Joe Shvidler, MD - Facial Plastic Surgeon in Seattle, Washington

The purpose of this podcast is simple. We want you to get to know your doctor before meeting them in person, because you're making a life-changing decision, and time is scarce. The more you can learn about who your doctor is before you meet them, the better that first meeting will be. There's no substitute for an in-person appointment, but we hope this comes close. I'm your host, Eva Shay, and you're listening to Meet the Doctor. Welcome to Meet the Doctor. My name is Eva Sheie, and my guest on today's episode is Dr. Joe Shvidler. He's a facial plastic surgeon in Seattle, and I'm really happy to have him here and hear his story today. Welcome, Dr. Joe.

Thank you.

So first, why don't we start with something really challenging, like, um, <laugh>, tell us more about your specialty and what kinds of procedures you focus on every day.

So I'm a board certified facial plastic surgeon, and my interests are reconstruction of the facial nasal structures, uh, particularly rhinoplasty, nasal surgery, aging face, and any other facial cosmetic surgery on the eyelids, ears, cheeks, and neck area.

Now you work in the same office as Dr. Bill Portuese, which is in downtown Seattle, but do you also travel around western Washington a little bit?

Yeah, so we have a, a regional practice. We have a presence in Portland, Oregon, and I actually practiced in Tacoma, Washington for many years. And I've been practicing in Seattle now for, uh, about six months.

And anything in between Portland and Tacoma?

Um,

You're supposed to say there's nothing in between Portland and Tacoma.

There's really, there's Centralia <laugh>, there's

I'm sort of playing with you because my husband is from PL Washington, which is, um, 30 miles west of Centralia.

Oh, okay.

Nobody's there <laugh> except his family.

Yeah, we see folks from Idaho and you know, Montana, they'll, they'll come up to Seattle sometimes too. So we, you know, there's pretty much northwest, uh, I would say.

mm-hmm <affirmative>.

So we see quite a large geographic area.

So how did you end up in facial plastic surgery? Tell us what that journey looked like.

Yeah, so I, I've been fortunate enough to go to a medical school where I had some great mentors and I was interested in surgery early on. I really, I'm a visual learner, so I really liked anatomy. That really drew me to surgical specialties. I, I have an artistic background as well. I've, uh, studied art and painted a little bit, and not professionally, but just as a student of the art. And that's, I think, how I learn as well. So those things really drew me to surgical specialties. And I had a mentor in medical school who was an ear, nose and throat doctor who got me really interested in, uh, ENT, and I think that had the most challenging anatomy. So that was, I was like, yeah, cool. I'm gonna learn the most difficult anatomy in a, in a human body, <laugh>. So got really interested in that. And, and then as I went into my residency, we have different sub-specializations or fields within, uh, ENT and facial plastic surgery was really, really interesting to me and see how the, you can improve someone's form, form function. And the aesthetics was really kind of integral part of that, uh, as well. And I think with the artistic background, it kind of came naturally to me. So that's how I, I was drawn to that.

So do you ever help people who've had their nose hurt or their face hurt in an accident?

I have, yeah. And that's, that's part of what we do is, uh, a lot of the surgery that we perform is functional in nature, uh, after injuries, uh, facial trauma, accidents, injuries from sports or injuries from previous surgery as well.

I understand that you were actually in the military for a while. What did you do?

Yeah, so I was really fortunate to serve, uh, in US Army for 13 years. I got a scholarship to go to medical school, so the US Army sort of sponsored my education, which I'm really grateful for. And it was the best experience and, you know, that I ever had in terms of training. So after finishing medical school, I, I, I entered a, uh, residency in US Army and was trained by some of the best surgeons in the country who are now practicing in some of the most recognized institutions around United States, and got a great education there. And I was trained around the time of when the two, uh, wars that we were in were just kind of ramping up. So fortunately there was a lot of funding for education. So there I went to a lot of courses and, and, uh, have an opportunity to, to really, uh, get a lot of experience in both reconstructive and some cosmetic surgery as well in the military. Then I went on to, uh, do a fellowship in facial cosmetic and reconstructive surgery here at University of Washington and then returned back to the military. And, uh, served the rest of my time here in, uh, Fort Lewis.

Beautiful Tacoma, Washington,

Beautiful Tacoma, Washington. Yeah.

When you're in the military, do you see different kinds of cases than you do now? Like, are there things that are unique to being in the military or, or about what you, what kinds of cases come your way?

Uh, there are obviously, you know, we took over a lot of veterans, uh, in a military and we took care of some active duty soldiers who had some pretty horrendous injuries, whether it was in the, in the war or in the, um, uh, in training, uh, et cetera. And, uh, so that really set the foundation for my surgical training. And I had an opportunity also to train generations of residents. And I taught, I attend a residency program. We had, uh, many, many wonderful surgeons that graduated from our program, uh, that I still meet at the meetings and talked to them. So that's, it's kind of a little family there. So that's, that's kind of a nice, uh, nice community of, of doctors that we still have and we still, you know, talk to each other and stuff. So that's, uh, it was a very special time.

Did you get to travel while you were doing that to other places, or did they just leave you stuck there in, in Tacoma?

BecauseI was a, a teaching faculty. Uh, fortunately I was sort of changed to, to one location <laugh>, so I did not get to go overseas unfortunately, but many of my colleagues did. So, um, but I'm, I'm grateful for all the experiences that I've had in the military.

So you decided at some point you were gonna move on. What made you decide it was time to go away from the military?

My family were a big deciding factor in that. So they, we, you know, in the military you kind of move around a lot. Um, that's just comes with the, with the job and every three or five years you have to go to a new location. And when the kids are getting a little older, we're kind of getting settled in. And, um, my wife, um, had a pretty nice gig here, so we just decided we really like, uh, northwest and we made it home. She's from Arizona and I'm from Chicago and Chicago is too cold for her, Arizona is too hot for me. So this was like a perfect middle ground. So we just decided to, to, to stay here. And I finished my commitment, uh, in the military and decided to, uh, transition to civilian practice. And, um, yeah, so I joined a, a large multi-specialty group, uh, in Tacoma, Washington. And that's where I practiced for, uh, eight years after being in the military.

And then what led you actually to Seattle Facial Plastic Surgery?

Well, I've, my dream has always been to be in a, in a private practice. And I think that's, that's where you have your best ability to have, to give the best outcomes to the patients and the things that they're looking for and have control of the things that you can do. And, and, you know, unfortunately, uh, in current environment, uh, it's really hard to balance the needs of the patients with their regulatory environment and, and things like that. So that, that makes it really hard and challenging and in, in a large hospital system. And so I think to have the freedom of, of doing things that you like and when you can deliver to the patients, it, I felt that I needed to make that leap and enjoy in a private practice.

It's sometimes really fun when you cross from one world to the things that, the small things even that, that stand out. Does anything come to mind when you think about, like, when you <laugh> made the transition from one side to the other? What were the small things that gave you great joy in that transition?

Well, I think of the freedom of my own schedule. You know, the flexibility and being able to have more control over what I do and the, and the schedule. Not so much rely on the schedule of the hospital system. It's just a big machine that works and, and you're just a cog in the wheel, so to speak.

So they always told you where you needed to be and what you needed to be doing before, and now you get to decide.

Yeah, yeah. So it's sort of, you know, you don't have as much flexibility in terms of that. And I think also being small, you're much more agile. You can, hey, you know, I, I need to get this instrument and I can go and just purchase myself. Instead I'm going through five different committees and to get one, you know, little piece of instrument or something like that. So that, that, those things are a little bit of frustrating for me. And I think having that artistic background, I'm sort of, you know, I, I wanna have that little bit of freedom and agility to, to do things that I like to do. You know, I still wanna be safe and have all the protocols in place to deliver the best possible patient care, but I think from the creative standpoint, I think that allowed me to have that, uh, flexibility.

Are there products or technologies that you're looking at now? You know, you can make your own decisions and decide what you're gonna bring in. There' no committees left.

This is the best piece of technology that's ever been invented.

Your hands. <laugh>

I think we're pretty low tech here. We don't, we don't specialize in high tech lasers. And I think our, our technology's always evolving in here, and in here, in our hands and our brains. It's, uh, we always look for the best new ways to deliver the best possible outcomes. But in terms of, you know, new injectables or fillers and things like that, uh, we don't particularly, um, dabble in that.

We should come up with a better word than, um, low tech. I think what we'll call you is, uh, traditionalists or purists or, yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah. I'll put my marketing hat on for that. <laugh>. What can patients expect when they come to see you for the first time?

Well, I think I really need to get to know the patient. I really want to know them and exactly find out what they're looking for and what kind of things they're looking to improve and whether they have realistic expectations of, uh, what, what could be achieved. And, you know, there's multiple venues of how you, patients and providers meet each other. It's virtual or in person, that really doesn't matter. I think it's just a conversation where I think it's just kind of getting to know the provider and getting comfortable with them. I think that's really important.

How much time do you take for your consultations? Do you let people just stay all day?

We have an Airbnb in the office, <laugh>,

Go for coffe, come back.

Yeah, and I think that's one of the things you talked about is, is that that also gives me the flexibility here is I can spend as much time as I, as I need with a patient. And I was really pressured in my previous practice to, you have a 20 minute appointment, you know, and a patient comes in with a really complex issue and didn't really have that time to spend with the patient if they really needed it. And, and in a prior practice, I can spend an hour with 'em talking about their complex issue and really to get a time to examine them and, and if they have additional questions, we can bring 'em back and talk some more. It's, and, and there's not that pressure to, uh, to produce, produce, produce.

So if somebody isn't sure or is isn't, you know, like myself, I make decisions pretty slowly when they're important. Could someone come back and have a second consultation with you if they wanted to?

Absolutely. And I probably would say that I do that probably 20% of the time people have follow up questions and, you know, we, we will have a follow up either Zoom meeting or in person consultation. You know, my job is to make sure that the patient is comfortable, you know, by the time they're, they're set to have their procedure done, that they're very comfortable with that decision.

What does it tell you about a patient when they do ask for a second consult?

It means that they're really serious about it. It's not, it's not like you're getting a haircut. You know, you really wanna, you know, when you're making a decision about having surgery, that's, that's a serious choice. And patients are very informed nowadays. They, they do their homework and, and they may be a little bit nervous and they may have not asked all the questions. I think when it's important to make sure that the, they have ample opportunity to, uh, to loop back and ask all questions.

I know a lot of facial plastic surgeons use systems like, um, computer imaging to show people what their nose might look like after surgery. Is that something you do?

Yeah, absolutely. And that's another great tool that we have in our practice and really augmented my ability to visually show patients what their face may look like with this, uh, imaging software picture is worth a thousand words as they say. It's, uh, but, so if you can show somebody what, what things may look like, there's that kind of aha moment. I see what you're, what you're saying now. Cuz you can explain to the patient in million different ways and they still may not understand little nuances and, but once you show them picture, it becomes clearer. So it's just, it is just a educational tool. It's not designed to say this is a guaranteed result. It's just a conversation starter to just to, to see what the patient, cause we want to be on the same page, you know, it, it's really important to establish that rapport and see, to make sure that what I can deliver is what they're looking for. And so, and, and vice versa.

And do you ever use your artistic skills to kind of speed that along? Do you draw on the images or do you draw on paper? What do you, how do you incorporate that?

I do. Yeah. Yeah, I definitely do that. And, and I like to draw out images and diagrams of the patients and we do that as well.

Will you send me a picture of the next drawing that you make?

<laugh> You can go on my website and I have some art on there as well, so.

Oh, you are full of surprises. I will.

And, Um.

Yeah. What website is that?

West coast face.com. And I think if you look in the tabs, there's an art gallery there.

Yeah, I'm, I'm gonna link to this in the show notes so anyone who's listening can go look.

Cool.

Yeah, I would love to see a photo of you drawing a nose or drawing something for a patient, you know, not with somebody's name on it, but just like an example of something that you drew to help somebody understand something that would be fascinating. Make a great Instagram post. Okay. So what do you like to do outside of work?

I have three children and they're ages 9, 11, 13. And I love hockey. I love sports and, and so I, I had an opportunity to coach my youngest son last year in eight u hockey, so that was really fun. And so, uh, that's what we're doing outside of work for the last, for the past year. Yeah,

That'll take up some time.

Yeah.

I grew up in Minnesota. I get, I get the hockey thing. Yeah, there's not a lot of hockey in Seattle either.

Well, it's growing. We have a professional hockey team here now and so that really accelerated the growth of the sport and we have some great facilities in Tacoma and um, yeah, so it's really kind of blossoming here.

So are you like the, also the sponsor of the hockey team? They get hit in the face with a puck and you're right there ready to go.

<laugh> <laugh>? No, no. <laugh>

Yes. Comes in handy though to have a facial plastic surgeon nearby.

Yeah.

What, um, is there anything coming up, you know, during the summer? I know the end of summer, sorry, the end of winter in Seattle doesn't happen until July 5th, so I know that's a ways off still. It's a good April, may, June, four months away. Is there anything you're looking forward to later this year? Are you going on any trips or,

Well, we're starting to travel a little bit because the kids are a little bit older, so we, um, we're sort of graduated from the kind of the lazy vacation, you know, just kind of plump yourself on the resort and on the beach. And now we wanna do more educational tours. So we're are actually planning a trip to Europe, uh, with the kids and, uh, Northern Europe and gonna explore kind of the area of Normandy. And my oldest son is a big history buff, so he, uh, he likes to learn about World War I and World War ii and so he wants to go to the, all the, you know, the beaches where the D-day happened, uh

Oh yeah.

Uh, and kind of explore that area and uh, then we're going to travel further north and maybe see some castles in, in, uh, in Germany.

That'll be a great adventure for all of you. Yeah. Yeah. That sounds wonderful. Okay, well before we, uh, let you get back to your patients, I know you have one pretty soon here. We mentioned west coast face.com. Is there anywhere else you'd like us to look to learn more about you?

Also, the seattle facial.com has my information as well. And if you would like to learn more about what I do, those two websites have great before and after pictures. I also, um, my Instagram is Doctor underscore, Joe underscore knows, k n o w s. There's lots of, uh, before and after pictures and reveals. And I also have a TikTok account as well.

I will put both of those in the show notes. Those reveals are fantastic.

Thank you.

Yeah, they're so fun to look at and they never get old. So yeah. Keep up the good work.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for telling us about yourself today, Dr. Shvidler.

Thanks. Have a great day.

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