About Jean-Pierre A. Riou, MD
Dr Riou is the child of immigrant parents and grew up in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. His parents were raised alongside 5 and 8 siblings on small farms in Brittany, France during the second World War. They only had a middle school education, and sailed to America with little money and no knowledge of the English language. As most immigrants to America, they instilled a strong work ethic and emphasized education as they themselves did not have the opportunity. Dr Riou was the first in his family to graduate from High School, let alone College or Medical School. He has emphasized Academia throughout his life and is grateful to have realized the “American Dream”. He moved to the greater Charlotte area in 1994 after completing 14 years of higher education in New York and New Haven. He has shared a medical practice with his wife Dr. Lori Schneider for the last 25 years. She practices Neurology and they have been together since 1984 attending the same prestigious college, medical school and residency Hospitals (NYU and Yale). They are strong believers that good medicine begins with good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. They have a Holistic approach to patient care: promoting weight loss, healthy diet, exercise, yoga, meditation, as well as reducing to a minimum alcohol, caffeine and the poly-pharmacy that our current healthcare delivery system has become. Dr Riou believes passionately that Plastic Surgery should be an adjunct to healthy living not a substitute. Properly selected patient undergoing well performed aesthetic surgery can have extraordinary improvement in their self image, but a tummy tuck or liposuction should not be done instead of diet and exercise in overweight patients and breast lifts or reductions should not be done on an active smokers. This philosophy has been extremely valuable in their overall results and patient satisfaction, keeping complications to a minimum and making the improvements long lasting. Their patients don’t just look better but they feel better! Their shared medical staff have been with them for years and are a true “work family”, they provide a friendly and supportive environment that can only be found in small independent private practices. Dr Riou himself is an avid road cyclist, triathlete and tennis player. He has completed multiple Ironman competitions including Charleston, Carolina, Augusta and Florida. He has been a Vegan for years, is on no medications, avoids caffeine and alcohol, meditates regularly and practices 6-8 hours of Yoga per week. He also believes strongly in “giving back” to the community. He has performed several hundred pro bono breast cancer reconstructions at his Lake Norman practice, has volunteered as a surgeon with Operation Smile in Ecuador for Pediatric birth defects and burns, and actively volunteers in cycling charity events such as the Polar Bear Ride & MAC Poker Ride benefiting Ada Jenkins, the “24 hours of booty” benefiting Cancer Charity as well as the Brawley Drafter “Bikes for Tykes” program helping raise $35,343 last year and transporting hundreds of bikes so that underprivileged children can have them for Christmas.
