Exclusive Interview With Dr. John Mesa/INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE NEWS

PLASTIC SURGEON, Educator, Author, Speaker

By Jules Lavallee

Dr. John Mesa is a Harvard-trained, triple fellowship-trained plastic surgeon who is known for his extraordinary surgical techniques and stunning results. His specialty is cosmetic plastic surgery for the face, neck, breasts, and body. He is known for delivering premier, individualized care and for achieving consistently beautiful, natural-looking results. His strong credentials have given him a unique set of skills for cosmetic plastic surgery. Born and raised in Colombia, he brings the warmth and care of the Latin culture to his practice, and he is known for providing personalized care in custom plastic surgery. He is dedicated to ensuring his patients look and feel their best, and with newfound confidence, are better able to achieve their personal, social, and professional goals. Dr. John Mesa has offices in New York (Manhattan) and New Jersey.

Jules: Tell us about your background and training.

Dr. John Mesa: I am a board-certified plastic surgeon specializing in cosmetic plastic surgery of the face, neck, and breasts. I obtained my M.D. degree in Colombia, South America. I came to the U.S. to undergo my surgical training at multiple institutions like Harvard. Post-residency, I am fellowship-trained to subspecialize in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery of the face and neck at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Michigan, respectively. I currently practice at three offices: One in Manhattan (New York City) on Park Ave and 79th street. One in Livingston, New Jersey, and the third one in Miami.

Jules: Your Latin Culture is very important to you. How are you bringing the warmth of the Latin Culture to your practice?

Dr. John Mesa: Since I was born and raised in Colombia, it is innate to treat anybody, including patients, with warmth, cordiality, and respect. My philosophy is that I take care of my patients the same way I would care for a family member. Therefore, they only get the best care they can give them. This is something essential because it allows the patients to be confident with me, choose the procedures that best fit their needs, which helps me to make them look and feel their best, which ultimately helps to boost their confidence to achieve their personal, social, and professional goals.

Jules: Share your strengths as a Cosmetic Plastic Surgeon.

Dr. John Mesa: I pride myself on honesty and doing the best work possible. Most patients love the fact I do most neck-up procedures with local anesthesia versus general anesthesia, which is safer and easier to recover. Patients love my sincerity, professionalism, bedside manners, and attractive natural results of my procedures.

Jules: You specialize in Buccal Fat Removal – what is that, how is it done, and for whom and why is this procedure very popular?

Dr. John Mesa: Buccal fat removal is the most common cosmetic plastic surgery I perform. It is a procedure that permanently corrects the chubbiness of the face, thus allowing them to achieve a more sculpted and chiseled facial look, which translates into achieving a celebrity-like and or high fashion-like face look. I routinely perform the procedure under local anesthesia without any sedation. The surgery is painless and takes about 45 minutes to be done. Patients have stitches inside the mouth that last for a couple of weeks to dissolve. The recovery is mainly associated with some swelling that lasts a couple of days. The results start showing in 3 weeks, and the final results are seen in 3 months post-procedure.

The buccal fat removal procedure became very popular because people discovered a surgical option to achieve a chiseled facial look like celebrities or models. In the past, buccal fat removal was one of the most kept “secrets” in Hollywood. However, now with the widespread internet access on smartphones and social media, this procedure started to spread to the point that now is one of the most popular procedures in cosmetic plastic surgery of the face.

Jules: What is the protocol for your office – for example, consultation, surgery, recovery, and time frame?

Dr. John Mesa: My office protocol is simple: when a potential patient is interested in a cosmetic procedure with me, they usually reach one of my offices via phone call, email, or social media message. Then, one of my patient coordinators contacts the patient back via phone call. During the telephone call, they go over the general aspects of the surgery or procedure, the consultation process, surgery time frames, downtime, and price estimates. Then, the patient proceeds with either an in-person or virtual consultation, where I discuss the physical exam findings and all the details of the procedures/surgeries that best fit the patient’s needs. Then the patient schedules his/her procedure on a date and time available according to their schedule. Follow-ups are designed according to their procedure. The last follow-up is usually 12 weeks after surgery.

Jules: Cosmetic plastic surgery has as much to do with the outside as on the inside. Tell us about being a “Surgical Psychiatrist.”

Dr. John Mesa: Yes, cosmetic plastic surgery has much to do with the outside as on the inside. That’s why I consider plastic surgery as “surgical psychiatry”: By addressing a patient’s external physical concerns with cosmetic surgery, we plastic surgeons help patients to improve or boost their self-esteem (“internal appearance”) and self-confidence.

Jules: Beyond Buccal you also specialize in the minimally invasive neck up procedures – what procedures are most popular and how is it that you can perform them with local anesthesia versus general and how is that an important factor?

Dr. John Mesa: With the pandemic and the widespread video call for work and personal matters, people are starting to notice the existence of areas of their face and neck that make them feel uncomfortable like their double chins. Therefore, people have become more self-conscious of their facial appearance on camera and are thus taking action.

After buccal fat removal, the most common procedures from the neck up are chin liposuction in second place and skin tightening with radiofrequency of the neck (NeckTite) and face (FaceTite) being in the third and fourth place of most common procedures.

One of my passions is to perform surgical procedures from the neck up with pure local anesthesia without any pain. Even though most plastic surgeons are trained to perform plastic surgery under general anesthesia, I choose to perform most of my procedures under local anesthesia due to multiple reasons. Some of the reasons are avoidance of general anesthesia risks, faster recovery, ability to undergo surgery without the need for a chaperone (except in specific procedures like eyelid surgery), among others. Also, performing cosmetic plastic surgery under local anesthesia with the patient wide awake is extremely fun for me: The fact that I can talk with my patients when I am doing surgery with them is pretty rewarding.

Jules: How has COVID-19 impacted the world of Plastic Surgery in your opinion?

Dr. John Mesa: The world of Plastic Surgery has benefited tremendously due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As I expressed before because people nowadays can recover at home while working, many people now can undergo the cosmetic procedures they dreamed about, but that could not be achieved in the past due to the limiting factor of having to take several days off from work to recover at home.

Jules: Are you seeing more or fewer procedures now and throughout the pandemic?

Dr. John Mesa: I have seen a tremendous increase in cosmetic surgery procedures and decreased cosmetic injections (like Botox and Fillers). Before the pandemic, getting time off from work to undergo elective cosmetic surgery, in my opinion, was the number one limiting factor for most patients. Nowadays, since most people now work from home, they request a single day off to undergo a cosmetic procedure. Then, they recover from their surgery while working at home.

Jules: What are the important aspects when choosing a plastic surgeon?

Dr. John Mesa: Choosing a plastic surgeon depends on multiple factors. Some of the elements are location, timing, price, surgeon’s training and experience, surgeons’ bedside manners, and office facility and staff. Patients should evaluate these factors and choose a plastic surgeon that best meets their overall needs.