Practice Growth Lessons from Dr. Anthony Youn, Featured in Beauty and the Biz: The Plastic Surgery Practice Playbook
What can plastic surgeons learn from Anthony Youn, MD, about using patient education, media authority, content marketing, restraint, and consistency to build a high-demand practice without losing control?
That is what Catherine Maley discussed with Dr. Anthony Youn on the Beauty and the Biz Podcast, where they talked about solo private practice, long waitlists, staffing, social media, patient education, device mistakes, pricing, and the discipline to build a practice that supports the surgeon’s values instead of chasing every growth opportunity.
Dr. Youn is also one of the top plastic surgeons featured in Catherine Maley’s book, Beauty and the Biz: The Plastic Surgery Practice Playbook, where Catherine highlights lessons from 175+ plastic surgeon interviews.
This page is part of Catherine’s Practice Growth Lessons from Top Plastic Surgeons series, where she highlights real-world practice-growth lessons from leading plastic surgeons featured on Beauty and the Biz.
About Dr. Anthony Youn
Anthony Youn, MD, is a board-certified plastic surgeon, best-selling author, nationally recognized anti-aging and longevity expert, and founder of Youn Plastic Surgery in Troy, Michigan. He has been in private practice for more than 20 years and has built one of the most visible education-driven brands in aesthetic medicine.
In his conversation with Catherine Maley, Dr. Youn shared how he turned early media exposure into patient demand, then later transitioned from TV and public relations into his own content ecosystem through blogging, Facebook Live, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube , Podcasts (LINK: , books, skincare, supplements, and patient education.
Unlike surgeons who grow by adding more locations, more surgeons, or more overhead, Dr. Youn’s story is about building authority through content while staying disciplined about the kind of practice he actually wants to run.
Podcast Pearl from Dr. Youn
“When you consistently educate patients through content, you naturally attract a higher-quality audience. By the time they reach out, they already understand your philosophy, your standards, and your approach — which dramatically reduces price shopping and shortens the decision process.”
— Anthony Youn, MD
That is a powerful practice-growth lesson for plastic surgeons.
Patients do not only choose a surgeon because of credentials, before-and-after photos, or price. They choose the surgeon they already trust. Content gives patients a way to understand your philosophy, standards, judgment, and personality before they ever schedule a consultation.
For Dr. Youn, content became more than marketing. It became the pre-consultation education engine that helped patients feel like they already knew him before they contacted the practice.
Practice Growth Lesson: Education Builds Trust Before the Consult
One of the biggest lessons from Dr. Youn’s episode is that content can reduce friction before the patient ever speaks with the practice.
When patients watch your videos, listen to your interviews, read your books, follow your posts, and hear your point of view repeatedly, they are not starting from zero at the consultation. They already have context. They already understand your approach. They already know what you believe. They already have a sense of whether your style and standards fit what they want.
This approach makes the consultation easier since it attracts the right patients for this practice .
The consult is no longer the first trust-build event. It becomes confirmation of the trust already created through education, visibility, and consistency.
A Second Lesson: Growth Does Not Always Mean Expansion
Dr. Youn’s practice-growth story is also a lesson in restraint.
He has had the visibility and demand to expand aggressively. He discussed long waitlists, high demand, and the possibility of adding associates, building an OR, or increasing volume. But his choices have been shaped by what he wants his practice and lifestyle to look like, not just by what could produce more revenue.
That is important for plastic surgeons.
Not every opportunity is worth taking. Not every device is worth buying. Not every associate is worth adding. Not every lead needs to become a consult. Not every practice needs to become bigger to become better.
Sometimes the smartest growth decision is protecting the practice you already built.
What Plastic Surgeons Can Learn from Dr. Youn
- Use content to pre-educate patients. Patients who understand your philosophy before they call are easier to guide through the decision process.
- Do not rely on borrowed media forever. Youn learned that television producers and media contacts change. Owning your own content platform gives you more control.
- Social media works best when it is authentic. His content grew because it was educational, entertaining, and true to his personality, not because it was overly polished.
- Create separate channels for different purposes. Youn separates his main educational/entertainment brand from the practice account that features before-and-after photos and office-specific content.
- Long waitlists are not automatically healthy. A long waitlist can signal demand, but it can also mean patients are leaking out of the practice if there is no plan to triage them.
- Be careful with expensive devices. Youn shared the lesson that if you buy it, patients do not automatically come. Devices need demand, a plan, staff, and repeatable ROI.
- Hire for responsiveness and professionalism. His hiring process includes having applicants complete a small task or video response before an interview, which helps screen for follow-through and communication style.
- Know what you do not want to build. He has deliberately avoided some forms of growth because they would add complexity without necessarily improving the practice he wants to run.
Episode Highlights
- Why Dr. Youn turned down a Beverly Hills opportunity and opened his own practice in Michigan
- How early media exposure from Dr. 90210 helped launch his practice
- Why he shifted from publicists and television pitches to owning his own content platforms
- How the pandemic accelerated his move into educational and entertaining social media content
- Why he still creates most of his own content ideas and scripts
- How he thinks about long waitlists, pricing, consult fees, and patient access
- Why he chose not to own an in-office OR without enough surgical volume or an associate to support it
- How he hires staff by testing responsiveness, professionalism, and communication before the interview
- Why some devices become expensive mistakes when there is no clear patient demand or marketing plan
- How he separates personal brand content from practice-specific before-and-after content
- Why bigger is not always better in private practice
Featured in Beauty and the Biz: The Plastic Surgery Practice Playbook
Dr. Youn is one of the top plastic surgeons featured in Catherine Maley’s Beauty and the Biz: The Plastic Surgery Practice Playbook.
The Playbook distills lessons from 175+ plastic surgeon interviews into practical growth principles for private-practice plastic surgeons who want more patients, better conversions, stronger teams, and a more profitable practice.
These are not theories. They are real-world lessons from surgeons who have built successful aesthetic practices.
Want more practice-growth pearls from top plastic surgeons?
Watch the Beauty and the Biz Episode
Watch Catherine Maley’s conversation with Dr. Anthony Youn on Beauty and the Biz.
Want Results Like This in Your Practice?
If you are a plastic surgeon trying to grow a stronger practice, the answer is not always more leads.
Sometimes the bigger opportunity is fixing what is already happening inside the practice:
- How your phones are answered
- How consults are handled
- How fees are presented
- How your coordinator builds trust
- How consults convert to booked surgery
- How patients are followed up with
- How your brand differentiates you from every other surgeon in your market
Catherine Maley helps plastic surgeons identify the revenue leaks holding them back.
