What compelled you to pursue a career in aesthetic medicine, and what have you learned since you first began practice?

Dr. Kazin’s mother was an artist and her father an accountant, and as she tells her patients: “Together you get a Cosmetic Dermatologist.” As a child, Dr. Kazin spent hours watching her mother bring characters to life at her drawing table. “I gained a true appreciation for art and its symmetry and design,” she notes. “This was combined with my inherent love of the concreteness of math, proportion, and shape.” When meeting a patient, she says, “I am often fascinated by how much of my exam is based on the principles of symmetry, proportion, and shape, but am challenged by the fact that there is a large element of art and skill, as well.” Explaining her philosophy, she explains that the tools cosmetic dermatologists use (i.e. lasers, injectables, etc.) are like paintbrushes: “It is the skill and eye of the painter in using these brushes that gives you your desired outcome.”

Of all the innovations in this arena over the past decade, what has been most impactful for you and your patients?

“I love the immediacy of fillers. There is nothing in my mind that can transform a patient as quickly and effectively as skillfully placed filler,” says Dr. Kazin. “Simply by re-proportioning the rectangular aging face to the inverted triangle of a youthful face can give an immediate rejuvenating lift to the face. I never tire of the ‘wow’ I get when patients look at themselves in the mirror after treatment.”

What has been the most rewarding aspect of being an aesthetic physician?

“All through medical school, my plan was to save lives by becoming a cardiologist,” Dr. Kazin explains. But as time went on, she realized that her plan might not be conducive to the well-rounded life she started to envision for herself. “What I’ve learned over the past 10 years of practice is that, whether we like to admit it or not, our outward appearance is extremely important. It can even be more important to a patient than any internal condition they may have. It is how everyone sees us and consequently how we see ourselves,” she explains. Dr. Kazin has received honest, heartwarming notes from patients that reinforce the satisfaction she feels in her career. “An attorney who can now litigate in court because he no longer drools, a teenage girl who can now go to school with confidence because she no is longer teased about her body odor, a woman who now feels confident to face her ex-husband in divorce court—I am not treating their hypertension or preventing a stroke, but to these patients I am making a huge impact on their self-esteem, which directly affects their daily lives,” she says. “This is indeed why I went to medical school.” n

Dr. Kazin In-Focus

Rebecca Kazin, MD is a board certified dermatologist practicing at the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery and is also on faculty at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Additionally, Dr. Kazin is co-host of Modern Aesthetics Journal Club, available at www.modernaesthetics.tv.

More from Dr. Kazin:

“Non-invasive “Mega” Laser Combinations: How to Achieve Maximum Results” Practical Dermatology®, July 2015.

Modern Aesthetics® Journal Club: http://modernaesthetics.com/series/modern-aesthetics-journal-club/video.asp?f=iwurugof