Dr Carl M Truesdale: 5 Things You Need To Create A Successful Career As A Plastic Surgeon

Blending of surgical skills with strong artistic/aesthetic sense. I’ve been trained in the latest, most advanced techniques — through formal education and through lifelong learning with additional courses and conferences. As an example, I use my commuting time to listen to professional development and personal improvement podcasts. I approach each patient specifically for their goals, and give them guidance on what would work best for them specifically.

As part of my series about healthcare leaders, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Dr. Carl M. Truesdale.

Dr. Carl M. Truesdale is a fellowship-trained facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon. He is also the only African-American specialized in facial plastic surgery in Beverly Hills, CA. His signature style, world-class results, and entrepreneurial mindset led him to quickly build a thriving, diverse practice. Committed to medicine since 10 years old, he double-majored in Biology and Spanish at Morehouse College before medical school at the University of Pennsylvania Dr. Truesdale then completed five years of specialized training in Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery at the top-ranked University of Michigan. His training culminated in a highly coveted fellowship in Beverly Hills, becoming one of less than 50 facial plastic surgeons to earn the fellowship distinction that year.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! What is your “backstory”? What led you to this very interesting career?

I was born and raised in the small town of Corning, New York, the son of a chemist father and an artistic mother. My dad holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry, and received several patents during his career at Corning Incorporated, an American multinational technology company best known for its optical fiber, Corningware glass and ceramics/glass products. My mom, meanwhile, spent much of her time serving the local community through the arts as well as raising her family. I feel like I was born to be a facial plastic surgeon given my dads’ scientific inclinations and my mom’s artistic sensibilities and her ability to relate to just about anyone.

A family tragedy that initially led me to pursue a career in medicine. My little brother, Emmanuel was born with Trisomy 13, a rare genetic disorder that produces an extra 13th chromosome. Rarely do those born with the disorder survive past their first year. In Emmanuel’s case, he succumbed after only three days.

As a pre-teen, I set my sights on becoming a doctor. I excelled in my studies and completed high school with 26 college credits. After being accepted to Cornell and other Ivy League institutions, I chose to enroll at Morehouse University — a historically black college where my dad (not to mention Dr. Martin Luther King) had attended. I earned a full-ride scholarship and graduated summa cum laude with a double major in Biology and Spanish. During the summers, I interned at Corning Inc.’s biologic science division. There, I received a patent on a material that, for the first time, allowed stem cells to grow in a synthetic environment.

When I applied to medical school, I was accepted at each of the 14 universities and decided on the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university and one of three top medical schools in the country. While there, I decided to become a surgeon specializing in Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery. It was also during this time that I got to know my future wife, a Spelman College alumna pursuing graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania.

I had the opportunity to work and train alongside some of the world’s leading specialists. I eventually completed a five-year residency at the University of Michigan in the top-ranked ENT/Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery program. During that time, I was published in several medical journals and presented at leading medical seminars, conferences and prestigious professional organizations.

After my five-year residency, I chose to further sub-specialize in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery. I was accepted for a highly competitive fellowship through the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at The Lasky Clinic. As a fellow, I honed my signature approaches to facial plastic surgery and quickly built a reputation that laid the groundwork for opening my own practice. Today, I am proud to own and operate a thriving private facial plastic surgery practice in Beverly Hills.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

I’m grateful to get to change lives every day, and find every patient’s journey to be interesting. One experience that had an especially lasting impact on me was when I performed a life saving tracheostomy on a newborn baby girl during my ENT-Head and Neck Surgery residency. When she was born, her mouth and lungs didn’t have a connective airway, so she couldn’t breathe. I sprinted through the large University of Michigan hospital to perform an emergency surgery and insert a breathing tube through her tiny neck. This procedure enabled her to breathe. She and her family returned to the hospital a year later when she was big enough for airway reconstruction surgery. I was blessed to be able to help her gain the ability to breathe naturally without a breathing tube, and to be able to vocalize for the first time. It was such a beautiful experience, I will never forget it.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Ah, the joys of social media…I’m grateful for it, as my Instagram account (@doctor.truesdale) was instrumental in building my initial patient population, and I love connecting with people. But I’ve definitely learned that once you post something, it can take on a life of its own! I was doing the P90X workout program in medical school, and posted a photo after an especially tough workout. Little did I know that a couple years later, some of my med school classmates would dig deep into my Facebook history and pull up that photo and put it in a slideshow as a spoof! It was pretty funny.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now?

As a business owner, I’m always doing multiple projects at once. I’m particularly excited about hiring a nurse injector to join my great team. This person will specialize in non-surgical treatments like Botox, fillers, and chemical peels, so that my practice can serve more people while I am in the operating room. I’m also excited about the custom combination procedures I’m doing a lot of lately. I invested in state-of-the-art medical device to combine minimally invasive face contouring treatments (Facetite and Accutite) with quick procedures like neck liposuction that have been able to give people mini-facelifts and mini-necklifts at a really great value and with almost no downtime.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Dr. Shan Baker at the University of Michigan Hospital had a huge impact on me. He is a true surgical master. Dr. Baker developed some of the first methods for taking tissue from one part of the body with the artery and vein intact — and connecting it to another part of the body. This procedure, called a free flap, is often used after a cancer has been cut out of the skin. He also was an authority on skin cancer reconstruction.

I first watched Dr. Baker operate when I was a junior resident. Working with him over time helped me get to high levels of surgical excellence, and I was honored that he wrote one of my residency recommendation letters.

I remember scrubbing in with him once to repair a skin cancer. He asked me how I would approach it. I drew out a very technical plan to move the patient’s tissue. He gave me great feedback and showed me how to attain the same result with much simpler technique. It was a perfect example of how a simple approach can sometimes be the most elegant and beautiful. A true master is able to make the complex, simple. I have had so many great mentors.

Is there a particular book that made an impact on you? Can you share a story?

I read The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt as part of a book club that all the Head and Neck Surgery residents at the University of Michigan participated in. I really resonated with the idea of finding a flow state, and that a sense of harmony between the conscious and unconscious mind sets the tone for our happiness. To truly find happiness you have to work within your purpose. I’ve been very intentional about establishing a career in which I can spend as much time as possible within my flow state, and it’s really contributed to my overall happiness.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

I never take for granted that I’m able to positively impact people’s lives on a daily basis. I love when my patients send me pictures of themselves glowing with confidence. The smile in the “After” photo following a procedure is super rewarding. I also love that I get to teach every day, via patient interactions, on social media, and with my team. Finally, I am in the process of starting a nonprofit foundation to help patients in need of facial reconstruction.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story about how that was relevant to you in your own life?

I’m not sure where I first discovered this concept, but my wife and I always talk about living in our momentum. There are no overnight successes, but lots of little and big choices and habits that eventually create the momentum needed to lead to major results. My family and I would play a game in our circular pool where we would start walking in one direction building up speed, the water would build momentum and eventually let the water sweep us off our feet. I see the world through that lens today; our prior and current actions set the tone for our future state. If we consistently put in the effort those positive or negative actions carry us into the future.

Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Successful Career As A Plastic Surgeon’’ and why?

1. Blending of surgical skills with strong artistic/aesthetic sense. I’ve been trained in the latest, most advanced techniques — through formal education and through lifelong learning with additional courses and conferences. As an example, I use my commuting time to listen to professional development and personal improvement podcasts. I approach each patient specifically for their goals, and give them guidance on what would work best for them specifically.
2. Personal patient connection. Patients come to you not just for your surgical techniques, but also because they trust that you will take good care of them. Good relationships and results can lead to repeat patients, as well as patients that refer their friends and family. Your team is an important part of making that personal connection too — every experience should be great, starting with the first phone call. As an example — early in our practice, we documented a script for how we want our team to speak with patients on the phone. We print this out and give it to our new hires so no one is reinventing the wheel, we give our patients accurate information, and we have a standard process to build on for continuous improvement.
3. Invest in your market presence. People can’t come to you if they don’t know about you. Make it known that what you do or how you do is different — this could be based on technique, price points, unique offerings, combination procedures, serving an underserved patient population, and/or your personality or bedside manner. Leverage multiple platforms or modalities to make your presence known — social media, a good public relations agency, an easy-to-navigate website that lets current and future patients get to know you, see your results, and build trust. As an example — we have a great PR firm that helps us find opportunities to share our story with the world, and to provide expert opinions on topics I’m skilled in.
4. Build the right team. Your practice can’t exist without you, but you can’t do everything by yourself. Beyond surgery, figure out what you do uniquely well and delegate the rest to your team and business partners. Be intentional about team culture — you are the leader and you set the tone. How do you want everyone to feel when at work? Patients take note of team dynamics, and your practice should be a comfortable, welcoming environment. Bring your team into the journey — share parts of your strategy, get their feedback, establish an environment where it’s encouraged to ask questions. If your team is bought-into your vision and feels committed to it, everyone will perform so much better and enjoy their work more. Reward team members in ways that speak to them — understand their incentives, say thank you, and invest in their development. You might be surprised how much impact you can have with non-financial or low cost incentives, like hosting the team for lunch, providing them their favorite skincare product, and sharing your appreciation.
5. Establish a clear mission and vision. Write a clear mission and vision statement as early as possible in your practice. What do you offer, who do you offer it to, and what’s different about how you do it? Make sure you can clearly articulate it, and also have it written down so that you can share it with your team and revisit it periodically to make sure it still fits your practice and your trajectory. Your mission and vision should be reflected in everything you do — your brand colors, your online presence, your interactions with your team and your patients, and the look and feel of your office. Our color scheme is consistent across our office, website, scrubs, and decor. We want patients to know what to expect when they interact with our practice so that we can deliver a consistent, luxurious but comfortable experience. We even made “avatars” of our target patients — in the early days of the practice, we did a thought experiment of who we want to serve, how we’d interact with them, and how we want them to feel before and after interacting with our practice.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a plastic surgeon? Can you explain what you mean?

I truly believe facial plastic surgery can look completely natural. There’s a myth that plastic surgery makes people look strange or over-done. A lot of my patients tell me that their friends and neighbors tell them “wow, you look amazing! What’s your secret!” — they look radiant and confident, but not like they’ve had “work done.” My patients still look like themselves, they just look like the best version of themselves.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I’d love to see a moment where people encourage and help others achieve their dreams. If everyone did just one selfless action a day to help someone else — even a stranger, the world would be a better place. I try to find opportunities every day to share what I know with someone who could benefit from it, or to help someone have a better day simply by expressing my appreciation for them.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)

It would be fascinating to sit down with Elon Musk. He masterfully juggles many varied endeavors and hones his craft at the highest levels. I appreciate his mission to make a positive impact on the world, and his visionary mindset. I’d ask him how he taps into his potential, and to share some of the biggest lessons he’s learned as a leader.

What is the best way our readers can follow you online?

I’m very active on Instagram @doctor.truesdale. I love connecting with people there. You can also find more information about me and my work on my website, www.doctortruesdale.com. I’m also starting to post some videos on Youtube.

Thank you so much for these wonderful insights! We wish you continued success.