Dr. Kay Durairaj 0:14
Well, hello, hello, guys. You're listening to beauty bites with Dr K secrets of a plastic surgeon, and today's podcast is going to be amazing. We are going to interview Dr Felix Bertram. He's a Swiss board certified dermatologist, serial entrepreneur and speaker. He founded skin med. It's one of Switzerland Switzerland's fastest growing and largest esthetic clinics, and he has five locations, 140 employees. He does 1000s of procedures there. He also has a skincare line. He runs the inner circle, a transformative event for esthetic professionals. And he's an investor on Switzerland's kind of Shark Tank, which we'll talk about. And he also has a restaurant that's earned two Michelin stars, I'm coming to try that for sure. He has such an amazing, interesting life story. He survived a near fatal motorcycle accident. Was in a coma. He lost a leg. He's been channeling all this into resilience, and really, it infuses everything he does. I think that that's what makes him so interesting and exciting. Is very relatable, and he's on the cutting edge of what we're doing in esthetics. Welcome to the podcast, Felix.

Felix Bertram 1:30
Thank you for the lovely introduction, and thanks for having me on the show.

Dr. Kay Durairaj 1:33
Of course. Well, I want to dive right in. I did not know until I read your bio that you were in a near fatal motorcycle accident. How many years ago is that? And how did you overcome so much health problems and being, for gosh sakes, yeah,

Felix Bertram 1:51
it's, it's 30 years ago and I was 19. Yeah, of course, it was stress, and I was devastated, and I was in Como, and all these things happened. But I have the ability, and I consider myself as lucky, because I started reframing things. So I started reframing this. And okay, I lost a leg, but I could have been dead. I could have been the wheelchair, wheelchair. I could have lost an arm, which would be more critical, at least for me, in what I wanted to do in life, and also thinking, you know, I'm the accident happened in Germany. I got two perfect, technical, artificial legs. I was in Africa shortly later, and saw all these people without legs crawling on the street or doing stuff like this. So yeah, I consider myself as a lucky person, and since then, I always whenever something happens in life, I try to reframe it.

Dr. Kay Durairaj 2:52
That's a wonderful mindset, because you must have resilience, otherwise, how will you survive? Do you think that that journey helped inspire you to go into healthcare and then later into esthetics.

Felix Bertram 3:05
Yes, I don't know if you know that, but I wanted to be an actor before, and I was a young actor, and I was part of some movies and TV series. I also did a movie with Christoph Waltz, the two time or three time Academy Award winner. He's from Austria, as you know. However, after the accident, there was one young doctor within the clinic who was super inspiring the way he treated people and the way he had compassion, empathy, and he was my role model, and he was the reason I started diving into healthcare, and the reason I ended up in dermatology and esthetics is I started in trauma surgery but with my artificial leg and having these metal Wests and all these X rays and day long surgeries, wasn't a fit. Then I moved on to plastic surgery, and within that hospital, the main doctor said there's a dermatological department that needs someone who can do surgery and do all the molds and basal cell carcinomas and whatever is was happening there. And so I, I went into dermatology, and I never regretted it. And started early on with esthetics and Botox and pillars.

Dr. Kay Durairaj 4:14
I love it. And then now you have launched a huge chain of clinics in Switzerland. How did you come up with a name?

Felix Bertram 4:23
You know, I started small, right? I had a single practice, and I always had this vision of having something special for patients, having great service, great quality, having a proper branding. And I didn't want it, I think it was by accident, but I didn't want it to bond that too much to my person, and call it the DR Felix Bertram clinic. First of all, because I don't have an ego. Also, I wanted other doctors to be part of it, and they all should have the same stage and the same reputation, the same light and. And last but not least, I mean, one day, we might all want to sell our clinics, and if it's too much related to you personally, that might be a problem. So I think it was lucky skim. It is a great name. It's very well known in Switzerland now. And like, yeah, 30 doctors feel comfortable being part of the brand and not being second grade after the Super Dr Felix Bertram, many doctors do these kind of things and don't realize that they hamper their own growth as a business,

Dr. Kay Durairaj 5:31
yeah, like me being by Dr K

Felix Bertram 5:36
Oh, sorry if you are such a superstar like you are, then you

Dr. Kay Durairaj 5:43
thought about that, like, I want to clone myself so that I can be out of the clinic. But everybody wants me because, yeah, branded after me. And so it's definitely important question, as you build your

Felix Bertram 5:54
I'm not doing anything. I'm not, I'm not. I'm neither a doctor anymore or doing injections, and I'm also not in the in the operations anymore, so it's

Dr. Kay Durairaj 6:03
so now you're fully and the entrepreneurial tract,

Felix Bertram 6:08
yeah, but I'm only in the board of my company, so we have a C level, and I have many investments and travel a lot, and live a free life, Which is amazing.

Dr. Kay Durairaj 6:19
That is amazing

Felix Bertram 6:21
any agenda or schedule.

Dr. Kay Durairaj 6:25
What does success look like for you now compared to previously 10 years? Oh, that's

Felix Bertram 6:30
a very good question. You know, I was hunting all the shit. We all hunt money, fame, cars and all the things. Well, I achieved all that, of course. But now success is having being free, being independent, and I mean it clearly like that. I don't I say a lot of no's. I don't take on many appointments in my schedule. I also don't take on appointments in three month time or whatever. So I'm very flexible. When I want to go for kite surfing next week I can do, and my day now looks like the morning is for health, so I cycle in the morning, go to the gym, followed by Sauna, then my I start my day with a nice, healthy, tasty lunch, and then I have four hours of productive work, and I can tell you, I'm achieving more in these four hours than I ever have done before, when I was working 12 hours. I'm very sharp, very focused, doing my things within the four hours. And then late afternoon, I start nurturing my relationships and meet friends and hang out with them like like my three life circles, health, relationships and personal development. I'll utilize them throughout the day.

Dr. Kay Durairaj 7:43
That's a good balance. Now, having kind of that large overview of been a being deep in esthetics, deep in surgery, and now the big picture, what do you see as big growth trends and areas in esthetics in the next five years?

Felix Bertram 7:59
Yeah, I think I only can talk for Europe, of course, but Philip companies are struggling over here because people are fed up with all these overfilled faces. And what I do see is a huge shift towards longevity, whatever longevity is, because people start realizing it doesn't you know if, if you want to live longer or want to live longer healthy, it's not about just skin, right? You have to have a holistic approach. And if you do sports and eat well and sleep well and have some kind of a stress resilience, your skin will benefit from that a lot 50, I would say my skin quality comes, comes from this kind of lifestyle. I'm not doing anything,

Dr. Kay Durairaj 8:50
yeah, I think it just definitely reflects your internal health. Your outer skin is a reflection of what you're doing internally, definitely mentally, of course, emotionally, all of that matters. It's interesting. You said the filler companies are struggling. Because sometimes we'll go to listen to people who are forecasting and they think that filler companies are doing great, and like, I'm like, That is not what we see here. Also, there's a huge trend towards collagen stimulators, polynucleotides. Are you doing any of the next level, new cellular techniques that are kind of Yeah,

Felix Bertram 9:29
I'm out of the business since two years. I'm not working as a doctor or injector anymore, so I can't give a deep dive on that, but we definitely do that wire. I think our best performing product is prophylaid. And do you know we're starting off with peptides and polynucleotides and exosomes? Yeah, I know I know this. I mean, the filler companies are public companies, and I need to be positive. Probably. They still are, because they're growing in Asia and Pacific wherever. But in Europe and US, there's some kind of a saturation, definitely. I mean, if you talk to them in in how do you name that one to one? They they tell you that the numbers are dropping, yeah. And we see that as they come with great offers and say no price strategies, it's a big change. However, I think fillers are still great, but again, we've seen many unqualified people operating within our industry, and these are the faces you see out there, right? You don't see the proper work because they just look great. And they say, I drink water or do yoga, not telling the people it's our work, what you see is the bad work and the bad results. And this is reflecting on us, right? That's a problem. That's

Dr. Kay Durairaj 10:52
very true. You did a TED talk in 2023 it was called the ugly face of beauty, and you really explored, kind of the evolving relationship between beauty and identity and society, and what societal norms are being pushed on women to achieve beauty and men as well. Like, can you speak to a little bit about your thoughts on that?

Felix Bertram 11:15
Yeah, the thought was about the impact of social media on beauty, because I think it changed a little bit. It's more authentic nowadays, but back then, everyone was using filters, and they predicted, not realistic reality, right? And young when we saw that in our clinics, young women especially, came in and wanted to look like their avatar, or like their filter, or a friend's filter, and for whatever reason I met some of these people, I said, what is that? The is that the same personal like I've seen on Instagram on a phone, so that's a big problem, or has been a big problem, and that was my talk about, that we shouldn't go down this rabbit hole further, because it's the wrong track.

Dr. Kay Durairaj 12:10
Yeah, do you feel that more men are going to come into esthetics? Because I do think that men are interested.

Felix Bertram 12:18
We have, we have, like, 10, 50% men. But the new topic, longevity is heavily covered by men. So we see a lot of men coming in for lab can you take can you take blood, draw blood and watch some lab results? People ask me for advice or consultation about longevity, and that's mainly men. Interestingly, because men are still prone to performance. Men are not that much prone to beauty and skin, if you are, of course, but mainly to Yeah, performance, high achievers, being the winner, being successful and longevity is a better fit to men. So I think this industry will will be dominated by men, my opinion,

Dr. Kay Durairaj 13:02
yeah, yeah. Right now, longevity does have a very masculine focus. I would say a lot of the speakers and the people you know who are definitely teaching are more male focused. But I think it's so critical, it's going to be so critical to bring more of female longevity voices 100% into this because hormones and ovarian aging is one of the most dramatic points and But isn't

Felix Bertram 13:26
it interesting that, which is great, but female longevity is a lot of round hormones and pre menopause and menopause, which is amazing, but It's it's a little bit narrow right muscle and performance. Performance and VO two Max and hormones and micro, whatever. And the women field is mainly dominated by all these menopausal things. So I'd wish that we get broader on this and have more speakers and key opinion leaders taking a broader perspective on women's longevity,

Dr. Kay Durairaj 14:05
for sure, that's it's very different. But I think, you know, estrogen receptors aren't every cell in the body, but women must have muscle mass, must have bone density. I'm super obsessed about that, so 100 definitely, I agree. We'll start to see that growing for women's health, hopefully. But men is like, they think they're an f1 Ferrari race car.

Dr. Kay Durairaj 14:32
They kind of like they're going into longevity with that mindset of like,

Felix Bertram 14:37
I think it's the wrong approach, because, you know, men are always prone to be these high achievers, and they come out of a hugely stressful life in their 50s, and then they put all the stress on being a new triathlete or or marathon runner. And for me, that's not longevity. Longevity has all these elements. One is definitely health, which we. What we're talking about right now. But here we have, you know, 707,000 steps per day already reduce your core course mortality by 40 to 50% which is which is achievable, right? So you don't need to be an ultra super sports guy. Just get the basics right at first, and then also relationships and personal development. I mean, my biggest gains come from reflecting on what I'm good at and what I'm passionate about, and getting everything out of my life right, which is not a fit to that. So I went through my schedule as an entrepreneur, and I think 40 to 50% of the stuff I was doing was not a fit to me. It was either management or someone else or something I could delegate. And I think that was the biggest gain. So I think longevity is, for me, it's more about that. Rather than going to some clinics and getting some kind of, I don't know, peptides and performance enhancing stuff to squeeze out the last 2% that's not longevity. That's something else I

Dr. Kay Durairaj 16:08
think that's kind of hard to maintain. Also, like, I can be really good about taking all my supplements, vitamins, and take 20 different pills and take some peptide shots, but then I can't maintain that more than six, eight weeks, like, God, totally, you'll burn out from that process. Of like, it's too much every day. So I think you have to be so selective.

Felix Bertram 16:29
I agree, and I will say, you know, most people don't need to fear an early death, but need to fear never have lived, right? So,

Dr. Kay Durairaj 16:40
wow,

Felix Bertram 16:43
I mean, people are rushing through stuff, and now it's longevity, and they try to solve all the things with supplements and cold plunge and infrared, which is BS To be honest, right? I mean, you first have to get the basics right, which is sleep, exercise, endurance and muscle mass and muscle strength, nutrition and stress resilience. These are the four magic things for longevity. And get these right first and then add some supplements which should be fit to you, your situation and your profile. There is no such thing that maybe, except from creatine or something, which is the magic, magic pill. Everything changes. It's it's not the truth. It unfortunately, longevity is stuff we've known for hundreds of years, but we need to get them right.

Dr. Kay Durairaj 17:35
It's funny, as much as we know so much more molecular biology and all about the, you know, supplements and the things that we need to be doing. It all boils down to light and movement and sleep and nutrition, you know, like the wholesome things, friendship being off of Wi Fi, all the, all the things that we already know we should be doing. But,

Felix Bertram 17:56
you know, we humans always search for shortcuts. It's the same with business and success people, you know, I go into crypto or drop shipping and with the hope of getting rich quickly, which is never happening. It's the same with your health. You have to invest in that. And it's, you have to invest constantly, and you might not see any results for like, six months, but then all of a sudden, you, you stand in front of the mirror, say, Oh, my apps are coming back or whatever. So it's, it's a long term game, like with everything interesting.

Dr. Kay Durairaj 18:26
Now you've worked across many countries, so how do you kind of see the cultural differences that are maybe shaping esthetic ideals and patient expectations? Is a very different you think, between Europe and the US?

Felix Bertram 18:39
Or what I can say from Europe is people don't want to look like being treated, and it's very discreet, especially in Switzerland. I don't know if, I don't know if that's true. I can't. I have not. I have not detailed information about the but us, some people like being treated, or like having the appearance of being treated some kind of symbol. I have this facelift by Dr XYZ, or I have boobs from would you agree? Is it this kind of difference, maybe?

Dr. Kay Durairaj 19:16
Or I think it's very regional, like, if I'm In Miami, feel like women like that very, you know, defined and curated the look and even the guys, whereas, like in New York City, everybody's very in Manhattan, no one wants to look done right in LA, it's like a healthy mix of a little sexy, but not too over the top. So I yeah, I feel like you're you're right. I think Europe, everywhere you go is so so subtle. I went to Japan and like zero people had a filler look. It was very refreshing to see, like, just normal faces everywhere. In fact, the only faces that stick out were that they were the tourists that were

Felix Bertram 19:56
Yeah, the number one thing my patients asked me. Me when I was being an injector is, please make me look natural. That was the

Dr. Kay Durairaj 20:06
number one. I think that maybe that's universal across countries, because I even in the US, I'm really worried I want to look natural. Yeah, exactly, yeah. What can US and European practices learn from each other in terms of business models, patient care

Felix Bertram 20:27
in general. I have to admit, I love the US and I love the the entrepreneurial mindset. So when you are successful in in us, people clap you on your shoulders and say, Wow, you made it amazing, which is not the case here, right? If you are successful or two successful people pull you down, jealousy, whatever it's and that's why we don't show off with money, because it's not very well received. And I think Europeans could learn this kind of entrepreneurial approach us people have. I just recently was in Richard Branson's island with a lot of us entrepreneurs, and it was my space. I was so flashed, and I love them all, and we were pushing each other and giving advice and helping each other. Really love that. So yeah, number one, definitely us. And Europeans could learn a lot from us. We have, we have so great social systems. You don't need to be successful. You get, you get housing and fed. And I'm much more American in this regard.

Dr. Kay Durairaj 21:39
Definitely, I think you definitely have that entrepreneurial spirit. What advice would you give to young people or people wanting to enter esthetics now?

Felix Bertram 21:52
Well, two things, get a great education. First, don't focus on money or work, where can I get a few more bucks? Get bucks dollars. Focus on a great education. I think that's key. And then number two, in regards of entrepreneurial track, I think you either can do well being very small with low infrastructure costs, you know, you are the star. You have a full agenda, but the revenue is the majority of the revenue is profit, and you have maybe one PA, and nothing else. Or go big, everything in between is tough, right? Having like, four employees, getting them, because you you have to at this stage you have to do everything, and you sacrifice somewhere, either to private life or your your your gender in regards of patience or theater. So I was in this, in this squeezing mid range for years, and then once you get bigger to 5060, employees, you can start having the COO CFO like a C level. You have an HR department, you have a marketing department like we have now. That makes life much, much more comfortable. But everything in between

Dr. Kay Durairaj 23:15
is tough, my opinion. Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. I think that's spot on. I feel like I'm in between. I need to expand, but also I don't know if expanding is right for everybody. It's a lot of work.

Felix Bertram 23:29
Actually, I agree, yeah, because many think they need to expand. Well, what I recently discovered I'm not a very good leader. I'm not a very good CEO. I'm an entrepreneur, but my my job is to get great people together. I learned that from Richard Branson on his island. He was able to pull great people together. So if you would say, I'm I'm great surgeon. I love my work on patients, but I want to scale you should consider to find one brilliant person, man or lady, whatever, who is a good entrepreneur, a good leader, a good manager, and if that matches from the personality and mindset and attitude, you could be a winning team. You might have need to give him some shares, whatever. So I would say today I was for years, I had to do everything, of course, but I wasn't good at everything. I was good when it comes to vision or strategy, but I'm not a good CFO. I'm not a good CEO, and I'm even not a good CEO. I I'm an

Speaker 1 24:39
entrepreneur. You're very humble. I'm sure. No, I'm absolutely I

Felix Bertram 24:43
mean it seriously, but maybe that's the good thing. You need to know your limitations, and you have to fill the gaps with other

Dr. Kay Durairaj 24:50
people. Yeah, I think they're absolutely right. I think you mentioned that you think a lot about your own personal development, that you have a meeting with your. Self every so often, every every Friday was it yes, just wondering like, how do you work on personal development? What are you working on?

Felix Bertram 25:11
Yes, so I work on all three pillars, health, relationships and personal development. But coming to personal development, one of the realizations is what I just talked about, what am I good at and what not? Where can I fill the gaps with great people? And that was really relieving and helpful.

Dr. Kay Durairaj 25:33
Well, Felix, that is such a critical piece of advice, and perhaps the most perfect note to end on today, that self awareness, knowing your limitations, and as you said, filling the gaps with the right people is truly the secret to scaling and achieving the kind of freedom you've so thoughtfully built for yourself. Your journey is just remarkable from overcoming such a profound personal challenge to redefining what success and longevity truly mean, not just in esthetics, but in life. So I just want to thank you so much for sharing your incredible insights just on everything from the future of our industry to the power of a resilient mindset. It's been an absolute honor to have you on the show to everyone listening. I hope you found this conversation as inspiring as I did. We'll be sure to link to Dr bertram's work and his powerful TED talk in the show notes. And don't forget to check out our Instagram. It's Beauty by Dr K, D, R, K, a, y, doing amazing things with esthetics, beauty and longevity. And our website is the same Beauty by Dr kay.com where you can find links to our recent launch of our skin longevity line. It's a really great product that has glutathione, GHK, NAD, precursors for mitochondrial boosting and a collagen tripeptide. Really amazing complex, my own KD complex. This is a product your skin needs. We all have Retin A, we all have Hyaluronic we don't have the proper peptides for skincare. So guys, I hope you'll check it out. Don't forget to take care of yourself. Think of the bigger picture in your lives. And just like Felix taught us today that your challenges don't have to end in struggles, they can transformatively change your mindset and your approach to the future. That's it for now. Guys, stay beautiful. You.