Name: Richard Moore, M.D.
Clinic: The Lifestyle Center
Location: St Louis, MO
Website: TheLifestyleCenter.com

Can you tell us your background and exactly how did you get to where you are now?

I have always had a strong interest in business with an entrepreneurial spirit. Prior to medical school, I obtained a masters of international management and worked in the petrochemical industry in Houston, TX. Following several years as a Hospitalist physician and director of a hospitalist program, I decided to switch my focus and concentrate on health and wellness. A natural evolution of this was my involvement in aesthetic medicine.

How is your clinic structured? What is your work day like? What commitments do you have?

My center takes a team approach starting with the front desk or reception area, moving to my nurse sales consultant and then my team of nurses and estheticians. All employees are incentivized to contribute to the success of the center. My personal involvement is a daily presence in which I step in on several consults a day, perform office based liposuction, and for clients who prefer a physician injector I am available.

A single term to define the way you perform:

Caring.

What have you discovered about staffing as well as operations that other medical professionals could very well capitalize on?

Your staff must feel a part of the team and understand the contributions they are making to the success of the clinic. In addition, you should have an incentive pay system that rewards your employees for their efforts. It is important to identify your key people and put them into leadership positions. Ongoing training is also valuable to increase the competence and motivation of your staff.

What are your favorite motivational sources?

The Complete Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and the Bible.

Cosmetic medicine is elective and just about every clinic is trying to drive new patients. Where do you suppose that 'marketing' should easily fit in a practice? Have you ever spotted any kind of marketing promotions that you would certainly deem to be "unethical" for some reason?

Marketing is a means of connecting to new clients. We focus our marketing efforts on “gateway services”. These are simple things that potential clients are looking for such as neuromodulators, body sculpting, and laser hair removal. From there, we can cross promote other services that the client would benefit from. In our market, I have not seen inappropriate or unethical marketing.

You blog as part of your internet presence. How have you determined blogging to help you out? What rewards have you obtained?

Blogging is relatively new to The Lifestyle Center but we are seeing rewards for our blogging efforts. Our organic position on the search engines has improved and we are seeing a large increase in web based inquiries.

Are there any treatments that you prefer a lot better than others? Have you dropped any treatments? If that is the case, why?

My favorite procedure is body sculpting. We have evolved over the years from Smart Lipo to Vaser Lipo and most recently Tickle Lipo. In addition, we use the ThermiRF system for skin tightening and small area lipo such as the submental area and jaw line. Along with the Tickle Lipo we do a fair number of fat transfer procedures for breast and buttocks enhancement.

Over the years, we have dropped some treatments simply because the results were not impressive enough to meet patient expectations.

You provide treatments with fat transfer. Where have you witnessed the utmost success with this particular treatment? What have you learned about getting the most benefit from this? Do you have any distinctive techniques or 'tricks' that you make use of?

We have put a heavy focus on our fat transfer procedures in the past few years in an effort to improve the fat survival. One of the reasons we switched to the Tickle Lipo system was due to the higher fat survival and higher stem cell content. In addition, we add a nutrient base to our fat aspirate prior to fat transfer with the thought this will give it a little longer survival to establish a blood supply. Micro injection techniques are important as well. The most important aspect of fat transfer procedures is managing patient expectations upfront. We accomplish this by showing typical examples of our fat transfer results and discussing their expectations. If we cannot meet their expectations, we let them know that upfront.

As a cosmetic surgeon, how will nonsurgical therapies impact invasive cosmetic techniques? Have you ever wondered how cosmetic surgery will evolve? Will it be transformed by technology?

There are two areas where I see advances in non-surgical techniques – body sculpting and facial restoration.

Non-invasive body sculpting procedures are becoming more prevalent as our abilitity to destroy fat cells improves. We recently added the BodyFX system for body sculpting and cellulite treatment. We chose this over CoolSculpting because the market was saturated with CoolSculpting devices and we are able to tighten skin and treat cellulite at the same time we are performing the body sculpting treatments. Additionally, we offer Venus Freeze and VelaShape.

Facial restoration as an alternative to cosmetic surgery on the face continues to evolve. I like to use a combination approach that focuses on the individual client’s needs. Volume restoration with fillers or fat transfer can be combined with FotoFacial treatments, Venus Freeze, and/or fractional resurfacing with Fractora or MatrixRF. I am going to be looking at PRP as an additional tool for facial restoration.

Where do you think will cosmetic surgery breakthrough come from within the next ten years? Could there be anything that's being created now that you are aware of that you find interesting?

Most of the recent advances in cosmetic surgery involve the introduction and evolution of the use of radio frequency devices for body sculpting and treatment of skin texture, wrinkles and to a lesser extent pigmentation irregularities.

Looking forward, non-invasive devices for fat destruction that involve less discomfort while resulting in sufficient aptosis will be the most exciting developments.

If you could change one thing or perhaps fix one mistake that you made earlier in your career, what would that be?

 Targeting our market. When we first opened, our target market was the well to do. What I realized was that the broader market was much bigger and more willing to consider purchasing services from a physician whose specialty training was other than a plastic surgeon.

What is the best advice you've ever received as an entrepreneur and physician?

Develop your mission statement and implement it in every patient encounter. Our mission statement is to provide services and products which help our clients to look better and feel better about themselves while promoting healthy lifestyle choices.

About: Richard Moore, M.D. is the medical director for The Lifestyle Center and Hair Restoration. He is a pioneer and national speaker for the field of minimally - invasive aesthetic procedures. Dr. Moore is an active member in the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgeons and The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons.  In addition to offering office based aesthetic procedures, he has a strong interest in the role of fitness and nutrition as it relates to our health. Dr. Moore often appears as a contributing physician on articles relating to aesthetics, health and nutrition in the St. Louis community.

This interview is part of a series of interviews of physicians running medical spas, laser clinics and cosmetic surgery centers. If you'd like to be interviewed, just contact us.