Today, everyone demands a high-quality healthcare system and doctors, especially when it comes to women, who face a wide spectrum of challenges.
Dr. Maria Karakoulaki has established herself as a worldknown expert and currently leads the 'Aesthetics by King’s College Hospital London' in Dubai, as the Medical Director of the Clinic and the Lead Aesthetic and Functional Gynaecologist. Her practice reflects the highest healthcare quality and her patients love her for that.
Dr. Maria Karakoulaki studied Medicine at the prestigious Ludwig- Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and Cornell University NY USA. She then specialized in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Munich Hospital Harlaching – LMU teaching hospital, and at Elena Venizelou, which is the biggest public maternity and gynaecological hospital in Greece. She is both German (Facharzt) and Greek board certified.
Dr. Maria Karakoulaki engages in an exclusive interaction with Women Entrepreneur Magazine.
“Fear is the worse advisor. Dare even if you’re scared!”
Take us through the experience that you've had over the years as a gynecologist and the kind of expertise that you now hold in the field.
I studied at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, which is one of the top universities worldwide, and then continued in the same University Hospital for my residency in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. My love for my country though, led me back to Greece where I continued and finished my training. A very interesting experience I had and would like to share with you, was the different levels of women’s acceptance in the competitive, demanding, and maledominated field of OB/GYN in the different countries I worked.
I did my internship at Presbyterian Hospital of Cornel University in New York, I worked in Germany, and there was never an issue with the fact that I was a woman. Whereas in Greece, 20 years back, there were still old-minded people trying to challenge women at work. So, I had to prove myself, which I was finding, in my late twenties, an extremely frustrating experience. Fortunately, things have changed now and OB/ GYN is even a female-dominated field, as it should be in my opinion, almost in all countries of the world.
While practicing, I found myself being very interested in the hormonal changes during a woman’s life and that led me to obtain a two years- Master of Science from the Kapodistrian University of Athens where I studied Female Reproduction and Gynaecologic Endocrinology, in depth. This is how I started my career as a Menopause Expert and until now I have treated thousands of women suffering from menopausal symptoms. With the years of course, I understood that Menopause is not only about hormones but it is also about aging, and therefore lifestyle medicine is equally important.
That realization brought me closer to functional Gynaecology and Regenerative Medicine, which I also studied extensively in a one-year Fellowship in Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine from IARSM in India. In this stage of my career, I’m really happy to be able to offer my patients a holistic approach, combining hormones, lifestyle medicine, and advanced regenerative treatments with Energy Based Devices (Laser, and more), Stem cells, PRP, Exosomes, just to name a few.
And of course, I am extremely happy to be able to combine my passion for art and my passion for surgeries in Aesthetic Gynaecology.
As an OB/GYN, I couldn’t imagine myself without performing surgeries, and since, at some point in my life, I decided to quit obstetrics, I decided to dedicate my surgical skills to cosmetic gynecological operations like for example labiaplasty, vaginoplasty, or intimate makeover. For that reason, I traveled to London and California to get the best training in cosmetic surgery.
What are some of the biggest challenges you face as a healthcare professional?
The biggest challenge I faced in my early days, especially as a menopause expert, was the misconception about Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).
I had to try very hard in order to educate and raise awareness about hormonal treatments. There was a time when Menopause was a taboo to talk about and the HRT was demonized. You can imagine, what kind of a challenge it had been, to talk about something that nobody wanted to listen to and was scared of. As far as Aesthetic & Functional Gynecology and Regenerative Medicine is concerned, the challenge I face now, is that all are quite new fields in Medicine and therefore not well known. So, my goal is to make these fields as popular as possible, because the quality of a woman’s life can change dramatically with the treatments offered.
My challenge now is to raise awareness about the fact that women do not have to live anymore with conditions like urinary incontinence, painful intercourse, not pleasurable intercourse, or with a look at their intimate areas that they do not feel well with.
I would like to reach to the point where every woman will feel comfortable enough to address all her sexual issues or the cosmetic and medical concerns she has about her intimate area, open and without any second thought.
I would like the awareness to reach to the point that every woman will know about all available treatments, no matter if they choose to have them or not. Women describe those procedures, non-surgical or surgical, as life-changing. So my dream and challenge for now, is to let every woman know that if she decides to change her life, she can do it.
Tell us about the top three milestones that you have achieved so far in your career.
First, my contribution to make Menopause and HRT a well-known topic to every woman. I was the first doctor to bring Body Identical Hormones to Dubai’s hospitals.
Supporting and accompanying hundreds of women in their brave journey to treat Vaginismus is something I cherish a lot.
And last but equally special to me, helping women to enjoy their intimate life with confidence after having cosmetic surgeries, is another milestone, I feel very proud and happy for.
Going forward, what scope do you see in aesthetic gynecology?
Moving forward, I see more Technology and more Regenerative Medicine in Aesthetic & Functional Gynaecology.
Energy Based Devices, such as Laser, Radiofrequency, HIFEM (Emsella Chair), and more, are evolving impressively fast, and even more so, they deliver amazing results.
Moreover, there is a boom of anti-aging and regenerative treatments like Stem cells, Exosomes, PRP, and Growth factors, which have amazing results for many different indications, like sexual enhancement, urinary incontinence, vaginal rejuvenation, non-invasive vaginal tightening, vaginal dryness, skin lightening, glowing, hydration, and texture improvement. So, I see them becoming particularly popular and women seeking more and more for those treatments.
Looking into the future I also see more women opting for cosmetic gynaecological surgeries. One of the most in-demand surgeries which have been adopted by women of all ages is labia minoraplasty and clitoral hoodoplasty.
Surgical vaginal tightening in combination with vaginal rejuvenation, on the other hand, is very popular among women that have delivered. The results after these procedures are so good that I see the word spreading and believe that women will ask more for this.
Interestingly enough, many women, usually when they have finished with their family planning, are opting for the Intimate Make Over, which includes: vaginoplasty, perineoplasty, labia minoraplasty, clitoral hoodoplasty, and labia majoraplasty, or labia majora lifting.
Going forward, I do see Intimate Make Over becoming as popular as Mommy Make Over since it is an equally transformative and life-changing surgery.
Dr.Maria Karakoulaki, Aesthetic & Functional Gynaecologist, Maria Karakoulaki
Coming from a family background of doctors, Dr. Maria Karakoulaki has also become a doctor with expertise and interest in Aesthetic & Reconstructive Gynecology, Anti-Aging & Regenerative Medicine, and Gynecological endocrinology.
