Institute, and that is an amazing place for a while. It convinced me I wanted to do cardiothoracic surgery. Oh. Um, but he told me, he was like, you know, this sounds so cheesy, but like you have one life. Go out there and do some cool stuff. Make the most of it and and be scared. When you're scared, it means you're growing.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Exactly. Exactly. And we all know um we've been scared, but it's always coming from a good place, usually. Um, and so that's that's a great story to share. And many people think plastic surgery is only cosmetic, and I know you've probably had these challenges. Can you please explain the difference between the reconstructive side of what you do and how it can deeply affect the quality of a person's life? You know, because I'm sure a lot of listeners are thinking, oh, you know, when I say fun stuff, all the cosmetic stuff that we see on TikTok and social media. But what challenges have you been uh faced with when it really changes the quality of someone's life?

Balancing Career, Bias, And Family

SPEAKER_01 8:43

So there's a few different aspects of the reconstructive side of things. So there's the trauma side, and that is something that I was heavily involved in through training. I I trained at a level one trauma center in Southside Chicago. So we saw a lot of facial trauma, you know, whether it's accidents, you know, gun violence, things like that. Um so there's that whole component. Then there's the reconstructive component of post-some kind of ablative surgery, head and neck cancer surgery, or you know, skin cancer surgeries, any kind of reconstructive surgery that requires flap placement or, you know, kind of creative tissue rearrangement in order to get back to a sense of normalcy. So I'd say those are kind of the two big branches that I have the most experience in in terms of the reconstructive side, and things that people don't really think about quite as much. Unless you've been directly involved in something like that, known someone who had to have a big surgery after a car wreck or you know, what have you. You don't really think about that side. And that's really where, like I mentioned earlier, the creative aspect comes in. Because we're we're trying to take something that you don't know what it's gonna look like, you know. Someone who uh one of the biggest cases we did whenever I was in training was someone who had been in a really bad fireworks accident, and so they, you know, lost a ton of soft tissue, they also had some bony fractures in the face, and it came to a point where you know it was right in the center face. And um, how can we make this person look like a person, but also themselves? And it was, I mean, of course, it's over a year-long multi-stage type of surgery, but at the end, I mean, this patient was in the commercials and was so thrilled to just be able to have that sense of normalcy. And you were a part of that procedure?

SPEAKER_02 10:25

Yes, I was a resident, so I was kind of you know still to be able to see um the start and the finish. And um, you mentioned, you know, the reconstructive side of it with trauma, but what about general structure or symmetry or functions that help someone reach confidence, such as uh speech or breathing, um, you know, cleft palates, uh, nerve grafting, those types of things.

What Reconstructive Surgery Really Involves

SPEAKER_01 10:53

So those are kind of some of the other branches in the reconstructive realm. And facial nerve reconstruction is a huge aspect of facial plastic surgery. I um during my fellowship worked with a surgeon named Dr. Aaron Smith, who she did a ton of facial nerve surgeries. She had trained with a guy in Beverly Hills named Dr. Azizade, who's very well known for facial nerve reconstruction. Okay, and that is an entire, entire field of its own. Okay. It's kind of one of those things in my world we say, you know, you don't dabble in certain things. You either your practice really focuses on it or you don't really do much of it. Facial nerve is kind of in that realm, but I'd say with the cleft palette and cleft flip thing you alluded to, that's very much something that is uh specialty-based and also team-based. I think that part gets sort of not ignored, but just not discussed as much. You can't do a lot of good cleft work if you don't have the speech therapist with you, the the child life therapist. There's there's a whole crew of people who are involved in cleft palate work.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

So yeah, I would imagine start to finish for sure. Yeah. And do you see connections between facial structure or jaw alignment, airway health, um, to help the whole body function better, especially breathing? Definitely. I mean, do you see a lot of that in your practice?

SPEAKER_01 12:18

My current day-to-day, not as much. Um, but in in my residency, yes, because we did a lot of uh jaw reconstructions, we did a lot of mandibular advancements, things to sort of help stint open the airway, and then from an internal perspective, which kind of gets away from the facial plastic side of things more in the ENT realm. But these airway surgeries that, for instance, sleep surgeons are doing, where they're kind of altering the back of the palate, altering the tongue, these things to sort of help people better, better sleep, better breathing, better speech, all these things.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

Sure, with oxygen. And uh if you don't have a good night's sleep, my goodness, we all know what that feels like. Step one. Yes, exactly. What do you wish more people understood about what you do, about the reconstructive side of what you do?

Creativity After Catastrophe

SPEAKER_01 13:04

I think from a reconstructive perspective, I think, you know, we're doing the best we can in order to get people to where they want to be. And usually people who are coming in for reconstructive surgery are not expecting to have ever been there, right? They're not saying, oh, you know, I need a I need a full redo. Um they either were born with something that poses difficulty, they were in an accident, they were diagnosed with something that requires treatment. Um and so I think that kind of taking into account that as our starting point for where that patient's mindset is and going from there is very important. And the the misunderstood thing is we're just, you know, plastic surgeons. We're just making people have yeah, foo-foo stuff. Yeah, you know, big lips, pretty cheeks, and all that. Right, right. You know, and of course, there's always the the cosmetic components huge. Yeah, but I think the reconstructive component is you know, this is life-changing work, and this is sometimes you know what keeps people going about their happy lives.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

In a healthy way, yeah, also. And in your line of work is you you brought up um working with different specialties. How important is are those collaborations and co-management for those patients? Do you have a team that you work with locally, either a speech pathology team or some other specialty that you see a lot of co-management?

Team-Based Care: Cleft And Nerve Work

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Yeah, I end up, I mean, actually with ENTs a lot, which is funny because I am one, but now I've sort of delved into more, you know, the specialized specialty. So I do a lot of back and forth with my ENT colleagues in terms of airway, breathing, sinus issues. I get a lot of referrals for functional and sometimes mixed with cosmetic nasal surgery and rhinoplastase. Um, I also work very closely with MOS surgeons who are doing these kind of bigger excisions and cosmetically sensitive places. You know, the the reasoning behind MOS would be we want to take as little as we can to make sure that we eradicate this skin cancer disease process, but oftentimes that still leaves a defect that needs to be fixed. So they're a common uh group that we work with, oculoplastics. I work very closely with. I have a lot of referrals back and forth for things along those lines, and dermatologists too.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

So for those people listening that don't know what MOS surgery is, can you explain just a briefly what that is?

SPEAKER_01 15:29

MOSE surgery is a type of dermatologic surgery that um focuses on the removal of skin cancers with the least amount of tissue damage possible. So, for instance, if someone had you know a skin cancer on their nose or on their ear or somewhere where there's not a lot of real estate and not a lot of tissue to give. Right. Um, you know, traditional surgical approaches would be something called a wide local excision, where there's a kind of a rule book for, you know, you have this type of cancer and you it's this size, and so we need to make a margin that is this big. And that's usually significantly bigger than what a MOS surgeon can accomplish. So a MOS surgeon is trying to take as little as possible, say around the tip of the nose. We're gonna take a small border, and then right then and there, immediately, they're also dermatopathologist. So they can take that specimen, go put it on a slide, and check the borders and say, Oh, we got everything. We don't need to take anymore. Or we have a little bit here over at two o'clock on this little circle we took. We'll take a little tiny bit extra. Then that patient has, you know, this small little defect rather than you know a centimeter of space taken all the way circumferentially around their initial lesion.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

And so important. Um mentally, do you guys work with or collab with any mental health practitioners or are there any holistic practitioners you work with for the either the mental side of things? Yes.

Airway, Jaw, And Whole-Body Function

SPEAKER_01 16:46

Yeah, I I oftentimes, and this sometimes this comes into play in the cosmetic realm of things. I like people to have good mental health support. I mean, I think it's probably the most important thing before you ever would consider bringing someone to an operating room because it's not common that I come across this, but there is, you know, body dysmorphic disorder, there there are deeper, sometimes less explored reasons that people are seeking changes. And the changes that I'm making, oftentimes from the surgical perspective, are permanent. Yes. Um, difficult, if at all possible to reverse. So I, you know, there's not a direct line of questioning that I kind of go through with people, but when you have a conversation with someone and you take the time in a consult to get to know someone and sort of explore the reasoning behind how they even got in your office, what brought them to call you? Um, I think it's yeah, it's very, very important to have resources for people and to be able to talk about it with them in a way that's an open discussion. Comfortable for them, of course.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

But I'm sure you have your red flag set, okay, maybe we need to dive deeper into this subject. So, what are the biggest myths surrounding the facial plastic surgeon or the cosmetic side? What are the biggest myths? I'm sure you're gonna say something like social media and how that influences, which I definitely have questions about that. But like, can you name a celebrity? Why don't we start there? Because I have that question here. Name a celebrity or two whose outcomes may not have been, let's just say, less than optimal, maybe. Who could you and you what would you have done differently?

Misconceptions And Mindset In Recovery

SPEAKER_01 18:24

That's an extremely difficult question because oftentimes you don't know exactly what they've had done. And I usually I I tend to steer clear of the the dissect another person's face type of things, because I see a ton of videos on social media, and this is I think it's the hook gets people watching, right? You you're on TikTok, you're on an Instagram reel or something, and you see a doctor, and they, you know, they've got their white hood on and they're in their surgery clinic, and they say, Let's talk about Chris Jenner, or you know, whatever. Let's talk about the Kardashians or whoever it is, and it gets people watching because people just eat that up. They love that. And they want to know what they have done and who did it, and you know, why is it so much better than this other person who probably has access to the same resources? Exactly. How did it go so differently for them? Right. Um, or you know, the you know, this celebrity just showed up to the red carpet and hasn't been seen on a red carpet in a couple of years. Let's take these two faces side by side and pick apart what's different. No, it's terrible. And I just imagine I'm like, what if they really didn't have a lot done? Or it what if they were really happy with it?

SPEAKER_03 19:26

Right. Right?

SPEAKER_01 19:26

And then they come across, because these are people. I mean, you know, they probably don't peruse TikTok as often as the average person, but they probably see stuff. And they are human. And they're seeing it and they're like, wow, you know, I did get my lips injected and I loved them. Right. And then here's everybody saying that I look terrible. So I really I've I've never made any kind of videos on my own social media account where I pick apart a celebrity face or that's probably a very classy thing. I just think, oh gosh, if that was me, you know, if I was Jennifer Aniston, you know, right, right. What would I want to see when I'm scrolling at night?

Collaborating With ENT, Mohs, And Derm

SPEAKER_02 19:58

But Jennifer Aniston has feelings too, so we should all remember that. Right. And what about filters? I know that gives a healthy um uh image of what not only of what you can do, but what people should look like. You know, beauty standards. How do you guide patients towards a realistic and healthy outcome compared to their expectations?

SPEAKER_01 20:22

I like to talk about filters in terms of you know photo documentation. I bring that up a lot. I go to my photo room and I take tons of pictures of patients, and it makes me laugh because I'm like thinking, you know, I'm trained to be a doctor, I'm trained to do surgery. I was never trained to be a photographer. But here I am and I've got you know a full photo room. And I the the thing is I'm taking pictures and I want them to be consistent, and I'm taking them for the sake of documenting surgery, not taking them to make people look really good. Right. So, you know, you've got patients looking at my lights, and they're like, oh, that's probably gonna be really bright, or wash me out, or bring that one closer because I look better with close-up light. Oh my goodness. No, no, no. The point is not to glamorize you. You want to be sort of consistent throughout. You want your before and your lighting and your after to be the same. I've been to conferences where I watch amazing surgeons give talks and they show before and afters, and someone will bring up in you know the question and answer section of the talk, why is your lighting so different? How do I know that this lady's lower eyelids look better if all of a sudden she's got this beautiful ring light on her in the after so well? And I see that on social media all day long. Sure. And you know, you do your best to just you consume all this information and then it puts this mind mindset.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

Yes, very unrealistic. Are there any trends? I know we're gonna talk about social media so many times today because it has influenced what you do and what so many people do or seek. What are the trends that you're seeing that either concern you or excite you about what you do?

What Mohs Surgery Means

Mental Health, Expectations, And Red Flags

SPEAKER_01 21:53

With social media, it's you know, there's there's this mass of information that people have access to. That they didn't used to before. And that's social media, that's forums, that's you know, threads on the internet in any kind of way. And it's some of it's misinformation and some of it's good information. And so I've noticed I have patients come in and they are so informed. And they're asking me questions that I mean they would have never asked in the past. They wouldn't have known about, you know, what a certain surgeon's doing in Miami Beach or It's out there. You know, they they can they're reading the papers that you know used to just be mailed to the offices of the doctors. Yes. They're they're able to really inform themselves. And then sometimes that can go in the direction of a little bit of misinformation. And it's relatively easy to talk through these things with patients. And for the most part, people are coming to see you because they want to know what you have to say about it. And I kind of like it because it guides our conversation in certain directions and it challenges me as I'm going through my recommendations and say a cosmetic consult. Someone wants me to just from head from head to collarbone and tell me exactly what I think. And I'll go through things and um they'll say, Well, you know, I think I need a endoscopic brow lift and a deep plane lower face and neck lift with gland reduction. And I'm like, Do they really? Yeah. And I'm like, that's incredible. That is so cool that you even know too. You have this information. And then we can talk about it because I'll, you know, I usually you're starting from this person not having any basis for this. And if sometimes they hit the nail on the head, sometimes they really do. And I'm like, perfect. So now we're talking about gland reduction. And you're already coming at me with this level of understanding that allows us to kind of continue the conversation into this pretty advanced place.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Does that make your job easier or more difficult? It's difficult. Because I can see that it can make it more difficult if that's not necessarily the right path for the patient. Right. And you sort of talk around, you know, it's an education moment and an education opportunity. And it can also make it harder because patients will get different opinions from different people, and you know, the the world of my world can be overly subjective in that way. You know, I can't imagine.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

And how does it feel to help someone? I know we talked about the different procedures you've done during your residency and here in Lafayette, but to see that change both physically and emotionally, that must be so gratifying. I know I can say that over and over again, but to watch someone gain confidence, um, you know, either aesthetically or or whatnot, can you share an experience specifically that you rem recall that sticks with you? Oh yeah.

Filters, Photos, And Honest Outcomes

SPEAKER_01 24:39

The beautiful thing about Lafayette is that it is big enough for there to be plenty of patients around, but small enough to where I see them on a pretty routine basis. Um, you know, in and out of the clinic. I have one patient who, when I first met her, I mean, she was in tears. I was just about in tears, just listening to her talk about the way that menopause had affected her. And I mean, from a multiple perspectives, but you know, from her facial perspective, she she described it as she just woke up melted. Right. She's like, I I, you know, it felt good. And she's showing me pictures through her life, and it was, it was remarkable how much she had changed in a five-year period. Um, and it was probably heavily influenced by her menopause experience, hormonal changes, things along those lines. She had some life experiences, were also high stressors. Um, but just seeing her in that moment, knowing her on that day, and then going through her surgery, her recovery, which is another whole entire emotional journey. Um, and then afterwards, I ran into her at a Christmas party that I went to. And she was initially very private about having had any surgery. Okay. And by the time I'm at this Christmas party, she was so over the moon with just her ability to like wear a V-neck because she was a turtleneck girl before, because she really did not like her neck.

SPEAKER_03 25:52

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

And her ability to, you know, wear eye makeup. She couldn't see her lids before. She had heavy, heavy brows, really heavy lids. She, you know, pulled me to the front in front of all of her friends who's like, this is the girl. This is the one who's the reason I'm here and I look like this today. And I, you know, I never tell anyone that I I've operated on someone, you know, it's just a hippo thing.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

But I was like, yes, that's that's heartwarming though. Yeah. To know that you've made that change. And being that your position and the work that you do is I can I would consider high stress. How do you focus on your healthy well-being? How do you deal with those things?

Social Media: Trends, Truths, And Traps

SPEAKER_01 26:30

I am kind of a master at this point in work-life balance. And I would I would not say that it goes well every day. Right. I'll just say I've been forced to do this because for so long it was just, I mean, especially through training, you can't avoid this. It's constant. You're on, I was on call all the time. Our hours were average 15, 16 hour days every day, and I was on most weekends. Um, and so it's really hard to achieve that during that stage of your life. And I remember telling myself through training, like, there is going to be a day where you're all grown up and you have your your dream job, and you can structure that how you want. And you can do your best to prioritize yourself, your patients, and like find that happy medium. And there are days where I fail miserably. I mean, I work the whole day, next thing I know, you know, it's nighttime and my children are in bed, and I just go say goodnight. And those days, that's a failure.

unknown 27:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

It's not a failure. We've all been here. Working moms have been there.

SPEAKER_02 27:35

So don't be so hard on yourself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

And then there's the days where, you know, I I spend the whole day, you know, I'd maybe take a day off of work to be involved in something with my son's school or something along those lines. And I wonder about my patients that had operated on whose post op is, you know, going to be the next day instead of that day.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

And it's funny how you take those patients home with you.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Oh, you're I don't know how much if they realize that. I tell my patients all the time, I'm thinking about you a lot. And I'm like, not in a way that should be weird to you, just in a way that, you know, I've operated on you within the past, you know, few weeks. And I care. And I'm thinking about it. I last time we talked, I I know we talked about you had a wedding coming up and you were a little worried that you still had some swelling. And I'm thinking, oh, the wedding is this Saturday. I wonder how her swelling's doing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

That means a lot. That makes a good doctor, if you ask me. So that's good to hear. And what does self-care realistically look for you? Um, look like to you? Do you do regular massage or do you go on a vacation? I should. Anything specifically that is your go-to when you've really had an overwhelming week or month.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Yeah. Well, I mean, I have two small children and a wonderful husband. So, you know, we love to get outside. We're big Monkus Park fans. So we love Monkus Park. We're so lucky to have Monkus Park here. I know. We we say that every time, and I laugh as I'm like, we just sound like a couple of old folks. Every time we walk around, we're like, what was Lafayette before this place?

unknown 28:58

Right, right.

Confidence Transformations That Last

SPEAKER_01 28:58

But you know, I did my fellowship in Austin. That was the most recent city I lived in before moving back home. And the outdoor opportunities there are just unmatched. You do have to fight the fact that it's like blistering hot sometimes. But it was just incredible. And moving back home, you know, I the last thing I remembered was maybe we go to Gerard Park when I was a kid and things like that, but there has been so much change since that time, and there's so many more opportunities to just get outside. That for me, that's my medicine. I like to be outside. Nature, I like to move, I like to, you know, breathe fresh air because I spend a lot of time in operating rooms, no windows, and I need some sunshine. 60 degrees in the operating room. So it's nice to just get out and you know do that.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

Two of our sons live in Austin, and when we go to visit, there's, you know, so many things, and I'm sure you know all about all of them, but they were recently home for Christmas, and we brought them to Monkus Park, and they're like, This is pretty cool. Is it cool enough for you to move home? How cool. You know, so we're trying to get them to come.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

There's pros and cons. I always tell my mom that when I would come home for like Christmas or Thanksgiving and she'd send me on an errand, I'd come back and I'd be like, that was amazing. I just parked right in front of the grocery store and walked in. And she's like, as opposed to what? Like, as opposed to, you know, paying$20 to park in the garage and taking an elevator and getting there and like you said, pros and cons.

Surgeon Self-Care And Work-Life Balance

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Being in Pacific. You were born and raised in Lafayette. Yes. Okay. Well, I was randomly born in Gainesville, Florida, but that's a different story. But my other medical training. Okay, whole another podcast. I moved back as a child. So uh what so that's that was my next question. You you came back to Lafayette because this was home, basically. Friends and family were here, and from visiting, you said, okay, I think I can do this. I think this is my where my heart is. Yes. Okay, so where do you see the field of plastic surgery headed in the next five to ten years? To someone from the outside looking in, it to me, it looks like it's exploded.

unknown 30:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

I guess that does have a part on social media and whatnot. But do you feel much of this is due to social media or um or access? Google, all the we have such access to so much information now, like we talked about before.

Nature, Family, And Community Support

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Yeah, I think it's it's access ability, and then also there's been this kind of beautiful change happening where people are more accepting of these kind of procedures and people are talking about it. People are making YouTube channels and making progress TikToks about their surgeries they're undergoing. And, you know, I I have patients who've been doing these exact things, and I love to see the way that you know their comments look and their responses to the comments and just the massively positive feedback that they're getting. Because this, I mean, this used to be kind of like a hush-hush industry. Certainly, and it was, you know, you could have this radical change in the way you look, and you know, people are attributing it to like, oh, I use olive oil in the evenings and I'm just exercising in somehow, some way. You look doing your job. Yeah, I've I've just zipped back through time. Yeah. Um, yeah, and that was also just so unfair because then you have people who are consuming that information. They feel terrible about their own. Well, I'm doing these things, and why do I look like this? So now that there's this acceptance, that was a huge step. And then, you know, as plastic surgery moves forward, we're talking about it more, and the conversations are generating more research, more investigation, and how can we make surgery easier? How can we make it better for a patient to come and get something done, recover in a super reasonable amount of time, and have that change that they want? You know, it's not going to be overnight. It's anything promised overnight is too good to be true. Why? Um just in general. But how can we make it so that we're healing in ways that we never have before? You know, you used to get these procedures, be wrapped up and hidden in your house for months. Everyone's got a story of like someone, oh, my neighbor had this done and I didn't see her for a month. Oh, you know, when I ran into her, she looked crazy and those kind of things. And you know, we're one of my favorite things that's kind of new-ish in my field is this idea of preservation surgery, preserving preservation rhinoplasty. How can we keep some of these structural components of the nose, keep the functional things that make your nose work, but get you a cosmetic change that you seek? Preservation deep plane facelifts is a is a big forefront right now. And this is how can we achieve these amazing lifts and you know, long-term decade plus long results without having to undergo this extensive dissection that gives people this swelling and these skin changes and you know the downtime. Right, right. Nobody wants downtime.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

Nobody wants downtime. I had a patient recently, um, of course, when they're on my um exam table, they have to face down. And she had to tell me that um, is it I don't know how to pronounce it correctly.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

Like a blepherplasty?

SPEAKER_02 33:56

That. Yeah. And she was so embarrassed to tell me. And she's like, Dr. Carr, I can't. And well, are you uncomfortable? You know, I'm trying to figure out what's happening. Yeah. And I she finally told me, and I said, It is it's nothing to be embarrassed of. You know, there's no judgment. Don't worry about it. She said, Well, I did it because of this and that and whatnot. You don't have to explain to me. I, you know, we'll we'll change around your treatment here, but please don't ever feel you know, embarrassed or uh shameful because of doing something that was the best decision for you. Definitely. So I know you must see that every single day, though. Yes. And if you could leave our listeners today with one message about either self-worth, healing, confidence, what would it be? What would you say if there was one message?

The Future: Preservation And Less Downtime

SPEAKER_01 34:45

I would say this is your life, your story, and whatever you need to do to position yourself to feel the best in your storyline in your day-to-day life. You prioritize that. For some people, it's, you know, a certain exercise regimen or a certain friend group that they want us, you know, be around a certain frequency. For some people, it's, you know, looking in the mirror, I want to feel good. There's always a component of that. We're humans. We're human. We look at ourselves, we we pick ourselves apart. That's our nature. Absolutely. Some more than others, but everyone sees it. And I've been shocked, you know, I'll have a patient who's coming in and maybe brings their husband for the consult, and the husband's over there and doesn't think plastic surgery should even exist. But then, lo and behold, months go by, and all of a sudden he's on my consult schedule because, well, he has always been bothered by his eyelids. Really? Or what have you. It's amazing to see people kind of go through this evolution of you know, I would feel better and I would be more forward-facing and happier to be in photos with my family. Yeah. In these videos that are gonna mean so much to my kids, you know, one day if I'm not around. Right. I want to be seen. And if that is something that requires a surgical change, then that's what we do. If it's not, we don't do it. Yeah. It's it's your life and your choice.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

Well, that's I think that's a great message. And how can people best advocate for themselves when they're seeking a facial, either a reconstructive procedure or a cosmetic procedure with you? How can they advocate for themselves? What questions should they ask? What are the I don't know, top three, top five?

SPEAKER_01 36:28

Yeah, I'd say my most important piece of advice, and I tell everyone that I see in console this get multiple opinions. Always get multiple opinions. I encourage people to see, you know, what you might perceive as like, uh, is that not competition for you as you know, a surgeon or whatever? I I don't think so at all. I want people to have heard from multiple people like myself, with backgrounds like myself, who do the work that I do, what they think is best for them. And then we can talk about it. And at some point, it's not just a surgical fit, it's an emotional fit because we are about to embark on a deeply emotional journey. It's not the same for everyone, but in general, you come in with trepidation, you're nervous, you're fearful, you're questioning yourself. What am I doing? Should I be doing this? This is totally elective. What if it goes terribly wrong? Everyone has that battle. Then you get through, and as you're healing, you have the what have I done battle, and the now I can't undo it, and the the panic sets in as you're swollen or if you have bruising or these things, and you start to have a social isolation isolation component as well. A lot of these my patients are healthy and they're typically, you know, 50 and above. So to be those two things at once, usually they're very active, they have active social lives, they like to exercise. There's these things that, like you mentioned, go into their mental health.

SPEAKER_03 37:50

Yes.

Normalizing Aesthetic Choices

SPEAKER_01 37:50

And all of a sudden they can't do those, they're isolated for a little while. And that really weighs on people. You know, I I always joke when people start to to tell me, you know, I'm not feeling great, I'm stressed out, you know, one week post-op, maybe two weeks post-op. Like, have you been outside? Who have you called? Who have you talked to? Um, so I think that's that's the most important.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

Okay. And I see that in my practice as well. When you know, people are so active, they want to get to the gym. If they miss one body pump class, they get down on themselves. And I have to talk them through that. It's okay. Let's find something else you can do. You're not gonna lose what we've worked on or your stability, anything. But yeah, that mental aspect is so important. So, and how can I f uh my listeners find you?

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Where would they find you? So I am um at Hubble Dermatology and Aesthetics here in Lafayette. I have, of course, we have our website. I find nowadays people find people through social media a little more commonly than they find us on the website. It's weird. Of course, you know, there's Google, but then used to be the phone book. I know. It's so wild. Um, but on social media, I do have an Instagram account. It's Dr. Page Kennedy. Um, I have a TikTok, I'm slightly less active on there. It's kind of too many balls to juggle right on how you do it. But I'd say Instagram is a great place because I try to post as frequently as I can, and it's me. It's not a social media content manager or anything. That's another thing that I think people don't realize is it's it's literally me. And so this is not my forte necessarily. And then sometimes days will pass. I'm like, oh, I forgot to post anything. And so, you know, I try to keep uh stories updated, I try to post before and afters. There are, you know, I don't have a ton of patients always who are willing to show pictures, but when I do, I try to show them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:38

Um, I'm sure those are very impactful when you do. Um and what is your favorite overall surgery to perform?

How To Advocate For Yourself

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Ooh, I love facial aging surgery. So my favorite surgery is a facelift. I love face and necklift surgery. It sounds so funny to hear that. Because in the cosmetic world, there's essentially facial aging procedures and rhinoplasty, because it kind of exists on like its own island. I love rhinoplasty. It's nuanced, it's difficult, difficult in the sense that you have to predict how the nose will age and how it will change or respond to the structural changes you are making. Um, facial aging surgery is extremely individualized, and everyone has different goals, different history with their face. Maybe they've tried non-surgical interventions, maybe not. Maybe they've had, I don't know, some surgery of some kind in the past, thyroid surgery, jaw surgery, anything along those lines. And everyone's goals are different. Yeah. You know, you see social media, you'll see a lot of um, you know, super chiseled jaw lines, really tightened 90-degree neck angles. Not everyone wants that. Some people want something different. They'll show you pictures from when they were young. I like my small chin. Don't give me a chin implant. I like, you know, this aspect of my job. Yeah. So, you know, there's I think it's fun because you're basically, for the majority of my patients, I'm taking them back to a picture of themselves. We're not trying to make you look like someone different. For the most part, that we we talked about red flags for a second. That sometimes is a red flag. Um, most people want to look like they did 15, 20 years ago within reason. They're not wanting to look like their teenage self or gender phrase. They realize that's kind of and it would be a little unsettling to be in your 60s and look like your 19-year-old self in the in the face. A little strange, right? Right. So, you know, we're we're we're individualizing surgery in a way that puts you where you see your dream self.

SPEAKER_02 41:27

I love that. Great note to end on there. But there's one question, and I know everyone wants to hear this and wants to hear your answer to it. If there was a procedure that you were to suggest for me, what would it be? I love that question. I said, She's gonna bust out laughing. I said, That's our that's gonna be one of our reels.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

You know, I love you know, I love that question the most at um at a dinner or at the time.

Finding Dr. Kennedy And Her Focus

SPEAKER_02 42:01

I'm sure they ask you. Oh, I'm sure people ask you. But anyway, okay, one let one question left. Okay, Dr. Kennedy, how do you maintain your posture while pursuing your purpose in life?

SPEAKER_01 42:15

I lean so heavily on my tribe, my community around me. My I mentioned my husband and my kids. My husband runs my whole house. Does he really? Oh, he does. And he does everything that I don't have time to do. Um, I have my mom is here in town. She lives very close to us. She is heavily involved in my children's lives. Um, I'd say, you know, my friend groups coming back home. It's been so wonderful because I'm reconnecting with people that I knew when I was in middle and high school in some elementary school. And, you know, we all have kids now, and they're all going to school together at our old school. How long were you away from laff yet? For let's see, I think around 14 years. Okay. So, a while. I mean, I left for college and I came back after fellowship. So gosh. But a lot of my friends have circled back and you know, yeah, we're all home again. And so it's been really nice. So having good social outlets with my friends, amazing family support, those are things that I could not have gotten in another city. And so those have just been huge. And I laugh about the posture thing because I wish you could see some of the videos that I don't post on social media where I'm, you know, in the world's most uncomfortable positions. Okay, well, you can send those to me and I'll fuss at you. I see myself in that and I think, wow, like that explains a lot about the next day when I'm like, the left side of my neck's feeling a little different. I need to call Dr. Gore.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

Well, thank you so much for being here. We really I really enjoyed um our chat. And until next time, sit up straight, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay adjusted.

SPEAKER_00 43:52

Thanks for listening to the Posture and Purpose podcast with Dr. Michelle Carr Frank. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, and And Apple Podcasts. Until next time.