Meet Raghu Athre | Facial Plastic Surgeon, and Healing Bio-Hacker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Raghu Athre and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Raghu, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
It actually was not my original idea to start my own business. After I finished fellowship, my dad urged me to start my own practice. My dad is a financial planner and really pushed me to start my own practice. I was completely scared out of my mind. Being a physician, I had no background in business and finance, and the whole thing seemed like scifi. With the help of my dad, and my felllowship director, I started my own practice in 2008.

When I say that the beginning was a shoestring operation, I am being generous. I started my practice without a real office and used to travel to other doctor’s offices to see the referred patients at their office. It was a very interesting time in my life.

At the end of it, looking back…it was one of the best decisions I made. At the time, my only thought was to create an entity where I could work and practice plastic surgery how I saw fit. In the end, it really allowed me to develop my unique styles and techniques, with respect to innovation while staying true to my personal tenets as a surgeon. Having my own business has allowed me to truly customize my surgeries and even my postoperative care regimens without the bureaucracy of working for someone. This has given me not only independence but fulfillment.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Surgery is my art. Surgery is a unique combination of science and art. The science is easy to understand, in my opinion. The art is difficult to master. I liken it to playing tennis. When you teach someone tennis, you teach them the general strokes, and body mechanics. Lots of people can be adept at the stroke. Few people master the art, and make it look effortless on the court.

Plastic surgery is the same way. After all of your training, you learn to be proficient. You can operate and you can get good results safely. Then a small select group of those individuals are gifted arnd are able to truly master the process. When you reach this stage your results are amazing. You see the patient and their anatomy differently. Your eyes are keen to pickup fine details that change good results to mazing results, and it becomes second nature. That is the point I feel I have reached. It has taken me almost 20 years. But, I want more. I want even better. My eyes continue to fine new details, and my hands will continually evolve to find new techniques to give even better results.

I do not know exactly how I got here. I think that idea of just working to be the best is what brought me here. It is an idea of being self-critical and wanting even more from myself as a surgeon. I think a big portion of what led me here is passion. I did not ever worry about the compensation or the notoriety. I just worried about the patient and the surgery. The rest just came as a result of unwavering focus on surgery, the patient, and the result.

That I would love to say to someone who wants to do this is as follows. Find your passion. Focus on it. Manifest it, and GO GET IT. That’s it. It will be hard. You will feel like giving up at portions. You will want to say that is good enough at the 75% of the mark. You will want to accept mediocrity. Do not let these temptations sway you away from the path. Walk along the path almost like you have blinders for everything else, and the success you will achieve is pretty darn cool.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am a foodie first and foremost. So I would probably select a tour based on food first! I would start the tour at Caracol. It is one of my favorite restaurants in Houston.

Houston is probably best know for those immortal words, “Houston, we have liftoff.” You cannot come to Houston without visiting the Johnson Space Center. It is just awe-inspiring.

Third, I would probably take you to Buffalo Bayou park and walk along the trail along Allen Parkway. The “Yoga Sculptures” and the amazing views of downtown as you walk or bike the trail definitely bring a sense of calm and trqnquility into what is otherwise a bustling city of over 6 million.

Finally, I would love to visit the cisterns near downtown. I myself have not had the opportunity to see the cisterns, but they look amazing and I think it would be great to explore.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
It is impossible for me to shoutout to everyone who has helped me get where I am today. There are too numerous to count teachers, nurses, and even coaches that have all pushed me in their own individual way along the journey.

There are 3 individuals I really want to give a shoutout to. First,l I want to shoutout to my grandfather that raised me. He instilled within me my work ethic and this idea to never settle…to always attempt to be THE BEST. His line was, “I do not care if you are a garbage man, just be the best garbage man on the planet.”

Second…my dad. He has been a never-ending pillar of support. He has been a great cheerleader and really helped me form the business aspect of my business. We have fought and patched up, and had disagreements. But he his support and guidance has unwavering.

Third, my fellowship director, Dr. William (Billy) Silver. Billy has been like a second dad for me. What my dad has given me from the business aspect, Billy has been in the medical aspect of my practice. He has been a sounding board for ideas, a guide when waters get rough, and my own personal cheering squad.

Website: https://www.athrefacialplastics.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drraghuathre/

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AthreFacialPlastics

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