Meet Dr. Shabnam Ghazizadeh, MD, the Founder of Dr. Ghazizadeh Facial Plastic Surgery. Board-certified and fellowship-trained, she specializes in facial aging rejuvenation and rhinoplasty, bringing a unique blend of technical precision and compassionate care to every patient she serves.
Frustrated by the barriers to quality care in larger healthcare systems, Dr. Ghazizadeh opened her boutique private practice to provide her patients with a personalized and transparent experience. With an emphasis on education and achieving natural results, she is committed to helping people feel confident and empowered, whether through a transformative facelift or subtle surgical enhancements. Dr. Ghazizadeh’s expertise in facial anatomy and dedication to individualized care have quickly established her as a trusted name in aesthetic surgery.
We spoke with Dr. Ghazizadeh about her decision to start a private practice, the challenges she faced transitioning into entrepreneurship, and the lessons she’s learned along the way.
What problem does Dr. Ghazizadeh Facial Plastic Surgery solve?
As a facial plastic surgeon, I exclusively perform plastic surgery on the face, nose, and neck. I have expertise in complex rhinoplasty as well as advanced facial rejuvenation including facelifts, neck lifts, and eyelid surgery. Other surgeons often refer patients to me who require more advanced techniques, and I am one of few female surgeons who specialize in this field. As a female surgeon, I can relate to my patients’ specific experiences with aging changes that develop over the years. This allows me to provide a distinct aesthetic and compassionate approach to facial surgery. I spend considerable time with my patients on education, explaining their anatomy and being honest about what surgery can achieve. My goal is to help patients achieve balance, decrease imperfections, and improve the overall aesthetic harmony of the face so they can feel more confident in their lives.
My patients share their stories and joys with me, including how my surgeries have boosted their confidence and helped them live more fulfilled lives. I love being part of this aspect of their journeys.
Did you always know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
Actually, no. I always knew that I wanted to be a doctor and later a surgeon. I thought that would mean working in a hospital or as part of a big group of other similar providers. After years of training in that system though, I really found that there were so many hurdles to providing quality patient care that included wait times, compromises of quality for quantity, system-based pressures, and transparency issues that were totally out of my control. For that reason, I decided to start my own practice that focuses on education and quality care to help my patients achieve the best possible outcomes with the most comfortable experience.
What were the most difficult and most impactful lessons you’ve learned starting and running a company?
I went into medicine and surgery because I love to operate and help patients. It is my passion and how I expected to spend the majority of my time and efforts. When I started my practice, I had to spend a lot of time developing processes, implementing quality improvement measures, and handling other administrative aspects like marketing, which is not something that I envisioned I would be doing in my career. But I now realize that taking the time to build these processes and implement a sound business strategy will ultimately help give my patients the best quality care and the most state-of-the-art experience to complement their surgical recovery. Now I have embraced this new challenge and reframed it in my head as a way to personalize the patients’ experience.
Have you felt like giving up? What made you persist?
Building my boutique surgical practice forced me to spend a lot of my time doing things that were not directly surgical or patient-facing. That was really hard for me at first because I spent years focusing on acquiring the best possible education and surgical techniques so that I could use those skills to help patients. I always kept the idea in the back of my head that if I felt I didn't get enough surgical time I would possibly go back to working in a group or hospital setting, so that I could focus on being a surgeon. But the patients have motivated me to persist in building this business. My patients share their stories and joys with me, including how my surgeries have boosted their confidence and helped them live more fulfilled lives. I love being part of this aspect of their journeys. It also reinforces how I am able to provide the most quality care and highest-level results through building a practice that is patient- and education-focused.
We dare you to brag: What achievements are you most proud of?
I was selected as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor in both 2023 and 2024, which were my first two years in practice. This is a national, peer-nominated award that identifies the top 7% of physicians in the nation. It was really humbling to be selected by my peers so early in my career for consecutive years.
How would you describe the journey you’ve had in a few sentences? Would you do it all over again?
One hundred times over. I get asked this quite frequently from younger aspiring students or other surgeons interested in entering the plastic surgery field. I love medicine and I love surgery. I love the challenges it brings, the complexity it provides, and the gratitude I have for being able to help patients boost their confidence and address their cosmetic concerns.
