If you are curious about plastic surgery and what goes behind the doors in an operating room, then the easiest way to educate yourself is to open up @therealdrmiami's Snapchat account.
Dr. Michael Salzhauer lets his social media followers get a peek into his operating room as he does Brazilian butt lifts, tummy tucks and breast augmentation surgeries. The sights that follow aren't for the weak-hearted or the squeamish ones, as your screen will be soon filled with blood as Salzhauer cuts and nips his patients' bodies real-time.
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Thanks to these videos, Dr Salzhauer, popularly known as Dr. Miami, has a cult following on social media. He has 614,000 followers on Instagram, 830,000 on Twitter, but his Snapchat drives the most traffic. His Snap stories get millions of views and are widely popular, despite its gory content.
Recently, Salzhauer also made his entry into the world of reality television. On March 31, his television series premiered on We TV, and Dr Miami is happy with how the show has turned out. "About 99 percent of the comments on Twitter have been positive," he told International Business Times India.
So how did it all start? Salzhauer, a board-certified plastic surgeon at Bal Harbour Plastic Surgery in Florida, started Snapping after his Instagram account got deleted because his content violated the photo-sharing app's community guidelines. Instagram does not allow nudity. His daughter then suggested Snapchat, and he didn't look back since.
A number of plastic surgeons have since followed suit and have become raging successes on Snapchat. However, Salzhauer does not consider them competition.
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," Salzhauer quoted Oscar Wilde.
"I don't consider them competition per se since every surgeon has a unique personality that they get to show through Snapchat. I think there is room for thousands of surgeons to be on Snapchat. It opens up window to the world to what was hidden till now. It also helps potential patients to have a better understanding of what goes on in an operating room," he said.
All the patients featured in Salzhauer's Snapchat stories are featured with their consent.
Salzhauer has also had to deal with his share of controversies. Salzhauer is the author of My Beautiful Mommy, a children's book about plastic surgery.
The book is about a young girl whose mother undergoes abdominoplasty and rhinoplasty. The book was meant to help parents who have chosen to have plastic surgery explain the process to their children, but it drew criticism for glamorising plastic surgery. The good doctor also courted criticism for his Jewcan Sam (A Nose Job Love Song), a song about a boy who gets a nose job to attract a girl. The video was deemed offensive and inappropriate by many.
How does Salzhauer deal with such controversies and backlash? "I am a busy guy," laughs Salzhauer. "I don't have time to think about backlash. I think about doing a good job to my patients, keeping my patients happy. I am busy as a surgeon. I focus on family and work and ignore the haters."
So what's next? Salzhauer said he will continue using Snapchat to open the door to his operating room. "I would like to continue to introduce to the world the benefits of plastic surgery," he said.
