Dr. Ratliff Retires as Plastic Surgeon

Hi. Dr. Greg Ratliff here. It is January 14, of 2025 as I record this. I had announced last April my intent to retire at the end of the year and so my last major surgical procedure was done on December 20, 2024. I’m still seeing follow-up visits for those patients and will continue to do so until they are ready for discharge from the practice, which will probably be around the first part of March. But I am no longer doing any major surgical procedures.

While, thankfully, I don’t have any debilitating health problems, and I think my mind is still relatively sharp, after 33 years of 50-60 hour weeks, I’m just ready to slow down. I don’t intend to stop working completely, but my days as a plastic surgeon are officially over.

I want to thank all of you who have been along for the ride. Essentially, for this video, there’s three parts. There’s the mechanics of it all – how this is going to work, what’s going away, and what’s continuing on.

First of all, your records are safe. We have had electronic medical records in some form or fashion since 2008 or 2009 and all of my paper records from before that time were scanned, so they’re also digitized. I have made arrangements with the medical records software company that we use and they keep all of this stored, it’s in the Cloud, it’s not on a disk in the basement here, it’s in the cloud, and those will be available if you need access to them.

The second thing to know about this transition is that my staff, some of whom have been with me for over 20 years, are continuing with me in the Inject Aesthetic and Wellness Med Spa. If you need access to your information, it’s still available with those same smiling and friendly voices at the other end of the phone.

So, what’s going away? The main thing is my ability to do any type of major invasive surgical procedure or even consultations for surgical recommendations. In other words, if you want to know whether you should do liposuction or a tummy tuck, or a breast lift or implants or both, I’m no longer your person. I don’t have the operating room or the staff to do that kind of surgery. There are several very qualified surgeons in Tulsa and the surrounding area and while I can’t tell you what their recommendation will or will not be, I have not lost the knowledge all of a sudden of who I believe to be the good surgeons in this area and I will certainly be available to help you choose.

So. What’s staying and what’s new? Inject Aesthetics and Wellness Med Spa has occupied the top floor of my building since 2013, with me as the Medical Director. I will continue in that role and also be doing some of the non-invasive type med spa procedures, like thread lifts and using some of the minimally invasive technology that is now available.

It is my opinion that for most advanced problems, surgery is still going to be the “gold standard” for achieving the best result possible. However, the explosive growth and improvement in the minimally invasive areas, using things like radiofrequency energies, electromagnetic energy, intense light pulsing, laser, threads, fillers, BOTOX, it has resulted in a narrowing of the gap between the results achievable with technologies and those achievable with surgery.