Olga Zilberstein, MD - Cosmetic Physician in Brooklyn & Long Island, New York

Eva Sheie (00:03):
Whether you're trying injectables for the first time or making a change to a new provider, the more you can learn about who your injector is before you're in the chair, the better that appointment will be. You are listening to Meet the Injector.

Eva Sheie (00:17):
My guest today is Olga Zilberstein. She's a nonsurgical aesthetic specialist practicing in Brooklyn in Long Island, New York. Welcome to the podcast. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Dr. Zilberstein (00:30):
Thank you so much. So yes, I'm a physician. I practice aesthetic medicine. For the last 17 years, I would say I was at the almost beginning of aesthetic medicine and I got a lot of experience. It's been changing the trends over those 17 years and my own trends never changed in terms of how I like to treat people and trying to bring their natural beauty without overexaggerating and creating, what we call now aliens with abnormal or unnatural results. This is absolutely a no-no for me, it's my philosophy from very start. At some point I think it's trending down right now a little bit, but my philosophy always been you better look a little bit wrinkly and older rather than unnatural. And I pride myself that all my patients say that you would never do something for me, that's why I come to you. Dr. Silverstein would never do something that wouldn't look unnatural or something that I don't need, let's say.

Eva Sheie (01:49):
How does you get into this?

Dr. Zilberstein (01:51):
Well, I always loved art and I always loved to work with my hands and create art in a way. I was working in emergency room, so I started as emergency room physician and as emergency room physician, you get a lot of time on your hands, like you work three shifts. And I used to work two nights in one day. So it worked great for my kids. I was like full-time doctor, full-time with my kids. But then kids grew up, I had some time and that this new very interesting, very interesting specialty started to develop, which I got interested. I actually went for the course and I thought nothing about it. I did it for myself in a way. So I learned fillers and Botox and started practicing and I worked, I did some procedures for my friends and neighbors honestly. And then people really loved it and started telling their friends and neighbors and that's how it kind of grew. And for me, I always was joking that it's like it's really my hobby. So I still work, I practice medicine and I practice aesthetic medicine as well. I still practice medicine, but I do mostly aesthetic medicine. I practice mostly aesthetic medicine, but I practice medicine as well.

Eva Sheie (03:20):
Do your patients ask you for all kinds of help with all kinds of things, even outside aesthetics?

Dr. Zilberstein (03:25):
Medical questions? Yeah. Yes, sure. Sometimes. Yes. And I love to help out.

Eva Sheie (03:33):
I think what I hear from a lot of people these days is it's so hard to get in to get regular appointments and to get help, and we're sort of starved for information from trustworthy sources, which used to be that the internet was helpful, but now I actually think we're drowning and so we're desperate to talk to doctors who actually know answers to real questions directly. So I was just curious if your injectable patients just take advantage and ask you whatever's on their mind?

Dr. Zilberstein (04:09):
They do. I actually love conversations. As aesthetic doctor, you kind of have more time rather than when in clinic, let's say the providers, they're given 15 minutes and they have to know everything about patient, document everything and then just move on and prescribe and whatever. And I don't even understand how you have time for all this, but in aesthetic clinic, I do have more time and I have conversations and we talk about so many topics and medical and non-medical. I learn myself, they learn it's great.

Eva Sheie (04:45):
Walk me through all the treatments that people come to you for.

Dr. Zilberstein (04:49):
So I do all nonsurgical cosmetic procedures. So anything what I can do cosmetically for them, starting from skincare, acne, pigmentation and nonsurgical facelift. I use fillers. I use bio stimulation. I use devices like radiofrequency microneedling, different devices to tighten the skin, improve skin quality. I use of course Botox and fillers. I found myself using less and less fillers. Nowadays it's just really mostly regenerative medicine, tightening. I also use threads. I was one of the first one to learn about threads. I went to Korea and London, I learned from the very beginning. So it's also contributes to nonsurgical lifts for facelift, for nose, for nonsurgical nose job. I do a lot of nonsurgical nose jobs as well, since I'm not a surgeon. So I try to learn all modalities, everything possible I can master, so I can help non-surgically to people. But it's actually works out pretty well because very few wants to really go under the knife and have an anesthesia. So I think I'm in the right place right now because people don't want to do surgeries as much. And if it's possible to avoid surgery or postpone surgery, that's totally is a preference right now.

Eva Sheie (06:33):
So you mentioned that you're doing less fillers these days. Is that because people are asking for them less or because that's something that you're choosing to do less of yourself?

Dr. Zilberstein (06:44):
I just prefer to use regenerative medicine and use our body ability to regenerate new collagen, new skin and to tighten this, tighten the face rather than filling it. And I think it just creates much more natural results.

Eva Sheie (07:08):
So is it that there's an aesthetic that's driving you to change the way you're doing things? I think maybe less so in New York, but in Texas and in California there's still a lot of people who are very overfilled. I know New Yorkers are more conservative. I've heard that a lot.

Dr. Zilberstein (07:27):
Yes, it was the whole article in New York Times how East coast and West coast different in aesthetic procedures and aesthetic look.

Eva Sheie (07:35):
Was that recent? I missed it.

Dr. Zilberstein (07:38):
Not very recent. It's been a while. So it's a trend really going on. So it's West Coast tends to be much more overfilled and it's an interesting thing that now it's the whole scientific papers came out about how people lose the conception of natural. They're so used to looking at themselves. They're so used to their big overfilled lips that they think that's natural. They don't even see themselves. It's a perception drift. There is a term now.

Eva Sheie (08:09):
Perception drift?

Dr. Zilberstein (08:11):
Perception drift. So people don't see themselves how unnatural they look.

Eva Sheie (08:16):
Thank you for that. I've been looking for this word.

Dr. Zilberstein (08:18):
Yeah, now it's in the paper. It's a doctor from San Diego based in San Diego, Sabrina Fabi. She wrote the whole paper about it, about perception drift, how people just the same on social media. People keep looking on overfilled faces and overfilled lips let's say, and they feel it's normal, it's natural. And they want the same results, that's the big problem.

Eva Sheie (08:46):
I think you hit it there. It's completely caused by the phone. When someone comes to see you for the first time, what can they expect from that visit?

Dr. Zilberstein (08:56):
Well, usually when people come they have in mind what they don't like and I always ask them what exactly you want to improve. It's interesting how I can have one perception, but I always say you do it for yourself, something you don't like, something in your face makes you not comfortable with yourself, so you have to tell me exactly what you don't like. It's not for me, it's for you. And then I'll tell them how I can help them nonsurgically in most natural and most effective way.

Eva Sheie (09:34):
When someone is talking to you specifically about their nose, is there a way that you can tell quickly if you're going to be able to help with that nonsurgical nose job or if it's outside of the boundaries of what can be done?

Dr. Zilberstein (09:50):
Absolutely not every nose can be corrected. So the easiest and the most rewarding, I guess it's like a bump or hump, which can be kind of camouflaged. I can lift noses, like droopy noses, I can lift. That's kind of easy. What I can't do something very wide and wide bone, which should be really surgically shaved that I can't do. So I can tell right away if I can correct the nose or not.

Eva Sheie (10:23):
Do you have any idea how many you've done over the years if you had to guess?

Dr. Zilberstein (10:28):
Really a lot. I started doing noses really, really long time. So it's been, I mean, 17 years and I do a lot of noses.

Eva Sheie (10:39):
So it's probably in the thousands.

Dr. Zilberstein (10:41):
Definitely.

Eva Sheie (10:41):
Safe to say.

Dr. Zilberstein (10:43):
Safe to say, yeah.

Eva Sheie (10:45):
Is there anything that you're excited about that's coming out right now?

Dr. Zilberstein (10:51):
Aesthetic medicine is really developing quickly. It's a very rewarding place to be in. People are so interested in improving their appearance. It's a lot of research going on. So like I said, regenerative medicine is really hot. So we have a lot of growth factors which actually help those collagen stimulation help the tightening and on the side of devices as well. I think the money's there, people feel the money's there. So a lot of research. I'm really interested to what's next. A lot of stuff actually out there in Europe, let's say in Asia, which doctors are using, which we don't have because we have very stringent FDA approval process. And I love going on overseas on those conferences and learning about it. It's interesting because it's new on one hand, but on the other hand it's something I can't use. It's a problem a little bit because I really would love to give it to my patients, but so far I can't. So I'm waiting for one thing, which is very exciting and the whole world using it, it's Optus threads, which actually coming from Georgia, I went all the way to Georgia. I learned all about them. And it's plastic surgeon in Georgia invented threads. So it's like 20 years ago, 30 years ago. And all the threads which we use now coming from his ideas, but his original brand still waiting to be approved. So I learned all about it, but I can't use it yet.

Eva Sheie (12:38):
How are they different from the threads that are available to us today?

Dr. Zilberstein (12:43):
They're just more versatile. They're like longer lasting, they stay firm because they made from the different material. We use PDO threads and they last just like six to nine months really. So these threads they made from the different materials we can last up to two years. So it's just a better quality.

Eva Sheie (13:06):
Is there anything that you wish patients knew about you or about aesthetic medicine before they came to see you?

Dr. Zilberstein (13:14):
Well, I don't advertise that much, but it's, most of my patients, it's really word of mouth or people find me on Google and find me just by reading reviews and a lot of reviews just saying what I just told you that all my results are natural. I would never overfill a patient. I would never do something that I think they're going to look unnatural or ridiculous. Even I turned around a lot of patients who like let's say they would come in with the big overfilled lips and they want more. And I would say, no, no, no. If you want, I can take it away or dilute it, but I cannot put any more filler for your face. So I've had a lot of those and that's what I can say, that I would never overfill anybody or do something going to look unnatural or ridiculous.

Eva Sheie (14:07):
It sounds like the people who find you and understand what you're doing really trust you. And I bet they refer a lot of their friends.

Dr. Zilberstein (14:16):
That's what happens. I got to knock somewhere

Eva Sheie (14:20):
Tell me about your two offices.

Dr. Zilberstein (14:21):
One office in Long Island, it's where I live and another one is in Brooklyn. So it's just when I started, that's happened a long time ago. Like I said, I can't believe it, 17 years now. And I just have this patient following from both sides. I would probably rather have it in one place, but it just happened to be that one side doesn't want to come to Brooklyn, the other side want to come to Long Island, but it's fine. I like to have a little different surrounding in my weeks, so I go here and there.

Eva Sheie (15:01):
You told me at the beginning that you had kids when you were starting that you had the great benefit of having the schedule you wanted that worked for them. So they must be slightly older now.

Dr. Zilberstein (15:14):
They are, yes.

Eva Sheie (15:15):
Tell me about your kids.

Dr. Zilberstein (15:17):
Well, I have two boys. My older one is 29. He's a dentist and it's going to be an oral surgeon, much more years to study and learn and practice. And the other one is 22 years old, so he's just graduated from college and he's applying to go to medical school. Hopefully he gets it.

Eva Sheie (15:43):
Look what you did. A family of doctors. Is your husband a doctor too?

Dr. Zilberstein (15:49):
No, no.

Eva Sheie (15:52):
He's the one that got away.

Dr. Zilberstein (15:54):
Yeah, my mother is a doctor. My grandparents are doctors too, so I would say I have my whole family.

Eva Sheie (16:04):
Did you grow up in the United States or somewhere else?

Dr. Zilberstein (16:07):
No, I actually grew up in Russia and my grandparents from Ukraine, so they evacuated during World War II. So I lived in Siberia. I was born in Siberia and I came to United States 30 years ago. It's been a while.

Eva Sheie (16:29):
Were you still a kid when you came here?

Dr. Zilberstein (16:31):
Thank you for that. No, I graduated from medical, I graduated from medical school.

Eva Sheie (16:36):
Before you came?

Dr. Zilberstein (16:37):
Just before you, I came here.

Eva Sheie (16:40):
What prompted you to move here?

Dr. Zilberstein (16:43):
Well, nineties collapse of Soviet Union. It was crazy. I was always wanted to leave actually. We were just not allowed to. My family's Jewish and we wanted to escape, but we weren't allowed. It was completely closed. And then as soon as it's opened, we just ran.

Eva Sheie (17:10):
I heard an anecdote yesterday and they were saying that in Russia, everyone was told that Americans were poor and starving and that there was nothing here. They had painted a completely inaccurate picture of the United States because they had control over all the information.

Dr. Zilberstein (17:29):
Well, when I grew up, America was a cool country. They had jeans and chewing gum. It's not that, I mean, what I say now, Russia is much, much worse. And what's happening in Ukraine is complete disaster. It's terrible. And the propaganda now I think is much, much worse, which when I was growing up, it was all the propaganda was about, oh, we have to live in peace. And we as kids, we thought America, we have to be all together and live together in a big, beautiful, peaceful planet. But now I think it's much more lies. I think now Russia is much more dangerous and the propaganda now I am not listening what they're saying. But yes, I mean right now I think the hate for Western America is much worse than when I was growing up 30 years ago. I mean 30 years ago when I was still there, unfortunately.

Eva Sheie (18:37):
Well, I hope that it turns around in our lifetimes.

Dr. Zilberstein (18:41):
It just hurts our whole community. We just can't because it's so close to us. So it's really terrible what's going on there.

Eva Sheie (18:51):
I'm sorry you're going through that.

Dr. Zilberstein (18:54):
Thank you.

Eva Sheie (18:54):
I'm sorry that I don't know more about it, but this is a terrible topic, so let's get rid of it.

Dr. Zilberstein (18:59):
A little far from aesthetics.

Eva Sheie (19:02):
I know, but it's supposed to be about you and it's a part of you. So I'm glad we at least touched on it a little. So how do you get out of that? If someone's interested in seeing you as a patient or for a consultation, how should they reach out to you?

Dr. Zilberstein (19:19):
Well, my well information is online, social media now. It's just a big powerful tool. As everything, there's pluses and minuses. It's not great for younger generation and I mean, they can see everything on my social media, all my before and afters, my office, me.

Eva Sheie (19:39):
On Instagram?

Dr. Zilberstein (19:42):
On Instagram, yeah, on Instagram and TikTok and Facebook and internet. It's all there. My website.

Eva Sheie (19:50):
Give us Instagram handle on your website, and I'll put everything in the show notes.

Dr. Zilberstein (19:55):
Okay. Yeah, it's very easy. DrOlgaZ.com is my website and my Instagram name is extremely easy. Just my name, Dr. Olga Zilberstein. That's it.

Eva Sheie (20:08):
Okay. I'll make sure that's easy to find. Thank you so much for sharing yourself with us today. It was really a pleasure.

Dr. Zilberstein (20:14):
My pleasure. Thank you.

Eva Sheie (20:17):
There's no substitute for an in-person appointment, but we hope this comes close. If you're considering an appointment with this provider, be sure you let them know you heard them on the Meet the Injector podcast. Check the show notes for links, including the injector's website and Instagram to learn more. Are you an aesthetic injector or do you know one? You can be a guest on Meet the Injector. Book your free recording session at meettheinjector.com. Meet the Injector is Made with Love in Austin, Texas and is a production of The Axis, theaxis.io.