Ep. 119: From Platelets to Pleasure

[00:02] Episode Preview: Good Joints, Better Sex

Ep. 119: From Platelets to Pleasure

Host: Dr. Kanwal Bawa | Guest: Dr. Gayan Poovendran | Runtime: 27:47 | Published: March 19, 2024

Dr. Bawa: There are people who might be wondering why we are even having a discussion on this podcast. You take care of joints. I take care of genitals and aesthetics. Why are we talking? But I do think that it's important for us to be talking about joints and sex together. After all, you can't have very good sex if you can't move.

Dr. Poovendran: That's absolutely right. I mean, sex is a sport at some level, right? If you have back pain, it's very difficult to thrust. If your hips don't work, if your knees don't work, you may have difficulty changing position. So having good joints leads to a better sex life. And if you have somebody that's approaching it from a holistic perspective and not just saying, “Where do I inject it?” but, “How do we make you healthier?” you address all of those issues and improve your sex life.

[00:57] Welcome: Regenerative Medicine Meets Sexual Wellness

Dr. Bawa: Welcome to Dr. Sex Fairy, America's top-rated sexuality podcast. I am Dr. Kanwal Bawa, America's favorite sex doctor, and as always, I am here to transform your life. This podcast dives deep into the nexus of sexuality, sexual medicine, relationships, mental health, and regenerative medicine. Today we are venturing into the world of regenerative medicine and the pivotal role of joint health in an active sex life. Welcome, Dr. Poovendran. It's lovely to have you on the Dr. Sex Fairy Podcast.

Dr. Poovendran: Thank you very much for having me. I really appreciate being here, Dr. Bawa.

[03:34] Similar Tools, Different Fields

Dr. Bawa: So you and I do something very similar, yet very different. I am using regenerative therapies and biologics for sexual wellness and aesthetics, and you are using them in the arena of sports medicine. So tell us a little bit about your practice and what makes you different.

Dr. Poovendran: My practice is a regenerative-medicine-focused sports medicine practice. What's different with me is, when you come to me, I'm not looking for a reason to operate on you. I'm not looking for a reason to make you be out of commission for a long period of time. I want to get you back as quickly as possible. So I take the regenerative medicine approach with stem cells, with PRPs, with exosomes, to get people back faster than you normally would.

Dr. Bawa: That's wonderful. I actually had a shoulder problem a few years ago and chose to go with PRP instead of surgery. And it worked. It was wonderful.

Dr. Poovendran: It's a great, great treatment.

[04:32] PRP vs. PRFM

Dr. Bawa: What is the difference between PRP and PRFM?

Dr. Poovendran: With PRP, what you're doing is you're just spinning the blood down, you're isolating the platelets. With PRFM, you're activating it, which is nice because it gets to stay in the area a little bit longer, and then it can do more of the effects quicker.

Dr. Bawa: I'm using PRFM almost exclusively with everything I do. So I am using PRFM in penises, vaginas, face, hair-loss treatments, just about everything. And you are injecting joints.

Dr. Poovendran: And I am injecting joints, yes.

[05:05] Which Joints Are Treated?

Dr. Bawa: What areas are you injecting most often?

Dr. Poovendran: Most people that come to see me have knee pain or shoulder pain, but I do a lot of elbows, ankles, a little bit of spine, wrist. Anything that can get injured is probably something that we're going to inject, or we can make it better.

Dr. Bawa: How often do your patients end up needing follow-up treatments?

Dr. Poovendran: Not very often. So with the high-quality PRPs and the high-quality biologics that we use, a lot of my treatments end up being a one-and-done type of thing, which is very nice and convenient for the patient. On occasion, somebody will need to have something done, a revision, which may take four to six weeks. That's when I would like to reassess them to make sure that that's what they need to do.

Dr. Bawa: That's really great. And people ask me often, “How many BawaShots® do I need for my penis or vagina to sing?” or even aesthetics when it comes to that. And it's difficult to give them a set number because every person reacts to biologics differently. And everybody's growth factor is at a slightly different level of efficacy, too.

Dr. Poovendran: Correct.

[06:14] Stem Cells vs. Exosomes

Dr. Bawa: Not everybody's growth factor is doing the same thing. So let's talk about stem cells. The topic is all the rage in the world nowadays with talk about biohacking and longevity and all of that. So what are stem cells and how are they different from exosomes?

Dr. Poovendran: Stem cells are the cells in your body that can turn into other cells, and they stimulate other cells to change. The exosomes are the actual messages that those stem cells secrete. So when you inject stem cells into an area, you're having those stem cells release the exosomes and have the other cells communicate. Now, when you do a focal exosome procedure, what you're doing is you're just sending the messages to your cells, and then your cells are now reprogramming themselves to do better function.

Dr. Bawa: And because they don't have DNA in them, our stem cells don't recognize them as a foreign product.

Dr. Poovendran: Correct. Yes. Which is very convenient because I think we had initially worried a lot about tissue rejection and things like that. And with an exosome, you don't have to worry about that, which makes it very safe.

Dr. Bawa: And the FDA is not as worried about exosomes versus stem cells, which do carry DNA.

Dr. Poovendran: Yes. We do worry about when we're using exogenous stem cells that you can have a tissue reaction or a rejection, which can be very bad for the patient.

Dr. Bawa: How often are you injecting exosomes in your patients versus PRP?

Dr. Poovendran: I tend to have an autologous practice. So most of my patients are getting stuff from themselves, whether that's PRP or bone marrow stem cells or adipose-derived stem cells. I use the exosomes as a way to augment those things. I like to have my patients, for optimal wellness, doing exosomes every six to nine months. So that's kind of how often I would do something like that.

[08:06] Fat-Derived vs. Bone-Marrow Stem Cells

Dr. Bawa: Now, since our patients don't speak doctor, you talked about adipose tissue. Fat.

Dr. Poovendran: Yes.

Dr. Bawa: Let's talk about the difference between stem cells that come from fat versus bone marrow.

Dr. Poovendran: Sure. So they both have very different functions. Bone marrow stem cells have always been the gold standard for the longest period of time, but now the research is starting to catch up more with the fat-derived stem cells. I use them in two different ways. If it's a metabolic problem, a younger patient, maybe a smaller degree of structural issue, then bone marrow is a perfect solution for the patient. But if you have a tear, a rotator cuff tear, meniscus tear, something that you actually need to fill a gap, the fat works better. The fat has a nice little scaffold and it kind of keeps things together and then allows the stem cells which are in that fat to replicate and create cartilage, tendon, ligament, whatever it needs to create.

Dr. Bawa: And that's another reason why I like PRFM over PRP when it comes to penile and vaginal rejuvenation and even aesthetic rejuvenation. I keep forgetting to mention that because I do it all. I like that because there is a scaffolding with PRFM as well, and it stays in the area so much longer than PRP, which tends to slosh out a lot faster.

Dr. Poovendran: I agree. I mean, PRFM in those cases, especially in a penis or vagina or in the face, when you get it to stick where you want it to stick, it's a lot safer than doing a fat injection to a penis or a fat injection into the face, but you still get a lot of those benefits.

[09:43] Choosing a Regenerative Medicine Provider

Dr. Bawa: Absolutely. The world of biologics can be a very dangerous area for many of our patients. What should they be looking for when they are seeking out providers?

Dr. Poovendran: I think the biggest thing that the patient should be looking for is somebody that has devoted their practice to biologics and to regenerative and rejuvenative medicine. There are too many practices around where you have an OB-GYN that spends most of their day delivering babies and doing Pap smears. And then they say, “Oh, you know what? You're looking for some increased sexual desire. Let me just inject your vagina and we'll do the O-Shot or whatever they call it.”

Dr. Poovendran: You really want to have somebody that understands the biologics, that's going to the conferences, that lectures, that has a deeper understanding of these issues, more so than just, “Where do I put the needle?” I compete all the time with orthopedic surgeons who are very excellent at knowing the structure and the anatomy of the rotator cuff or the meniscus or the MCL, but they don't understand the biologics. So when you put us side by side, I'm getting better results because I understand which biologic goes where and what to use in what condition.

Dr. Poovendran: So I urge all of the patients that are seeking these treatments: find somebody that is actually passionate about the regenerative medicine part and not just somebody that does it because they can.

[11:13] Preservation Before Problems

Dr. Bawa: Agreed. And you know, this is very true of my practice as well. I am not a gynecologist. I am not a urologist. Yet I am treating more penises and vaginas than a lot of them combined. And I have devoted my practice to biologics, to regenerative medicine, to true rejuvenation and preservation.

That's another concept that's very alien, unfortunately: the concept of not waiting until it actually gets bad. For every patient that says to me, “Dr. Bawa, I'm not that bad yet,” if I put a dollar in a little box somewhere, I could go to a really nice dinner by the end of the month.

Dr. Poovendran: Absolutely. I think one of the things that the traditional medical complex has failed at is we are very reactionary instead of proactive. So I have the same story in patients that have a knee that has been bothering them a little bit. They're like, “You know what? It's not that bad.” But why don't we stop it before it gets to the point where it's bothering you all the time, instead of just reacting where now you're thinking about, “Do I do a stem cell or do I get a knee replacement?” Why don't we just take the knee replacement completely out of the picture?

[12:20] Function, Size, and the New Normal

Dr. Bawa: You know, I get men who come to me in their 40s or 50s, some in their 60s, who are talking about how they want penile enlargement because I do non-surgical penis enlargement. We call it BawaBig®, of course.

Dr. Poovendran: Of course.

Dr. Bawa: Because it's fabulous and it's Dr. Bawa and you're getting so big. So it's BawaBig®. But they will talk to me and say, “Well, I just want the enlargement, but my function is great.” And I ask them, “Is it really great?” “Yes, it is.” And I'm not against them having great function, but I want them to understand what great function really is.

Dr. Bawa: Because what happens is over time, slowly but surely, they have lost function and sensation in many cases, and now it's their new normal. So I ask them, “Are you getting hard as quickly as you did in your late 20s or early 30s?” And then they pause, and I see the wheels turning, and they go, “Well, maybe not as fast.” “Do you last as long?” “Maybe not as long.” “Okay, but you don't want to address that?” So it gets them thinking.

Dr. Bawa: So I do think that we as providers also need to do a good job educating patients. I know you do that in your practice, and I certainly do it in mine and through this podcast as well.

Dr. Poovendran: It's very interesting that you mentioned that because part of what I do with my practice is I track my outcomes. And when I wasn't tracking my outcomes, I used to deal with patients that said, “You know what? I'm only 10% better. I'm only 15% better after three months.” But once we started implementing regular testing and scoring to see how they did, we saw that their improvement was 70 or 80%. But it was because each day to day it was only a little bit better. Then you compound that over months, and that's when you see the big results. So that's a great point that you bring up.

[14:12] Measuring Outcomes With the Sex Score

Dr. Bawa: In fact, thank you. And in fact, I came up with something called the Sex Score.

Dr. Poovendran: Okay.

Dr. Bawa: So if people go to mysexscore.com, there is literally a score I created for my patients that now is available to just about anybody all over the world, because I wanted to also quantify the improvement my patients were having. So they have a score when they come in, and then six months in they get another score. And they can take it whenever they want to, of course, sitting at home. And then again, six months later, I say take it again. And I love to see how it changes.

Dr. Poovendran: And then that's objective data that they can't argue with you.

Dr. Bawa: Absolutely. In fact, Daily Mail published it.

Dr. Poovendran: Oh, really? That's amazing. That's really cool.

Dr. Bawa: They did a whole article about my Sex Score and it was wonderful. Thousands of people took it immediately.

Dr. Poovendran: Yeah.

Dr. Bawa: I ask questions about the penis, such as, “Are you getting erections as quickly as you did? Are your erections as hard as they were? Are you having morning erections?” Questions that people aren't always asking themselves. I ask the same questions of vaginas. “Is your vagina dry? Are you having pain with sex? Are you tearing?” Things like that. So these are important questions, and that's why this quiz has been such a hit worldwide.

Dr. Poovendran: That's great that you have something like that, and you can have actionable things to treat.

Dr. Bawa: Always. See, you and I are creatures cut from the same cloth.

Dr. Poovendran: Absolutely.

[15:35] Why Joint Health Belongs in a Sex Conversation

Dr. Bawa: There are people who might be wondering why we are even having a discussion on this podcast. You take care of joints. I take care of genitals and aesthetics. Why are we talking? But I do think that it's important for us to be talking about joints and sex together. After all, you can't have very good sex if you can't move.

Dr. Poovendran: That's absolutely right. I mean, sex is a sport at some level, right? If you have back pain, it's very difficult to thrust. If your hips don't work, if your knees don't work, you may have difficulty changing positions. So having good joints leads to a better sex life. And if you have somebody that's approaching it from a holistic perspective and not just saying, “Where do I inject it?” but, “How do we make you healthier?” you address all of those issues and improve your sex life.

Dr. Bawa: I feel that it's important when my patients come to me to ask them, “What is hindering their ideal sex life? That perfect scenario?” And sometimes they have back pain. Sometimes, like you said, they have hip pain. Sometimes they have chronic shoulder problems. It's hard for a man to hold himself up in missionary position if his shoulder is hurting. So when I ask them those questions, well, I can take care of their genitals, but then I send them to you for their joints.

Dr. Poovendran: Yes.

Dr. Bawa: And that helps.

Dr. Poovendran: And then they get both benefits.

[16:54] A Team Approach to Better Sex

Dr. Bawa: How about that? And then if I feel like they need some help with therapy, I send them to a therapist. But seriously, it has to be a team approach because good sex is about so much more than just the ability to have sex. It's about, are you hurting when you're having sex? Are you having self-confidence issues?

Dr. Bawa: And also, when you have joint problems and you're not confident about your ability to even sit through one position, how are you going to have good sex?

Dr. Poovendran: You're in your mind about it the whole time.

Dr. Bawa: Yeah.

Dr. Poovendran: Yeah.

Dr. Bawa: So much of it is in the mind that if you have this added complication, you're never really going to enjoy it. You're never really going to initiate it. And when you take these factors out of the equation, now suddenly they free themselves up to have better sex.

Dr. Poovendran: Absolutely.

Dr. Bawa: See?

Dr. Poovendran: Yeah.

[17:44] Good Sex and Good Joints

Dr. Bawa: We belong together in the same practice. We should be in the same building.

Dr. Poovendran: We should. We can work on that. We should work on that.

Dr. Bawa: I'll send them to you, you send them to me. Everybody will be happy having good sex and good joints.

Dr. Poovendran: It's funny you bring that up because I do have patients that ask me about the penis shots and the vagina shots because their joints feel better. And they're like, “You know what? Now that my joint feels better, now that I can thrust, I don't have the erection that I want to have. Now what do I do?” And that's a perfect time for you to come in.

[18:15] BawaBig®, Blood Flow, and New Blood Vessels

Dr. Bawa: Well, there you go. An interesting thing I've noticed with my BawaBig® enlargement patients is that they have more blood vessels just from the enlargement itself because I combine PRFM and hyaluronic acid fillers. And I am not injecting that into the corpus for function. That procedure is more superficial for size. And even by injecting them superficially with the hyaluronic acid for size, they are having better penile function because they have more blood flow from the new blood vessels that are forming.

Dr. Poovendran: And that's a great way, or a great example, of how PRP and PRFM work. You're trying to create new vasculature. You're trying to promote more blood flow to the area. What else needs more blood flow than a penis?

Dr. Bawa: Agreed. A vagina.

Dr. Poovendran: Well, I mean, a vagina too.

[19:04] BawaWave®, BawaRF®, and Male Radiofrequency

Dr. Bawa: And you know, the other thing is people need to realize that the number one cause of erectile dysfunction is lack of blood flow. So the more you can do to increase blood flow, the better they're going to be. So I do shockwave therapy. I have a protocol we call BawaWave®. I also use radiofrequency in men. And radiofrequency is not really considered a male treatment at all. People have been using it for vaginas for years now, but not for penises.

Dr. Poovendran: How does that work?

Dr. Bawa: Same idea. Heat-based rejuvenation is increasing blood flow, it's increasing collagen, so it's helping function. And when I look for data about it, I only find maybe two studies, three studies that are even worth looking at. Not much out there. Maybe I should start doing the research.

Dr. Poovendran: You should. Maybe you should have an industry-sponsored study.

Dr. Bawa: I should. I mean, I'm using the same devices I'm using for women on the men. It's not like you need another device. But I get resistance from people sometimes about it because they don't understand how that could be working. Yet here we are. It works. We have happy patients. And you know, unhappy patients are the first to leave you a Google review.

Dr. Poovendran: Unhappy patients. You know, you talk about the research. I think that's a good thing for us to talk about. One of the exciting things about this field that we practice in is we are on the cutting edge of what's happening. So you have a treatment that works in a woman, but we haven't studied it in a man. But biology is biology, right? What works for you is probably going to work for me.

Dr. Poovendran: And instead of getting so locked down with, “Well, it's only approved for men or women. We never use it for men,” we get to test those frontiers, and then we get, as you said, great results and then happy patients.

[20:51] Changing Lives With Regenerative Medicine

Dr. Bawa: Yes. And this brings me back to what you were talking about, the average gynecologist who's not really doing regenerative medicine, trying to do a shot here or there occasionally. This is what I do. This is my life's work. I'm passionate about it. This is what I do all day, every day. And it is so wonderful to change lives, to do that for somebody.

Dr. Bawa: I had a lady once who was a patient of mine, had a wonderful outcome, and I invited her on the podcast. And at that point, it was just an audio podcast, and I used to shoot at a different studio. And she said to me, “Dr. Bawa, when I came to you, I felt like something inside me had died. And now I feel like I can live again.” That's profound. You almost don't know what to say when they say that.

Dr. Poovendran: That's a great feeling when somebody says something like that.

Dr. Bawa: But it's an amazing feeling to be able to do that for someone. And I know from my experience with my shoulder, what you do changes lives too. Because when you give them the ability to play with their children, to go out and have a meaningful existence, to maybe go back to the gym and be healthy again, that's incredible too.

Dr. Poovendran: Yes. It's a great feeling to be able to give people that quality of life back. When I changed my practice from doing plain family medicine and a little bit of the non-traditional or non-surgical orthopedics to regenerative medicine, I always kind of joked with my wife and everybody else: I stopped saving lives; now I save lifestyles.

Dr. Bawa: That's great. That is great. Because when I was in the emergency room saving lives, running codes and resuscitating people and pulling things out of butts and vaginas, we did plenty of that too. I mean, I was saving lives, but now I make them more meaningful. And there's something to be said for that.

Dr. Poovendran: I like yours better.

[22:46] Teaching Regenerative Medicine Around the World

Dr. Bawa: Same idea. You teach at conferences worldwide. Tell us about that.

Dr. Poovendran: It's really fun and it's exciting to teach at these conferences. We find people that are, again, like-minded from all over the world. So I teach people from Venezuela, from Colombia, from New Zealand, from Australia, and then you see how similar things are, but how different things are.

Dr. Poovendran: So I really like being able to teach at a course, give somebody some new skills, have them take it back to their country. And I'm a very relationship person, so I keep in contact with a lot of these— not patients, but the students. I was actually just last night talking to one of my colleagues, one of my students from Australia, and he said, “You know what? We were talking at this conference all weekend. I took what you said, I used it on a patient, and they're already doing amazing.”

Dr. Poovendran: And I love to have stories like that. So not only me doing it, but passing that on to eventually what will be future generations of doctors.

Dr. Bawa: I love teaching as well. I have talked about what I do at conferences, and colleagues will be amazed at what can be done. Some of my before-and-after pictures are striking. I have this topical biostimulator that I use that increases collagen production without any injections, without any pain, anything at all.

Dr. Bawa: And I did the initial studies. I was the first practice to have it in the U.S. And then I presented it at a conference in Vegas, and people were amazed. And I told them, honestly, if I hadn't taken these pictures, I wouldn't necessarily believe that they're genuine, untouched pictures. Yet today we can do that.

Dr. Bawa: And sharing this information with people, both medical colleagues and patients, it's great. At least now they know what's out there, what's available. And that's why I'm so happy you came on the podcast today.

Dr. Poovendran: Well, I'm very happy to be here. I mean, you were just at a conference recently, right? Last weekend or two weekends ago, talking about some of your groundbreaking stuff.

[24:44] SexSpan and Longevity

Dr. Bawa: Yes. In fact, I talked about my concept of SexSpan. Because you know how people talk about Blue Zones and increased lifespan, increased healthspan. But nobody's talking about SexSpan. I guess I am Dr. Sex Fairy for a reason. I think of those things.

Dr. Bawa: But as we're living longer, shouldn't our lives be full of joy and pleasure at every age? And so I talked about five ways to biohack your SexSpan. And who was I sharing the stage with but William Shatner, the very poster child for longevity. Yes. 93 years old and still living his best life.

Dr. Poovendran: Good for him.

Dr. Bawa: It was a great conversation we had.

Dr. Poovendran: Yeah, that's really cool.

Dr. Bawa: That's the other thing about what we do. We get to meet such cool people and have such great experiences as we change lives. I don't know. It's a pretty good career. I don't think I want to do anything else.

Dr. Poovendran: I definitely wouldn't want to do anything else in medicine at this point.

[25:39] How to Find Dr. Poovendran

Dr. Bawa: So, how can people find you?

Dr. Poovendran: I have a website, pro-institute.com, or you can call my office. The number is 305-209-1951, or reach out to me at info@pro-institute.com, and we'll get you set up.

Dr. Bawa: Great. Now people know where to get their joints fixed and their penises and vaginas. So they're all set.

Dr. Poovendran: All set.

Dr. Bawa: All set. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. You are going to have to come back soon.

Dr. Poovendran: I would love to come back. Thank you very much. This was great.

[26:11] Recorded Outro

Dr. Bawa: The intersection of regenerative medicine, sexual wellness, and joint health opens up new horizons for enhancing our quality of life in ways we are just beginning to understand. Whether you are seeking more vigorous and enjoyable sexual experiences or are exploring innovative treatments for aesthetics, hair restoration, or longevity, the future of medicine holds incredible promise.

Dr. Bawa: If you are watching this on YouTube, don't forget to leave questions and comments. I will answer them personally. Make sure you like this video and subscribe to my channel, Dr. Sex Fairy, so that you never miss a video. If you are listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or elsewhere, do subscribe to the Dr. Sex Fairy Podcast.

Dr. Bawa: If you are interested in trying Dr. Sex Fairy supplements, which are truly made right here in the U.S., you can click the link in the podcast description. Check out my super-hit TikTok account, Dr. Sex Fairy, and my Instagram, The Real Dr. Sex Fairy. Stay curious, stay informed, and check out the other Dr. Sex Fairy episodes to learn about the endless possibilities that science and medicine offer to enrich your life. Until next time.