SMALL D SES Profile
Originally from a small mid-Michigan town, Dr. Anthony Youn runs a cosmetic surgery practice in Troy.
RECENT YEARS HAVE SEEN the emergence of the “medfluencer,” a term used to refer to the medical doctors who have begun amassing substantial social media followings. One exceedingly popular “medfluencer” is Troy cosmetic surgeon Anthony Youn, 49, who also happens to be a veteran of Hour Detroit’s Top Doctors and Best of Detroit lists. Youn grew up in the small mid-Michigan town of Greenville, graduated from Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine, and completed a yearlong fellowship in Los Angeles before returning to open his own practice, Youn Plastic Surgery. Now a practitioner of 20 years, Youn also operates a TikTok channel, where he cracks up nearly 7.5 million followers with advice, celebrity plastic surgery commentary, and behindthe-scenes peeks into the procedures he performs. Examples of his videos include “The Tummy Tuck I Did Today” and “Celebrity Butts: Real or Sus?”
The Best Medicine
Plastic surgeon-turned-TikTok star Dr. Anthony Youn administers a healthy dose of laughter BY ASHLEY WINN | PHOTOGRAPHS BY MATT LaVERE
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H E A LT H G U I D E
Tell me about your journey into the field of cosmetic surgery. My dad, a first-generation immigrant, grew up on a small Korean rice farm and became a doctor. To him, medicine equaled success — which isn’t uncommon with Asian parents — so, literally the day I was born, he decided I’d be a doctor. My parents hoped I’d be some high-powered neuro- or transplant surgeon, but while attending medical school, I quickly realized I wasn’t suited for that. I just didn’t have the intense personality necessary for those kinds of specialties. But I discovered cosmetic surgery, and that really spoke to me. How so? It was my fourth year of medical school, during my pediatrics rotation, when I encountered a child who had lost most of her face in a wild animal attack. I saw what the plastic surgeons were doing to reconstruct her face, and that was the first time I considered going into the field.
2022
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