‘Medical aesthetics reflect positively on our energy in daily life’
Medical aesthetic operations such as filler and botox have become very common with the fact that social media has become indispensable for us and the change of perception of beauty. Although there is a significant demand for such non-surgical procedures, which are mostly performed in order to make people feel more beautiful, especially by women, the interest of men is also not to be underestimated. Of course, it is often possible to see in newsfeeds what kind of damage are caused by the operations in the wrong place and by the wrong people for the sake of beauty. Such operations must be performed by competent physicians who are constantly improving themselves and specialists.
We interviewed medical aesthetics and the importance of continuous training of physicians with Sahire Berzah Dinc, founder of Medent Institute, which has become one of the most advanced medical institutes in the world by training thousands of physicians with medical training. Dinc, who is also a successful physician, believes that the Medent Institute she heads has made the world more beautiful thanks to the physicians she trains in the field of medical aesthetics.
Many people started to show serious interest in medical aesthetics in recent years. What’s the reason behind it?
It would not be wrong to say that medical aesthetics is living its golden age. The most important reasons for this are our perception of beauty and our primitive drives. We prefer to show people how our faces look better with the increase in the use of social media and especially beauty app filters. In fact, it is no longer difficult to look better and achieve this appearance without turning into a completely different person. We provide this with a wide range of procedures, from advanced and simple surgical operations to small injections. We now feel better with these processes that can be reached not only for celebrities but for everyone. Also, we had to look more at our face hiding behind masks during the pandemic and statistics show that our courage to resort to aesthetic operations increased by turning this time period into an opportunity. We find it more interesting to have small touches rather than just eliminating the effects of ageing.
So which aesthetic applications are preferred the most?
I can say that the procedures applied on our faces are the most preferred processes. Hair transplantation, eye, nose, lips and smile aesthetics are also among the first. I can say the liposuction and body shaping performed in our body come after these. Non-surgical procedures have become routine due to the speed of return to daily life, reduced risk of complications and advantages in rehabilitation. Among them, of course, botox, dermal filler and non-surgical thread lift are among the first. Our processes for making these procedures, which we can consider softer, and making decisions are much faster. Actually, that’s an important point that we need to be even more careful about. We must entrust ourselves to competent physicians who use absolutely safe products against serious complications.
Why do people need change?
Feeling good about ourselves and the confidence we gain in return for that feeling makes us much better psychologically. We do these procedures for ourselves, rather than just looking good to the people in front of us. For example, a small filling process under our eyes may make people think we are just sleeping and resting better, while looking in the mirror we see ourselves much differently. Small touches like this definitely make you feel better and this reflects positively on our energy in everyday life.
Which countries are the most developed in the field of medical aesthetics? In which countries do people choose to have these operations?
The United States ranks first in the ISAPS global survey, while my country Turkey comes in second in Europe after Germany. Historically, when we look at the developments, medical aesthetics is the industry that has progressed with the wars and developments in order to alleviate the wounds they have caused, but it now serves different needs. At this point, it is important to mention Jacques Joseph and Aurel Rethi in the development of rhinoplasty, and of course, Israel is one of the most important countries in this area. Of course, Russia, which gives the name of its nation to the lip filler, and Brazil, which is famous for body, are among the significant countries. I can also say France and South Korea are among the important countries in the sector.
In recent years, a significant number of health workers in Turkey prefer to work abroad. What is the reason behind this situation in your country?
The main reason for this situation is economic conditions. The recent high inflation in Turkey has been challenging for my colleagues, as well as for people in many sectors. In fact, we train well-equipped and experienced physicians in our education system, but physicians can take a risk to transition to a completely different culture in order to work and live in better conditions. I mean rather than having to fight not only wage expectations and inflation changes, it also covers working hours, the number of patients, surgeries, and the lack of time allocated to patients with population density.
As a young and successful physician, have you ever thought about working abroad like many of your Turkish colleagues?
I guess I thought about it like many of my colleagues, but I cared about the thought and perseverance of serving my country so much. Turkey is a country that has a very large share in health tourism and we owe it primarily to the education system that trains successful physicians. Of course, every physician needs to improve themselves with different and innovative trainings. In the past, many physicians went abroad for medical training, and it was one of my primary goals to bring many physicians from abroad to Turkey rather than shifting these trainings abroad. The Medent Institute, which I founded, has actually become the locomotive of the country in this regard.
Many physicians from many countries have started to prefer Turkey because of us in terms of education. This is a very special pride for me and my team, most of whom are physicians. In addition, as Medent Institute, we are expanding our operations not only in Turkey, but also in many countries such as UK, Azerbaijan, Israel and Qatar. Of course, our center is in Turkey, and medical training here is a very demanding process and the experience gained here is provided more than in many countries. This helps us to maximize surgical capabilities. In this direction, our goal is to be the most important institution internationally by passing on experience and scientific developments to our colleagues all over the world.

You mentioned the importance that medical education does not end with graduation and that physicians need continuous training in the following process. As the founder of one of the most extensive medical institutions in your country, what kind of work do you do on this subject?
Yes, medical training involves a process that does not end with faculty graduation. Developing technologies and new surgery methods are dynamic concepts with changing procedures and this is the case all over the world. I mean, it’s an area where education doesn’t end. All medical practitioners have to constantly improve themselves. At this point, we, as Medent Institute, are more rigorous in planning these trainings because we are aware of what we need and how to access more useful information. We treat people, so we need to be practically and theoretically fully equipped in this field. That’s what we do in training planning. We aim for maximum benefit to physicians and therefore to patients, rather than just a special certificate hung on the wall. In doing so, we share the knowledge of our most successful and experienced physicians in their fields and complete them with applications. Cadavers are also used in these trainings. We train successful physicians with Fresh Frozen cadavers and live surgical operations
How is the training with cadaver applied?
In fact, cadavers are the most valuable resource of every physician since the first year of medical school. We use these cadavers, from surgical operations to the depths of anatomy and to the experience of new techniques. The physicians who participate in the training apply the techniques they have learned on cadavers and experience what they should not do in a real operation. When they encounter these things, they learn how to fix them.
Finally, what are your future plans?
As Medent Institute, we already organize trainings in Turkey where we train very special physicians, but our main goal is to spread this internationally. Our mission is to provide standard and quality in medical training, to bring physicians together with the most up-to-date techniques and methods, to be a pioneering institution that is followed in the world with our perspective and professional approach. For this purpose, we work hard, we choose to reach the most beneficial result based on our needs and to take risks for this purpose and to make different plans. We combine theoretical and practical training.
We progress with the goal of being in an impressive place in this field not only for Turkey but also from the Middle East to Europe. In these years when humanity makes progress to its most advanced state, we plan to work with the awareness of being human and aware of our emotions and social responsibilities. We plan to carry out new and different practices to reach our training to even the most remote corners of the world. As the Medent Institute family, we are motivated in line with these plans, and I always tell my team that ‘we make Turkey beautiful and now let’s try to make the world beautiful’.