One of social media’s most prolific medical content creators says a colleague once called to advise him to “stop talking about” breast implant illness, “because some people are getting pissed.”
“I know you, I know you’re a good guy, but there are people who are talking and they are not happy with you,” Dr. Anthony Youn recounted on an episode of the podcast Confessions of a Male Gynecologist, that aired Thursday, November 9.
Referencing the “tens of thousands of women” with “stories about how their implants were making them sick,” Dr. Anthony Youn says he was one of the first plastic surgeons to “be out there and say, ‘You know what? Maybe this is real, we need to consider this.’”
He wasn’t prepared for the reaction from some of his own colleagues.
“The dogma in plastic surgery is that breast implants are safe,” Dr. Youn told podcast host Dr. Shawn Tassone on Thursday.
The reactionary incident was an “eye opener” for Youn, he said, as he was brought up to “believe [that] in medicine, we do this all for the patients.”
The surgeon, who is followed by more than 14 million people on social media, also spoke of the dynamics around popularity, fame, and jealousy in the industry.
“I think the vast majority, 98 percent, are doing everything the right way and they’re earnestly trying to just help their patients,” Dr. Anthony Youn said.
“But there’s that small group of people, where it comes down to money and fame.
“And that’s all they care about.”
Here is that conversion: