AB BIO Founder Interviewed By Popular Industry Magazine
This week, leading entrepreneurial magazine Canvas Rebel sat down with AB BIOINNOVATIONS founder Dr. Alena Butkevica, Ph.D., to explore the journey that led her to found the award-winning beauty brand. Dr. Butkevica leveraged her decades of medical experience to create an innovative new slate of anti-aging creams, serums, and toners.
Read the full interview below, courtesy of CanvasRebel.
Meet Alena Butkevica
We recently connected with Alena Butkevica and have shared our conversation below.
Dr. Butkevica on Taking Risks
Q: Alena , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
A: As I mentioned earlier, I am a well-established oromaxillofacial surgeon with numerous awards and have performed over 15,000 surgeries. I have been an international lecturer and run a private practice with a waiting list of six to eight months for the past 30 years. Life was excellent. However, I faced a challenge: I was aging, and nothing seemed to work for me. The only way I could maintain a youthful appearance—something that patients appreciate and trust in a doctor in my field—was through surgery.
I have always been reluctant to resort to injections or surgery for cosmetic reasons because I am fully aware of their short- and long-term side effects, which the world is beginning to acknowledge. On social media platforms like Instagram, many renowned plastic surgeons my age showcase impressive immediate results on women, yet you will hardly see any surgeons who have undergone surgery themselves; most prefer to age naturally.
Since 2022, I’ve been involved in medical research, starting at Boston University, focusing on biomaterials and processes to expedite surgical wound healing. Throughout this research, I observed that the body naturally regenerates and heals at its own pace. Taking a leap of faith, I left my comfortable life as a surgeon—along with all its financial benefits—and moved to a remote lab.
It took nearly four years to develop a formula using a selection of natural, sustainable ingredients. This resulted in a globally award-winning cream that utilizes nanoparticles to penetrate the skin naturally and create an environment where the body can access all the necessary elements—extra oxygen, nutrients, and enhanced lymphatic drainage for detoxification. This process boosts metabolism, repairs, and generates new, healthy cells. Healthy means looking young without surgery, injections, or lifts.
I am challenging the global trend that pushes those over 40 to undergo harsh and often expensive procedures that provide only short-term results, come with potential side effects, and can psychologically alter a person’s mindset, leading to dependence on such treatments. My chosen path is not easy, but I believe this fight is worthwhile for everyone’s health, glowing looks, and safety.
Who Is Alena Butkevica?
Q: Alena , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
A: My grandmother was a healer, and two of my aunts were doctors. From a young age, I enjoyed playing doctor in kindergarten, creating natural medicines for healing. I felt a strong urge to heal everyone in my kindergarten group, including all the animals and toys I could get my hands on.
I also had an artistic streak and initially decided to attend art school to pursue my artistic talents. However, I soon realized that I would never become the next Dali, and I needed some “strict boundaries and systems” within which to work. It became clear to me that I loved seeing people look good and smile.
I have observed that many people consider themselves ugly or feel their teeth are inadequate, which leads them to stop smiling, hide, and develop emotional and even psychological issues stemming from feeling not good enough to show their smiles to the world. I’ve heard many “crazy” stories of individuals who made significant life decisions—like work, dating, or even accepting marriage proposals—based on their self-image and fear of judgment.
I didn’t fully understand it then, but I realized that a person’s face is their first introduction to the world. To me, it’s a beautiful three-dimensional canvas, and I saw the potential to restore smiles in a way that adheres to medical standards. Over time, as I gained more experience and witnessed the long-term effects of various treatments, I began to favor non-surgical methods, reserving surgeries as a last resort.
For the past 20 years, I have dedicated a significant amount of time to researching the body’s natural recovery processes and the lifelong maintenance of all body cells to enhance longevity naturally.
As a result, I created the AB BIO brand, which includes a line of natural, organic products. I believe we are part of nature and respond best to natural solutions. My products use non-invasive techniques that employ nanoparticles to boost the body’s natural ability to heal and regenerate. I am incredibly proud to say that surgery is no longer the only option for improving smiles and enhancing lives.
AB BIO's Reputation In the Beauty Market
Q: How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
A: I believe that my pure honesty and passion for my work set me apart. Every doctor creates a treatment plan, and given the current options available, these plans can sometimes become overly complicated, expensive, and even unnecessary. To counter this, I established strict guidelines to avoid being influenced by sales representatives from big pharmaceutical companies who tout the benefits of various new materials or machines.
When formulating my treatment plan for a patient, I always ask myself, “Would I choose this for myself?” (not for my mom or anyone else—specifically for my own body). This introspection helps to clarify my treatment plan. Personally, I would opt for the least invasive, safest, most thoroughly researched, and easiest-to-maintain methods.
This approach has earned me a strong reputation. People can feel my unwavering commitment when I present my treatment plans, and word of mouth has spread about the effectiveness of my work, which has a decades-long positive impact.
Lessons Learned From AB BIOINNOVATIONS
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I have been in practice for 30 years and during this time, I have had many doctors work for me. One of the most painful lessons I had to learn is that when you share all your knowledge and experience with a young doctor, they often gain your expertise and skills, only to leave after a few years to open their own practice—often just a mini version of mine right around the corner.
I would praise these doctors to my patients, who trusted my recommendations. When these doctors started their own practices, offering the same procedures at half the price, patients often believed they were just as good (and they were). This led to my office being nearly empty on several occasions throughout my career. Each time, I had to start from scratch: looking for new doctors, teaching them my techniques, training new assistants, and attracting new clients—all while being aware that one day, they might leave too.
It takes a lot of strength to maintain a positive attitude toward new students and to adopt a Zen-like approach to letting them go.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.abbio.io
- Instagram: abbio.io
- Facebook: AB BIO
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alena-butkevica-md-dmd-phd/
- Youtube: AB BIOINNOVATIONS, Inc
