Unlock the secrets to thriving in the world of medical sales with insights from our special guest, Ali Flax, a veteran in plastic surgery sales with Mentor Worldwide, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. Ali shares her in-depth knowledge on managing a sales territory in the bustling city of Austin, where she specializes in breast implants and tissue expanders. Discover how her role uniquely combines hospital and private office environments, surgical procedures, and business development, offering a roadmap for those considering or already navigating the medical sales industry.
Join us as we explore the dynamic trends shaping aesthetics sales, from the emotional impact of breast reconstruction to the surging interest in cosmetic procedures. I recount my own journey from the high-pressure world of orthopedic sales to finding fulfillment in aesthetics, emphasizing the importance of aligning career paths with personal values and lifestyle goals. We delve into the complexities of breast implant options and the pivotal role of skilled surgeons in achieving patient satisfaction, providing a comprehensive guide for anyone curious about the industry.
The conversation takes a critical turn as we expose the dark realities of medical aesthetics, including dangerous black market practices abroad. Ali and I stress the importance of thorough research and selecting qualified professionals to avoid the pitfalls of unsafe procedures. We also reflect on the demanding nature of trauma medical sales, which fosters resilience and prepares individuals for success in less intense medical sales sectors. Tune in to gain a well-rounded understanding of the aesthetics sales landscape and how you can align your professional life with your core values and aspirations.
Meet the guest:
Ali is a dynamic medical sales representative with a diverse background spanning IT sales, orthopedic sales, and now specializing in plastic surgery. After beginning her career in the tech industry, Ali discovered a passion for healthcare and the profound impact that innovative medical solutions can have on patients’ lives.
Transitioning into orthopedic sales, Ali honed her skills in building relationships with healthcare professionals and understanding orthopedic procedures. Her dedication to empowering surgeons with the latest advancements led to significant growth in market share and patient outcomes.
Now in plastic surgery, Ali continues to drive success through a commitment to education and support. She is motivated by the transformative power of plastic surgery, believing in the importance of both aesthetic and reconstructive procedures. Ali’s approach emphasizes collaboration and empowerment, ensuring that both surgeons and patients feel confident in their choices.
Connect with her: LinkedIn
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Episode Transcript
00:07 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Hello and welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast. I’m your host, Samuel, founder of a revolutionary medical sales training and mentorship program called the Medical Sales Career Builder, and I’m also host of the Medical Sales Podcast. In this podcast, I interview top medical sales reps and leading medical sales executives across the entire world. It doesn’t matter what medical sales industry from medical device to pharmaceutical, to genetic testing and diagnostic lab you name it you will learn how to either break into the industry, be a top 10% performer within your role or climb the corporate ladder. Welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast and remember, I am a medical sales expert, sharing my own opinion about this amazing industry and how it can change your life. Hello and welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast. I’m your host, Samuel, and today we have with us another special guest, and she goes by the name of Ali Flax. And what does Ali do? Well, today we are talking about breasts, because she’s in aesthetics, reconstructive and cosmetic, and her whole space, her whole division, is dedicated to breasts and everything that happens when it comes to people needing them. So this is an episode you want to listen to because you’re going to learn so much about what it means to be in this type of aesthetics and, more importantly, for those of you that are active reps right now, that are thinking about your next move, you want to hear this because this is a space you might want to consider. And, of course, for those of you that are not in the industry and are deciding what to do, you absolutely want to hear this episode. We go into the bottom, the top, we go all around and we talk about everything that has to do with this space. A jam-packed episode with a lot of information. So, as always, we do our best to bring you innovative guests who are doing things differently in the medical space, and I really do hope you enjoy this interview. So you know, talk to me.
01:56
What is Senior Plastic Surgery Sales? What is Mentor Worldwide? How is it part of Johnson Johnson? Break it down for us.
02:04 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Okay, so Mentor Worldwide is a subsidiary of Johnson Johnson, so I work for Mentor but I’m under the umbrella of Johnson Johnson, so technically I’m employed by Johnson Johnson. However, like Mentor Worldwide is who people know my company as and like, who my president works for and how, who I report to a plastic surgery sales rep. So for mentor, we sell everything to do with the breasts, so I sell breast implants and tissue expanders. The nice thing about Mentor is I work both on the cosmetic side and the reconstructive side. So I work doing breast augmentations, which is selling breast implants to somebody who would go to a cosmetic office for an augmentation. But I also sell tissue expanders and breast implants to the plastic surgeons that work at hospitals dealing with patients for breast reconstruction. So they’ve had, they have or have had, breast cancer or they have the BRCA gene and they’re getting a mastectomy and then they’re going to move forward with having breast reconstruction.
03:17 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Okay, so so let’s so many questions, but first let’s assess your team. So right now, is it, is it your solo sales rep with a territory and you’re doing a thing, or do you have counterparts that are all working you’re working with, or is it no, you just have your territory and you report to your manager and you know, maybe, other territories of your counterparts. How does it work?
03:38 – Ali Flax (Guest)
So I run my own territory. So I currently cover Austin and some surrounding cities around Austin. I do have a team, but we all have our own territories. So we’re quote, unquote the central team, but that’s all different parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado. So we all report into a divisional manager and we have like daily, you know, texts in our group chat and weekly calls, but we all run our own territories.
04:08 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Okay, and is it? Is you know? Is your day consist of cases, cases? I’m in the hospital pretty much all day long and I’m in a case or some center where the surgery is done outside the hospital and you’re in that case, or is it you know? No, half of it I’m in cases and the other half I’m going door to door trying to solicit more business. How’s the setup? What’s the day like?
04:30 – Ali Flax (Guest)
That is the fun part of the job and personally, what I love so much about it is it’s totally up to me how I run my day. So from my standpoint, I personally thrive in the hospital. So from my standpoint, I personally thrive in the hospital. I came from starting my medical sales career in ortho so I was very used to being in cases, being in the hospital day in and day out. So for me that was kind of my comfort zone.
05:01
So when I started this job in plastic surgery, you know, like I said, I cover both private offices, I also cover hospitals, so I can kind of work my day however I want to. The nice thing is a lot of my surgeons work both in the hospital but then they also have their offices where they do private. So for me I’ll spend time with them in the hospital. You know I can do some sales and stuff in there and that’s where I spend time with maybe those surgeons. But then the other surgeons where I’m just selling cosmetically, I do, you know, door to door cold calling, I do lunches, I do emails, you name it. I’m I’m always trying to drum up new business.
05:34 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
All right. So let’s you know, a lot of people are listening to this and saying, yeah, I get that, I live that life. A lot of people are like what is she talking about? How do you door to door in the hospital? What does that mean? So why don’t you share with us just a day in the life, you know? Maybe take us into the case, take us into selling what?
05:56 – Ali Flax (Guest)
is a day in the life of Ali Flax. Okay, so I love to work out. It’s like my sanity. So I wake up every morning, depending on when my case is going to start, and I always go and get my workout in. So it could be a 5.30 class, it could be a 6.30 class, just depends on the day.
06:11
So I wake up somewhere around 4.45 to 5.45 time, go get my workout, come home, get ready and then I usually go straight to whatever hospital I have a case at. I have some morning case, I would say five days a week usually. Um. The difference with our cases as well is, uh, we usually have a breast surgeon that’s beginning the case and I work with the plastic surgeon, so I have a little bit more lead time in the morning. Like to get to my hospitals Um. So then I would head to the hospital.
06:42
I’ve usually, uh, the day before or two days before, made sure that the hospital has what they need for my case. Most of my implants are either on the shelf at the hospital or they get ordered in for the case. So I’m I’m not the type of rep that’s showing up the morning of to make sure it’s there, cause that’s too late, um, so I’m day before or two days before show up um, go into the into the OR. The difference, um, I would say, in this type of sales is I’m not quote unquote necessarily needed Um, they are opening an implant box and putting a breast implant um into the patient.
07:19
So it’s not, you know, my old ortho world where they’re opening trays and asking me you know what’s in there, what’s not? So that was definitely a change for me when I came into this world. But I go in there, I hang out, I help the nurses with grabbing the right size of the implant car. I might help the surgeon with saying like hey, this looks good, or like why don’t you try a size bigger, why don’t you try to size up? And then I just make the OR have fun and make everybody happy and make everybody’s lives easier.
07:48 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Yeah, you’re the conductor, yeah.
07:55 – Ali Flax (Guest)
On the flip side also at the hospital. There are surgeons there that maybe I’m not working with. So any FaceTime I can get with them if I see their name on the board that they might have a case, maybe run into them in the hallway, maybe see them at the scrub sink. It’s kind of just a you never know what you’re going to get in the hospital. I do a really good job of you know making sure I’m friendly with all the nurses, the plastics coordinators at the hospitals, like all of those things are very important in this world, cause in my position a lot of it is relationship based, and then I would leave the hospital or I’d hang out, depending on how many cases they have, either head to another hospital for another case, possibly go to a lunch that I have scheduled with one of my offices.
08:40
I get calls, sometimes daily, about people not have, like FedEx, not showing up with implants, or I mean not super often, but sometimes I get calls that someone needs a different size than what they ordered. So I’ll run to my storage unit, grab that, run it to the hospital and then on lighter days I literally cold call. So I have my business cards. I always in the trunk of my car have like brochures and implant samples and I will run by um offices and knock on the door and say, hey, I’m coming back, just want to check in see if you guys need anything. Um wanted to drop off a sample. Can I schedule a lunch? Or, you know, does Dr So-and-so have any interest in learning about my products? I have to offer so every day can be a little bit different.
09:27
I usually am in hospital cases every day, and then some sort of office interaction.
09:32 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Yeah, so you do sell at the scrub sink.
09:37 – Ali Flax (Guest)
I. So, yes, I do, I do. There are very mixed feelings about it. It has worked for me. I actually got one of my biggest surgeons today. She’s one of my biggest surgeons today, and our first conversations were at the scruff thing. It is a very, very, very light cell you have to look.
10:03 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I don’t ever ask for this, but what does it sound like? Give us, just give us, a snippet of a of a Ali scrub sink, sell to a new provider. What does it look like? What does it sound like?
10:17 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Okay. So when I when I came to Austin, so I moved to Austin, so for me at the beginning the selling was a little bit easier because I normally and this was how I kind of got this doctor I knew she was coming in for her case. She was one that I was told doesn’t really vibe with reps and all that, and it was as quick as hey. Dr Samuel, my name is Ali. I just wanted to let you know I’m the new mentor up here in Austin. I know you’re not currently using mentor, but I just wanted to let you know if you ever need anything. I wanted to pass you my business card. We have this great new implant that just came to market and I’d love to show it to you if you ever have any interest.
10:58 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
You heard it here. You heard it first Ali Flex. That was awesome, okay, okay, thank you for that. So let’s talk about it. You know, I think, gosh, I’ve been seeing people and helping people get positions now for I don’t know, maybe seven, eight years, and we’ve had our official company maybe four years and I got to say aesthetics is like every single year, it’s like at first it was like maybe 10% of people wanted it, then 20%, now it’s like 60, 70% of people that want to be in medical sales want aesthetics, and it’s like, okay, this is really cool. There’s obvious reasons. Well, let’s talk about it from a different perspective. Take us to when you realized, I mean, you chose aesthetics for your reasons. You’re going to tell us in a second. But take us to the moment, to when you were in a procedure or a case and you said, whoa, I’m in aesthetics, I’m doing this, this is happening.
11:56 – Ali Flax (Guest)
I think this sounds so crazy, but I think it was literally day one in my first case I had ever gone to. It was one of those in my first case I had ever gone to. It was one of those. You know, having come from the ortho world, and then you step into this position of something so different. You’re still in, you’re still in the OR, you’re still in cases, Um, but I got a different feel. One of the reasons, I’ll say, is because I’m a woman and I’m working.
12:25
you know, I’m watching women be reconstructed on all day, every day, and I think in our world today we hear so much about breast cancer and like how much you know, breast cancer is on the rise unfortunately that you’re in this case, and I think, on the flip side of hearing how breast cancer is always on the rise, we never hear about what good can be done for these women that are going through such a rough time and struggling. So the first case I ever went into was a breast reconstruction cancer case and I was like, wow, this is amazing. Like the patient just went through this insane, crazy experience and might still, unfortunately, have to go through some more hardship but she’s coming out looking and feeling like herself again and possibly even better.
13:12 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I mean some of these women come out and they’re like I look amazing Right, so that’s a cool thing.
13:17 – Ali Flax (Guest)
I mean, the cosmetic side is obviously so much fun and that’s a totally different side, right, and I get to go to some fun events and plastics events and things like that. But I’s a totally different side, right, and I get to go to some fun events and plastics events and things like that. But I think the breast reconstruction side is the side where I was like Whoa, this is, this is not just like a job.
13:35 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Yeah, yeah, okay. So, and just, I don’t want to spend too much time here, but just give us real quick. Why did you initially choose ortho?
14:06 – Ali Flax (Guest)
I think I had the same kind and it took me out of sports for a little bit and then I had my foot operated on and then I felt better and then I was back in it. So I think when I was looking, I’m like ortho is the competitive sports world and that’s where everyone tells me I should be, and I had a foot surgery. So you know, when I go into this interview I’m going to tell them like, hey, I have your screws in my foot, so this is going to be an easy sell.
14:31 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Um, and it was something as simple as that you know, like you don’t really know, you’re just like you know, okay, now fast forward and just take us there. You’ve been an ortho and now you’re saying I want to do something else. Was it? Did aesthetics come to you and you’re like I’m gonna do that? Or were you, or were you already saying, I want to do something else? And you found aesthetics?
14:54 – Ali Flax (Guest)
I was saying I want to do something else. When I was with in the ortho world I was trauma. So I was, you know, working 24 seven. I was living in Baltimore at the time, so we had Baltimore shock trauma. We got calls around the clock and I was the bottom of the totem pole of my team. So I was working a lot and let me be fair and say I knew that was what I was signing up for and at that time in my life I was ready for that and I wanted, I was willing to do whatever it took to be in medical sales. And I also will say that I really wanted a big name on my resume. So when I was looking to get into medical sales I was like I want the Strikers, I want the Medtronics, the J&J. So I had my sights set on that and I ended up working for Stryker.
15:45
So once you’re in the world and you’re living this life every day and you’re miserable, you’re like, okay, this isn’t as great as everyone said medical sales is going to be. I’m not making a ton of money because I’m at the bottom and I’m working insane hours. I’m like, okay, I got to start looking. I really didn’t have any idea what I wanted to do. I just knew I was going to find a job, that I was not going to be on call and I knew I wanted a position. And I always tell people this now, like start, you know, thinking about these types of things, but I knew I wanted to stay in the OR. I love the OR, I love to be in the hospital. So that was kind of where I started.
16:29
And at the time I was scouring LinkedIn and I got myself connected to a medical sales recruiter and I was like listen, I work for Stryker, I love Stryker as a company. So I didn’t even count out switching divisions, know, switching divisions within Striker. I just kind of said to her like I need out and help me and all that kind of stuff. And aesthetics truly wasn’t on my radar because I never saw it Like I didn’t even know what it was. Yeah, I was kind of interviewing for a lot of jobs like in the capital sales world. So I was kind of all over the place and the aesthetics position came across my screen on linkedin and the second I saw it I’m like plastic surgery sales rep. You know what is that?
17:13
right started doing my research, reached out to a bunch of reps and the rest is history wow, okay, that’s fascinating, you know.
17:26 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I have to ask it what is the salary range for trauma ortho versus the salary range for where?
17:35 – Ali Flax (Guest)
you are now when I started. So I started with Strikers Associate so I think I was definitely making under 100K as an associate. I did get promoted and took a cut of the territory about a year and a half in, but I still had a small cut of the territory. So I was making over 100, probably under 150 at that time. My OTE with plastics was over. If you were hitting at 100%. You were over 200 without, like, your end of the year compensations and all that. Awesome, that’s awesome.
18:23 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Now plastic surgery. Let’s talk about it. So, is most of it driven by cosmetics or is most of it driven by, like like you just pointed out, breast cancer and things like?
18:36 – Ali Flax (Guest)
that Interesting because I think it’s drastically changed within the past couple of years. So I would say the aesthetics world. Well, I’ll say it this way because I guess it depends what you sell in aesthetics, right? If you’re talking injectables and that kind of stuff, you’re going to be solely driven by the cosmetic world and that’s never going anywhere. I don’t think. From a breast implant perspective, I know specifically for our company, we used to be a about 70, 30 or 60, 40 cosmetic and now in the past few years that’s totally shifted and we’re about 70% reconstruction and about 30, 40% reconstruction.
19:16 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Wow, so is this explosion of breast cancer? Is this? Women want to be more proactive in case they might come across breast cancer? What explains such a dramatic shift?
19:28 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Unfortunately it’s the rise and it’s the rise of it happening at a younger age. So like people weren’t even getting, you know, mammograms and all you know really testing their genes and stuff unless it ran in your family until way later on. And we’re seeing now girls you know, my eight around age 30 that are coming, you know, in with breast cancer or they have the BRCA gene getting mastectomy. So I think the rise, along with the rise in awareness of people just getting tested earlier and saying, okay, you know, I want to take care of this before I actually get cancer, Right.
20:05 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Do you get to see the results of the patients or no? I do get to meet them, or anything like that.
20:15 – Ali Flax (Guest)
So I think the cool thing about aesthetics is Instagram is kind of the name of the game for a lot of these plastic surgeons even you know surgeon on the reconstructive side and the cool thing for patients too is that that’s where they kind of go to find a plastic surgeon. Sometimes they want to look at results and be like, what did this person look like when they came out? And you know what’s the reality of what I’m going to face. And so many of these surgeons are so active now on Instagram with full video they might be in the OR with patient consent showing you know different aspects. So we see a lot of outcomes with patient consent of them willing to share you know their outcomes, which is great.
20:58
Meeting the patients, I would say not as often as I’d like, but I as often as offices will have like events for either breast cancer awareness month or a breast, you know, breast cancer awareness month or a breast, you know, breast reconstruction fun little outing for them. Or even again, cosmetic side. Um, patients will come back and I’ll get to meet them at those types of events, but, yeah, less in person, I’d say, and I obviously I see the results on the table but as they go along their journey and months later those results change. So a lot more you know via pictures, which is cool.
21:36 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
What was the most, uh, profound case you were a part of, where you were just like wow, wow.
21:45 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Um, we, there is a procedure um called a deep flap Um, so they actually take essentially um skin and tissue from your stomach and then they put it on your breasts and reconstruct your entire breast. So they literally base, essentially give you a tummy, tuck um and use that to reconstruct your breasts. And a lot of times they will also put an implant like one of mine, a small implant underneath that to really mold and shape the breast Um, but the first time I saw that I was mind blown.
22:25 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
That just sounds more.
22:27 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Yeah, I mean you’re like how is your stomach turning into your breast? And the outcomes are you? I promise you would not be able to know that it was from their stomach. Wow.
22:37 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Okay. So you know, breast implants are they a five-year thing, a 10-year thing? I remember when I was in college this was years ago, right, when I was in college, I’m not going to date myself here, but it was years ago. Folks was years ago. When I was in college there was a girl that, um she was, she was pretty flat-chested, and then, I think sophomore year she just had these big, you know uh, breasts going on, and then junior year she was flat chested again. I never got the story, but I did start to hear that. You know, oftentimes women do this and then they have to. You know it pops or something happens to it, or they have to update. We’re in 2024. So I’m sure it’s different now, but please share with us what that whole environment looks like.
23:25 – Ali Flax (Guest)
This is a loaded question.
23:29 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
But I will say come on, get into it.
23:32 – Ali Flax (Guest)
The first thing I’ll say are breast implants are not a lifetime device, and you’ll see that on any of the company’s boxes and websites and everything. They’re not meant to be a lifetime device. Sure, we as a company have no recommendation on the lifespan of a breast implant. Sure, on the lifespan of a breast implant, sure, it used to be that the FDA recommended that at 10 years you go in and get your breast implants exchanged or swapped for either new ones or have them taken out. That is not something that any of the surgeons I know follow, because it’s just one, it’s just a recommendation. And two, because of how the innovation in breast implants has happened over the past several years, they’ll see breast implants 30 years later that are totally still intact. With that being said, there are, let’s just state.
24:31
The obvious is you’re putting a foreign body, foreign material, into your body, right? So there’s always complications that can arise from that, and there are several complications, like a few complications that all of the breast implant companies all have warranties for, because they’re the most common complications that we see daily with a patient getting breast implants. So I’ll never say it won’t happen. You know, implants can rupture and that usually is like maybe there was a trauma, a car accident or something like that caused the implant to rupture. There’s other, you know, infections happen, something called capsular contracture, where your body recognizes it as foreign and it forms a tough capsule which makes your breasts really hard and it’s painful. Um, so those things 100% happen and we see them all the time. Luckily, our companies have warranties against them to, you know, provide new implants to the patient and do whatever we can to help those situations.
25:35
Um, some people’s bodies just don’t react well to them and people will end up getting them out just because they’ve had possibly other health illnesses that they maybe think or know have stemmed from breast implants. There is no FDA regulation or anything that states that breast implants cause any other illnesses, but there is this thing around the world called breast implant illness, that some people think breast implants have caused other illnesses in their body. This isn’t anything we can definitively say, but you know, if it’s, I always tell people. If you think they’re causing something, I would just get them out. I’m with you, right, like, if you think you’re going to be better off without them, get them out.
26:25 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I hope you’re enjoying today’s episode and I want to let you know our programs cover the entire career of a medical sales professional, from getting into the medical sales industry to training on how to be a top performer in the medical sales professional. From getting into the medical sales industry to training on how to be a top performer in the medical sales industry, to masterfully navigating your career to executive level leadership. These programs are personalized and customized for your specific career and background and trained by over 50 experts, including surgeons. Our results speak for ourselves and we’re landing positions for our candidates in less than 120 days in top medical technology companies like Stryker, medtronic, merck, abbott you name it.
27:03
Would you run an Ironman race without training and a strategy? You wouldn’t. So why are you trying to do the same with the medical sales position? You need training, you need a strategy and you need to visit evolveyoursuccesscom, fill out the application schedule some time with one of our account executives and let’s get you into the position that you’ve always dreamed of. Gotcha, gotcha, okay. So with breast implants now are there still hundreds of different types you can get, or because they’ve kind of found the best type of viscosity with the best type of material. There’s kind of like just one, or if you can’t afford that, you get this one Like how does it work?
27:40 – Ali Flax (Guest)
So there just recently. So there’s been three main companies in the breast implant space for a long time now. There actually was just a fourth that was approved in the US just this year, a few months ago. So there are several different options of breast implants. Even within Mentor, we offer essentially three different implants that have all different sizes and profiles. Sizes and profiles, but based on you know your body and the aesthetic outcome you’re looking for.
28:23 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
That’s how your surgeon usually prompts you to choose this implant versus the other implant.
28:26 – Ali Flax (Guest)
So someone might come in and say I’m looking for like I don’t necessarily want people to know I have breast implants. I want a natural look, but I just want to be fuller because I feel super flat chested or I just feel like I want a little bit more. So we would recommend maybe our regular memory gel baseline implant, which is a very soft, natural feeling implant. Our newest implant to the market is called Memory Gel Boost. It’s more cohesive, meaning it’s a little bit firmer. But that might be someone that’s coming in that’s like, hey, you know I. They bring a picture in of you know a model, pamela Anderson or someone on a cover and they’re like I want to look like I have breast implants, I want upper pole fullness, I want the roundness. And they’re going to say, okay, you know you want a fuller implant, not as natural looking. Let’s point you to memory.
29:18 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Don’t boost Got it so and of course you don’t know this, but you’re in this space so you might have some insight. There’s a lot of bad implants, right? Some women they get it done and it just they’re not happy at all, for whatever reason. Is that usually because of the surgeon and he just he or she does not have the skill set necessary? Is that mostly because of the actual implant that was utilized and maybe it was just a bad match for that body type or something else entirely?
29:51 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Um, I would say not the implant, um, because I think that and I’m speaking, you know, not just from my company, I think any of the implants. Obviously I’m going to preach that my implants are the best, but I would speak and say that any implant you’re going to use is safe and perfectly suitable, for there are better implants for body types and outcomes, but you can make do with you know what, whatever implant you know is on the market. Unfortunately, like just in the world we’re in and I wouldn’t say the same thing when I was in ortho there are some surgeons who aren’t as skillfully crafted and plastic surgery is a very you know, it’s an aesthetic job, Right. So, like even in the reconstruction world, it’s almost harder in reconstruction, Right, Because you’re working with breasts that might be look totally different because one had a mastectomy and the other didn’t.
30:52
Or, you know, this one had more breast tissue taken out, this one didn’t. So it’s a very aesthetic job. So I, unfortunately, like in this world I was speaking to somebody the other day like where you were trained and all of that matters and it’s so I would say there are things that arise, like in a patient’s body and maybe, you know, skin died, you had skin necrosis or something and it affected you know the whole outcome of your aesthetic appearance. So I wouldn’t blame everything on a surgeon, but I would say that usually it’s more of the surgeon either not hearing the outcome the patient wanted or they just didn’t do the best job.
31:35 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Got it Now, something I’ve always been curious about and I just don’t know you know you’re a younger woman whether it’s reconstructive or whether it’s something that you want to do because you wanted the cosmetic aesthetic. Look, 50 years have gone by. Now You’re in your 70s. What’s going on? Is it just hanging out as good as ever Like you said, 30 years, some of these implants last, so all is well. Or is the skin a little bit more stretched out because it’s not your body and it’s a foreign object that’s pulling down? I mean, talk to us a little bit about the reality of long-term breast implants.
32:12 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Exactly what you said. So I always tell people this when people will call and consult me about like even my friends about getting breast implants is your body is constantly changing as we get older, right, and we can do as much as we want to try and slow the you know the change Right Like work out, drink your protein and do all those things as much as you can.
32:36
But your body is changing as you get older and one of those things is skin sagging and skin laxity and all of that. So as you get older, your breast skin is going to do the same exact thing. So implants that you had when you were 25 years old, that maybe sat up high as you get older, those are. They’re just going to move with your body. So a lot of times we’ll see patients come in and get like a lift and sometimes they’ll just swap their implants because they’re in there and they’ve been in for a while. Sometimes you can use the same ones if you don’t want to pay for other implants. But your the implants are not going to stop your body from doing natural aging and the implants just move with your breast. Whichever way your breast moves, your breast capsule If it’s sagging, the implants are sagging with it.
33:31 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So because you’re 70, 80, or maybe even older and you have implants, there’s no added complication because you’re aged now. In these implants it’s pretty much operating as if it was your own body.
33:42 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Yeah, there’s, there’s no, unless you’re. You know, and usually when we see like complications with breast implants, we’re usually seeing those complications within the first 10 years of them getting implants. So when you have them in for a long time, some sometimes we see plenty of patients that the implants have been ruptured. But because the gel in this day and age is so cohesive, meaning it stays together, it’s kind of like you can cut one open and squeeze it and then it just goes right back to its breast implant formation. They don’t even know their implants are ruptured because they’ve had them so long it’s not like the jazz flowing all over your body.
34:25 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Yeah, I get it. I get it, I get it. Okay, no, that’s actually pretty interesting. So let’s talk about that, though for a second. So you’re saying that ruptured you. You kind of alluded earlier to the common things that happen. Let’s revisit it. Give us the top two things that happen and if it’s ruptures, what is actually happening, especially if they don’t even know what’s happening?
34:49 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Um, so number one complication with breast implant surgery is what I mentioned before, which is called capsular contracture, and that is essentially so. In your breast you have a breast capsule and that is where the surgeon is putting the implant in your breast capsule. That can be over your pec muscle, under your pec muscle. There’s a million different things we could go into, but for the sake of it, we’ll keep it high level. Um, essentially, the your body recognizes that it’s a foreign material and it, the capsule, tightens down really hard around this breast implant. Um, we notice it because it gets super hard, so your breast really tightens up. It’s painful for them. It basically feels like somebody’s squeezing and a lot of times we’ll see redness with that too.
35:43 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
What’s the solution with that?
35:46 – Ali Flax (Guest)
So they will go in and they will actually remove the entire capsule, called a capsulectomy. So they’ll go in and they will use a bovie. They’ll go through the incision the same incision they use to put your breast implant in. They will go in, they’ll take out the implant and the entire capsule. Sometimes the capsule is so tight around the implant that it essentially the capsule comes out with the implant, or sometimes they’ll take the implant out and then they’ll go back in and take the capsule out.
36:18
And they put a new and then they’ll put a new implant back in.
36:24 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
And I know I keep cutting you off, but I just trying to how. How do they know it won’t happen again?
36:31 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Well, I was going to say so. Usually you’re at an increased risk for it happening again if you’ve already had it. Um, but it might not happen again. I mean, I would say it doesn’t stop people from getting the implant again. Um, and it is kind of crazy because there is. If you ask one surgeon when do you most likely see capsular contracture, he or she may say within the first two years, whereas another surgeon knock on the next person’s door and he or she may say, oh, I only see it in years eight to 10. So it’s this weird phenomenon, and it really is 50% of surgeons usually see it from zero to two years and the other 50 see it from eight to 10. So I mean, again, it’s like one of those things that we just really can’t predict and we don’t know how your body’s going to react to it. So we hope that when you take the capsule out, you put a new implant in that your body’s not going to recognize it the same way it did before.
37:31 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So if it happens the first time and it happens the second time, do you bank on maybe it happening every two to three years or not? It doesn’t quite look like that.
37:40 – Ali Flax (Guest)
No, I also think there’s different ways to take care of, like, the patient and the inside of their you know breast capsule. So you know, some surgeons may do, you know, do a full capsulotomy and take the whole capsule out. Some may just do some capsule work to try and like, essentially like trick the body into thinking. So there’s different ways to handle it. Um, I think that it’s kind of just patient dependent. I think that if you have capsular contracture it’s not guaranteed you’re going to get it again. I would still get the implant again. It’s just one of those things that you are at an increased risk to get it again if you’ve already had it.
38:25 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Got it, got it. So when it comes to breast implants and reconstruction, you know what’s typically driving Okay, when a patient gets it done and and now they, they, I don’t know, maybe they want to change their look, maybe they’re getting they gained some weight, something’s happened. Is it as easy as doctor, I’m changing, so change, make these look better. Or do they have to, kind of like, study it up and say, okay, doctor, this isn’t, this is a picture, this is what I want? I mean, how does it normally, how do they normally get to a conclusion and know which direction to go?
39:07 – Ali Flax (Guest)
So for like many, many years, it was always um, and a lot of surgeons still do this. But they say bring in a picture of what you want to look like, Bring in as many pictures of what you want your boobs to look like when you come out, and we’re going to try, and you know, match it as best as we can. The issues with that are that a lot of times they’re bringing in pictures of somebody that looks nothing like them, Nothing like them and.
39:34
I don’t mean like face appearance, I mean like body, you mean like nothing.
39:37 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Yeah, like you know, you’re Right no, I get it Like for me.
39:41 – Ali Flax (Guest)
I would bring in a six foot model.
39:42 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I’m fine with two Right, right, right, so like our bodies, just we’re not vibing the same way.
39:46 – Ali Flax (Guest)
So that’s been the issue. A cool thing that actually my company this past year was we developed an app on the app store. It’s a free app and you can go in and you take pictures of yourself naked. None of this goes into the cloud, by the way I feel like I’m doing a quick sell here but you take pictures of yourself and then you can actually play around with implants and what it would look like on your body and then take pictures of those and when you take it in to see your surgeon, you’re actually getting an idea of what is possible on your body and then take pictures of those and when you take it in to see your surgeon, you’re actually getting an idea of what is possible on your body.
40:21
So for someone like me I’m five to you can’t tell on camera, but like I’m pretty small, I could not. My body would not handle 800 CC inputs. It just wouldn’t fit. They wouldn’t even be able to get it in, to my mind. So if I show up with a picture of girls with humongous breasts they’re going to say this isn’t possible.
40:43
So the nice thing about this app is the app would never allow me to put 800s in because it uses some of your dimensions. So I think nowadays and we’ll continue with more innovation but getting to a point where you’re trying to get an idea of what these are going to look like on you, versus just bringing in a random picture. But I will say how I spoke about before with the different types of implants. It is nice if a patient brings in a picture and they say, okay, you know, this model you brought in has, like, super a lot of upper pole fullness, super high breast, I could tell you want more of an augmented look. Or if she brings in a picture where, like, they just look a little bit more natural and they’d say, okay, I see you’re looking to go for something you know, with just a little more volume and maybe not um, as augmented of a look.
41:37
So, yeah, I think the issue with aesthetics these days is, um, it’s really hard and this is for anybody it’s really hard to visualize like the reality of what you’re going to come out looking like and there’s not a whole ton we can do to show you that you know, this new app, mentor create, is great but at the end of the day, like we want to make sure and there’s a disclaimer when you do the app that, like you’re not going to, you may not look fully like this right, and, just as you said, it’s also up to the surgeon you choose and how they the job they do and how your body reacts, and there’s so many factors. It’s like people get upset sometimes, um, but you know, it’s that’s kind of the game we play.
42:23 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Sure, In the vein of cosmetic cause you know reconstruction is, is a lot of people. I’m sure it’s not even a choice Well, it’s always a choice, but it’s something they just feel neat. They need to have to feel cold again, and that, which I completely understand, it’s something they just feel they need to have to feel cold again, which I completely understand.
42:43 – Ali Flax (Guest)
So, in the vein of cosmetics, is there a type of person that has no business getting plastic surgery for their breasts Of?
42:46 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
course oh please share.
42:47 – Ali Flax (Guest)
I mean well. Well, ok, I will say, I mean people can do.
42:52
You can do whatever you want, Of course of course, mean people can do you can do whatever you want, of course, but I mean, from what you’ve seen, um, but there are definitely people we’ve seen that have had way too much that you’re like you’re not. You don’t even look like yourself anymore, right, like you look like a totally different person. That you’re like okay, you know, but there is what I hear, like people get addicted to the plastic surgery knife or you know the injections and all, and they’re just constantly in there and it’s what they spend their money on. I guess Enjoyment.
43:22 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Okay, but psychologically there’s no rules around a surgeon saying well, because you might have this going on, there’s no way I’m going to work on you. Anybody gets whatever they want, if they can afford it.
43:33 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Right, okay, I mean a surgeon obviously could choose not to work with you and say I don’t want to do surgery on you, but there’s no like classified. You can’t operate on a person that has this or this.
43:48 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Okay. So now let’s get to something that everybody has heard the BBL, right. So I don’t even know what I’m talking about, but I’ve heard it though. So you know I thought breast implants, you get breast implants and that’s what you’re doing, but now I hear that no women that are getting breast implants are getting all kinds of things readjusted and fixed up, I guess, to make the breast implants look even better. What’s the reality? What’s actually happening?
44:13 – Ali Flax (Guest)
What’s the reality, what’s actually happening, the further into like, the aesthetic world you want to go. I mean, there are procedures for just about everything you could think of. I only sell breast implants, right? So I’m in this world of I just sell breast implants. There are BBLs, which is a Brazilian butt lift. There are, and that’s essentially taking fat from your body, usually your stomach, but they also can take from your thighs, your flanks, all around, and they’ll inject that fat into your butt to make your butt look bigger.
44:51
Um, there are brachioplasties, which is, you know, removing fat for cutting out fat from your arms. Tummy tucks, um, full 360 lipo, which means you’re getting lipo essentially around your entire body. Um, a big procedure is the mommy makeover. So, after somebody’s had kids and they, um, you know, want to make their body back to what it used to be before they had kids, they’ll get tummy tuck. Know, want to make their body back to what it used to be before they had kids, they’ll get tummy tuck, breast doll, like the lipo full around their body. So they’ll do all the things. Um, obviously, there’s a million things you can do on your face. Um, so the aesthetics world has just about everything and, honestly, it’s only increasing.
45:33
There’s tons of lasers and different you know, non-operative things you can do, and yeah, it’s a crazy world now.
45:45 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I mean, I can only imagine. I got to ask you, though, on a personal note did you have any notions of what it means to get or not get surgery? That have changed now that you’ve been in this position.
46:02 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Yes For me. I thought at one point, like maybe I would want to get breast implants because I’m small chested. Point like maybe I would want to get breast implants because I’m small chested. But I think at this point in where I’m at, I’m like I because of complications and things, and you just don’t know how your body’s going to react I think for me I’m more, I lean more now towards I’ll just stay as is and not get it, because I don’t want to go through any of these complications.
46:39 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Yeah, you know, I remember when and I I mean this is probably the most notable breast cancer situation besides my own, my own family my mom had breast cancer. She got a like a partial mastectomy, I think, and and she’s fine now full remission. But you know I remember that happened.
46:57
But outside of my own family, connie and Wes’ mom got breast cancer and everybody I think a lot of people know that she succumbed to, I guess, anesthesia. Something went wrong and it made me wonder, you know, is that something that’s a concern normally, or is that just an incredibly rare thing that really just doesn’t happen, or you know? What would you say about that?
47:21 – Ali Flax (Guest)
So I think in the aesthetics world I don’t think people are as concerned with those types of things like anesthesia and um. You know, if you’re, if you’re getting a breast augmentation, you’re usually healthy, like you have to be cleared from a health standpoint to have that done. So I think you’re you might just be nervous about getting anesthesia. I don’t think as much of a concern.
47:51
I think in the breast cancer space, everything and every and this is what I hear from breast cancer current patients, survivors, pre-vivors is everything every day is frightening for them and everything they do within the world of all of the appointments, meetings, surgeries, within the world of all of the appointments, meetings, surgeries because a lot of times there’s multiple surgeries and all that stuff. All of it is very scary and it’s really. I know a lot of my surgeons take so, so so much time to like really make sure they understand these patients, understand all the steps they’re about to go through and try and make them feel as safe as possible. But in the reality of things and what I hear is there’s so much going on and you know you might be having chemo and radiation and all of that on top of surgery and wondering if you’re going to live and all that stuff that like all of it is very scary for them.
48:52
So, yeah, I think in the breast cancer world that’s probably a concern and, like when they’re going into surgery, like, are you going to get all the cancer out? Are you? Am I going to come out of here and you’re going to give me worse news, like you know? So, yes, I think anesthesia concerns them among everything else.
49:12 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
We’re in medical sales and AI has made quite the name for itself in every avenue, especially medical sales. How is it impacting your space?
49:26 – Ali Flax (Guest)
I would say I don’t know that I see a huge impact of AI.
49:32
Yet I think it will, because, because I think of, like, all of the Instagram world that the aesthetics has right now and all of the apps that are like starting.
49:45
You know, mentor just created this app and all that they’re starting now to be created to help patients and it’s to help patients, you know, better visualize their outcomes. But it’s also to help patients, you know, better visualize their outcomes. But it’s also to help, you know, these plastic surgery offices close business. Right, because a lot of times a patient is walking into an office and they’re on the fence about having surgery and they’re just coming in to have a consult and like, see what their options are and see cost and all that. So we also, as much as we’re trying to market to patients like, hey, this is the implant you want, we also as much as we’re trying to market to patients like, hey, this is the implant you want. We also are very much marketing to offices and surgeons but like, how can we help you close more business? Because the rate of them closing business actually is pretty low for the amount. You know, patients will see multiple surgeons and you know all of those.
50:32
So it’s like how, how do we? So? I think AI will play a part um in that. I don’t know that. I see a ton of it yet, but I think it’s coming okay, uh, we’re gonna.
50:42 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
We’re gonna come to a close, but I have a few more questions. So is there a black market for this? Like I mean, there has to be right, there has to be like a whole or or or. Is that just in the movies and books?
50:52 – Ali Flax (Guest)
uh, there’s definitely a black market. I’ve never been on it or seen it, but I have seen some crazy situations where you get a patient on the table and they had surgery in another country and they are coming in with some wild. One of saw one of the craziest cases. I saw a patient had surgery in another in another country and they actually injected cement like from home. Seriously, I’m not. I do not believe you into her breasts and they were like this will make your breasts fuller and it’ll be fun what was the result of that, I guess?
51:36 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I guess I’m stuck on the moment. She got it done and it’s done, and it’s here we, here we go. You know, it’s like, oh my god, what just happened, or did it take some time for it to look crazy later on? I mean, how, how was that even okay? How is that even a thing?
51:51 – Ali Flax (Guest)
I. The scary part is, what I always say are like patients don’t know what, they don’t know Right, so like if you’ve done no research into this world and you’re going somewhere and they’re like we’re going to make your boobs look so much better and it’s so cheap, and come here, we got you, we do this all the time and they don’t know, they go in, they have this procedure done. I’d have to imagine it was awful from the start. I’m not sure, cause obviously I didn’t speak to her and I just, you know, saw this patient on the table, um, when we were trying to fix her and honestly save her life because it’s toxic, um. But yeah, I, those type of procedure. People have procedures all over the world sometimes that they think they’re getting a better, better deal because it’s cheaper, but it ends up being a nightmare for them.
52:48 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Wow, this patient. I’m sure she was okay in the end.
52:52 – Ali Flax (Guest)
She was yeah. Okay, spent a lot of time in that, or just uh bobeying out cement.
53:00 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
That is wild, wow, um. Last thing I want to address, Ali, is you know, you said it earlier, you went from ortho trauma to aesthetics. I actually believe that trauma, if you want to, if you’re not sure what you want to do and you just want to do medical sales, and you’re you’re down to do trauma, but you gotta be a special person like Ali here to be down to do that. Um, it’s a great entry level because once you’ve done trauma, I would like to believe that you can probably get into anything. What would you say about that?
53:30 – Ali Flax (Guest)
I would totally agree with you. Um, and I tell people that all the time Um, I don’t regret my time in ortho at all. Um, I also don’t think I would have gotten this position um right away, you know, after having been an ortho for three years and then moving into, like a senior plastic surgery rep position, um position, without that experience. But I remember when I went into my interview, I remember telling my manager at the time I was like, I promise you that no one will work harder than me. I’m like, and I think that the trauma medical sales world gave me that I always had a great work ethic, but really gave me that Because I’m like no one’s going to.
54:20
when you go through that type of stress and hard work day in and day out, I mean there is, you grind, and if you’re not, you’re fired. So there’s literally no other option for you. Right? And in some of the other industries and jobs that people take like you can kind of slide by. You know, maybe you’re not working as hard and you can you know that’s not right.
54:49
So when I got to this job, I’m like you’re not going to hire anyone that’s going to work harder than me. I mean, maybe they might have more background, knowledge and aesthetics, because I don’t know anything about it, or maybe they’ve been in sales for much longer than I have. They won’t work harder, though.
55:05 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I love it. I love it. Listen to that. I hope everyone’s taking notes. Okay, last question, Ali, not last question, but as we wrap this up, you Last question, Ali, not last question, but as we wrap this up, you know I’m putting you on the spot here. Give us that thing about your space.
55:29 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Breast reconstructive surgery and cosmetic that the public would be surprised to hear and probably just doesn’t know. Ooh, the probably doesn’t know. Um, I think that just in general, the aesthetics world, everyone thinks it’s like super glamorous and it’s like it seems so much fun. You sell breast implants. Like when I tell people that if I’m like out at a bar or something, they’re like oh my God, that’s so cool, it’s so funny, like you know, do you have them? Or you know whatever they’re saying. And when I look at my job day to day, I’m rarely looking at the fact that I sell cosmetically, even though I do, and I’m like you guys have no idea what I see on a day to day, no idea what I see on a day to day, and it’s bloody and it’s traumatic and it’s right, like there are.
56:26 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Um, there’s a lot more that goes into the aesthetics world than what people think from the outside. Sure Well said, Ali. Ali, this was fantastic. I spent time with you today. We have one last thing to do. It’s called the lightning round. Are you ready?
56:37 – Ali Flax (Guest)
I guess so.
56:38 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
All right, I’m going to ask you four questions. You have less than 10 seconds to answer. First question is what is the best book you’ve read in the last six months?
57:02 – Ali Flax (Guest)
well, I’m reading um the fourth wing books right now. They’re like a weird fantasy thing, but I do always go back to um the extreme ownership book and I always recommend that book and I read it like every so often because it just gets me fired up. Um, and I lived in Virginia beach previously when I knew a bunch of seals, so anybody has not read extreme ownership. I read it like twice a year, every year.
57:25 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
You listen to that. That’s a fantastic book, okay. Second question what is the best TV show or movie you’ve seen in the last six months?
57:35 – Ali Flax (Guest)
TV show. Well, I’m a huge Ravens fan so I watch a lot of football, but that doesn’t count as a TV show. I just started Yellowstone. I know I’m way behind the I’m way behind the popularity thing on that, but I just started, yellowstone, so. I’m in season one.
57:52 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
All right, more power to you. And then, uh, we want the item, the location and the name of the restaurant. What’s the best meal you’ve had in the last six months?
58:05 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Ooh, um best meal. Um okay, there’s a Italian restaurant in Austin, downtown Austin, called Red Ash, very, very hard to get into, but literally every single item on their menu, like any of their pastas, are fantastic.
58:28 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Amazing. Okay, I love. It All right and last but not least, what is the best experience you’ve had in the last six months?
58:37 – Ali Flax (Guest)
I recently bought a house.
58:39 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Woo, congratulations.
58:41 – Ali Flax (Guest)
So it’s been a fun decorating I can’t imagine.
58:44 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Heck, yeah, congratulations. More power to you. Thank you so much for being with us on the Medical Sales Podcast. I’d like to believe that after people hear this episode, a couple people are going to be starting to think about getting into aesthetics. Maybe even some trauma reps are going to be thinking about getting into aesthetics. But, Ali, it was truly a pleasure. Thank you so much, and it was great to have you on the show.
59:02 – Ali Flax (Guest)
Thank you so much.
59:04 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
And that was Ali Flax. You know what I love about doing these episodes is you learn so many things, new things about what you would think is pretty common. Breast implants have been around for a while now, but I didn’t know that all these types of things are going on when it comes to them, and I certainly didn’t know that reconstructive surgery has become much more common than cosmetic just stuff. You learn every day. So you might be listening to this and thinking to yourself whoa, I wanna know more about this space. Or you’re thinking I’m trying to get into medical sales, I want to be in that space. Okay, well, listen, the first thing I want you to do is subscribe.
59:42
If you’re not a subscriber of our podcast, you have to subscribe. When you subscribe, you get to find out about what’s coming, you get to be dialed in and, of course, you get all the education you could ask for when it comes to what happens in medical sales. As always, we do our best to bring you guests that are doing things differently in the medical sales space. So make sure you tune in next week for another episode of the Medical Sales Podcast. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and remember I have a customized and personalized program that gets you into the medical technology industry as a sales professional or any type of role for that matter. Become a top performer in your position and masterfully navigate your career to executive level leadership. Check out these programs and learn more at EvolvesAssesscom by visiting our site, filling out an application schedule, some time with one of our account executives and allowing us to get you where you need to be. Stay tuned for more awesome content with amazing interviews on the Medical Sales Podcast.