Avril O’Connor:          We have all read about sports men and women using hyperbaric oxygen speed up their recovery from injuries, but now one innovative Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon is using this treatment to speed up healing in cosmetic surgery.  Dr. Paul Nassif of Spalding Drive Cosmetic Surgery is an expert in rhinoplasty and facial surgery, and he is using this treatment to ease swelling and speeding up healing.  Dr. Nassif, thank you very much for speaking to Elixir.  Could you tell us a little bit more about this treatment?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Well, first of all, thank you for having me.  Hyperbaric oxygen, you know, is a medical treatment which uses 100 percent oxygen, you know, given to the whole body in a pressure chamber.  And so these high levels of oxygen, you know, has dramatic effects on cells and speeds up the body’s natural healing process. 

So my thought was, you know, we’ve used this before for all types of plastic surgery, medical problems, you know, such as chronic infection or tissue that’s damaged, why not do this to, you know, help the body’s ability to reduce swelling, promote collegan formation and, you know, to kill any bacteria, to prevent infection.  And so that’s what we’re doing now.  We’re using it for, you know, for following rhinoplasty procedures.

Avril O’Connor:          So when a patient comes to you, do they have it before and after surgery?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Well, the reason why we want to do one procedure before is to have the patient see what it’s like and possibly just get them to relax, because the 100 percent oxygen in a pressurized chamber will – it’s one, it feels good, and it’s very relaxing, or at least it’s supposed to be, as long as, you know, you’re used to being into a smaller compartment.  And then we follow the treatments immediately the day after and start possibly three or four treatments.  And we can do that for all types of cosmetic procedures.

Avril O’Connor:          So how long will it – will you have to spend in – in the chamber to get the – to get the positive effects of the treatment?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Well, each treatment lasts for about one hour.  There’s approximately three to five treatments administered, you know, every day, starting the day after the procedure. 

Avril O’Connor:          And does this have any additional cost to the surgery?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Yes, this is elective, and the cost per treatment is approximately $250.  That’s U.S. dollars.

Avril O’Connor:          And is it recommended for all – do you recommend this for all of your treatments now as a standard procedure, and is – is it good for everybody?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Well, in regards to patients undergoing facial surgery, I give them the option.  Again, this is something that’s elective.  A lot of patients will come and they ask us, “What can we do to speed up our healing?” 

And we talk about, you know, hyperbaric oxygen and if you read about this information on our website, we also have scientific papers which they continue to peek at while they’re here also.  Not in regards to healing of plastic surgery, but for healing other, you know, and wound healing.  We also talk about something platelet gel, which is a a product from your own blood that we use, concentrated platelets to help speed up the healing.  So we give them different options and this is one of them.

Avril O’Connor:          And the platelet gel, how does that work?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Well, platelet gel is a product of your own blood while you’re, you know, sleeping, during anesthesia.  We take out about a cup of blood and we spin that blood down and get out the concentrated platelets.  Those platelets are concentrated about 10 to 15 times, you know, a normal dose, and we mix those platelets with factors that make, let’s say, growth factors or healing factors.  These factors are in the platelets, and they’re released.  And so there are things called growth factor and platelet drive growth factor, and they speed up the body’s healing, and we spray that gel on to the actual wound, and that gives us a concentrated, you know, dose of these healing factors.

Avril O’Connor:          And how often do you do that, or do you just do it once after the surgery?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Well, that’s only once in surgery.  So if we’re doing a face lift, we spray – spray it on to the wound.  Or if we’re doing a rhinoplasty, we spray it into the actual – inside the nose.

Avril O’Connor:          And so this – this speeds up healing and reduced scarring and swelling as well as the oxygen treatment?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      You know, nothing has really been proven to show that it reduces scarring, but this speeds up the healing and there have now been some scientific studies that show the platelet gel does speed up healing.  And they have animal studies now that will show that.  They’ve already shown the hyperbaric oxygen speeds up healing in many, many studies.  So we’re just using these two types of treatments in regards to plastic surgery, or even I assume this could be used really for any type of surgery.

Avril O’Connor:          What happens if you’re a smoker?  Does – does this sort of treatment actually – I mean, it’s obviously – people who smoke, they have less oxygen in their bloodstream, don’t they, than ordinary people.

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Yeah.  I mean, you know, smoking, you know, destroys the small capillaries, which are, you know, the little blood vessels that supply oxygen to the treatment.  And so in situations where the circulation is compromised, such as a smoker, or even blocked – which, first of all, I won’t perform the surgery on someone who’s smoking.  They have to stop at least six weeks before.  But what this compressed oxygen does, it allows the oxygen to reach these damaged tissues, or healing tissues. 

And that oxygen is what, you know, has the ability, you know, for the body to heal.  And so that’s what allows us to help – to condense the swelling and help you heal better.  So especially in someone who’s already smoked or is a diabetic or somebody’s who’s got poor circulation, this is delivering oxygen to that area where sometimes their supply is not that great.

Avril O’Connor:          So it’s really worth paying this little bit of extra money to – to make sure that your outcome is – is actually almost perfect, really.

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Well, I mean, you know, again, we can’t show that, because there hasn’t been any studies that show that, but it just makes sense.  If someone wants to do everything they can to heal, this is one fantastic option.

Avril O’Connor:          So, Dr. Nassif, how many of your patients actually elect to have this treatment?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      I’d say about half of them decide to go ahead and have the treatment.

Avril O’Connor:          And where can they read more about it if they – if they want to find out a little bit more?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Well, we have some of the information on our website, which is www.spaldingplasticsurgery.com.  Spalding is S-P-A-L-D-I-N-G.

Avril O’Connor:          And you – you’re an expert, though, in rhinoplasty and also in – in facial surgery.  Those are your – those are your specialist areas.

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Yes, I’d say about 85 percent of my practice is in rhinoplasty, which is nose surgery, and about 65 percent of that is revision surgery, or operating on someone who had a previous poor result from rhinoplasty.  As a matter of fact, we have a lot of patients from England.

Avril O’Connor:          Oh, that’s interesting.  And where do they come from in the UK?  All over?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Yeah, all over.  I’d probably say we have about two or three a month that fly in for surgery.  I also do facial surgery, and, you know, the goal with all my face surgery is, you know, we want to try to get a very natural look and have nothing that looks like appears that you’ve had surgery.  We just want to make sure that you look good.

Avril O’Connor:          So how do you – how do you do that, then, with the scars and that sort of thing?  I know there’s new stitching techniques these days.

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Well, you know, one of the ways that we’re able to minimize scarring and to, you know, help elevate the upper and the middle part of the face is through the use of an endoscope.  And the endoscope is a small camera which we place a small incision and we’re able to lift up the eyebrows, we’re able to elevate the middle part of the face and the cheek area.  Some of the newer ways we’re able to give fullness, which is important to the face, because as you get older, you deflate and things fall, is by fat grafting. 

In regards to the good old standard of a lower face lift, you just want to make sure that your doctor is meticulous in, you know, making sure the incisions are closed properly and to lift everything in a vertical way, and that’s why I have something called the anti-gravity face lift.  It’s for lifting everything up, again is against gravity.  Gravity brings everything down, we want to bring it back up.

Avril O’Connor:          If – if somebody from the UK wanted to have that done, how would they – what would the consultation procedure be and the down time, and how long would they have to spend in – in Beverly Hills?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Well, usually what happens, you know, we have a wonderful patient care coordinator who’s name is Jade Gerard, and she from Englans, as a matter of fact.  And on our website, there’s information you can read about how we set up these, you know, from patients that come out of state and out of the country, and you contact her through the website.  And then what we’ll do is we’ll usually have a patient send in photos and we’ll try to do everything online prior.  You know, and by a few phone calls the patient – and we’ll try to schedule everything.  And then they’ll fly in and have the surgery, you know, one or two days after meeting me, and stay for approximately two weeks.

Avril O’Connor:          Do they stay in your clinic?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      And we also have doctors.  I have some friends of mine in – in your country now.  If I need them to examine a patient after or take a peek or something, I have someone out there.

Avril O’Connor:          Oh, so there is all of – all of the usual, you know, follow up.

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Absolutely, absolutely.

Avril O’Connor:          And the non-gravity facelift, what – what’s special about that?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      You know, it’s just – it’s just more of a, you know, a coined term anti-gravity, but realistically, it’s taking, you know, everything, whether it’s the eyebrow, the cheeks, the neck, the lower part of the face, and putting it back where it used to be, rather than causing unnatural pull, and that unnatural pull can be messing up the face or pulling the cheeks sideways.  This way, we’re lifting everything in a vertical manner.

Avril O’Connor:          And what about the neck?  Does that get included or –

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Yeah, the neck, that’s the only thing that - it’s not pulled completely, you know, vertically, obviously.  It’s pulled to the side, but also on the sides of it, we lift it up also.  So the – some of the muscle is pulled up in a vertical fashion.  And for the – the remainder of it is pulled up in a – almost to the side, but not completely.

Avril O’Connor:          And how long does the procedure, the operation, actually take?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Well, it really depends on what we’re going do.  If we’re going to do a full face, which involves rejuvenation of the complete face and the eyes and possibly adding fat, that can be a good seven hour procedure. 

Avril O’Connor:          Okay.  And how – and what’s the down time after that?  Do we get a lot of bruising or is it minimal these days?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Well, I mean, the bruising, you know, can be decreased with one good surgical, you know, care such as when I’m in the operating room and taking care of the tissue, but also the platelet gel and the hyperbaric oxygen helps decrease in the bruising.  But, yes, there is always some bruising, and as I mentioned, you need about two weeks before you look pretty good following the full face procedure to get back in, you know, out around everybody else.  And also for the nose, I’d say about two weeks.

Avril O’Connor:          And – but not a lot of bruising these days?  I mean, we wouldn’t have to go into hiding for about a month afterwards?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      No.  I mean, you know, a lot of people usually will go out in public in about a week.

Avril O’Connor:          Oh, okay.

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      You know, during that first week, you know, you can’t – it really depends on how you heal.  You know, everyone is individualized and some people heal faster than others.  But again, with the use of some of these other therapies, we can speed up the healing.

Avril O’Connor:          Do you – do you use Arnica?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      We do use Arnica after the surgery, starting the next day.  We do use the Arnica Montana.  We also make sure before surgery we’re taking something called ketamine, which is Vitamin K, which helps the clotting, so you won’t bleed as much.  So we do everything we can and make sure the patient is also taking vitamin C and, you know, having pineapple extract for healing.  Anything at all that’s possible to help healing, we go for.

Avril O’Connor:          Okay.  And how much does it cost to have an anti-gravity face lift in Beverly Hills with you performing the operation?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Well, it can – depending on what we’re gonna do, it can range anywhere from $15,000 to $30,000 U.S.

Avril O’Connor:          But it’s probably cheaper for us British cause I think the exchange rate is – is in our favor.

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      Well, that’s one of the reasons why we –

Avril O’Connor:          You’re getting –

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      We have a lot of patients from England, even though they, you know, coming out to Beverly Hills where hopefully some of the best surgery in the world is.  But also they make it a holiday because they are saving some money because of the exchange rate.

Avril O’Connor:          And Dr. Nassif, what is your phone number for patients to call your consultancy so that they can find out some more?

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      You know, our phone number is area code 310.  I don’t know what the international code is for the United States, but the area code 310-275-2467.

Avril O’Connor:          Dr. Nassif, thank you very much.  That was all very interesting and very exciting.  And obviously with the exchange rate it’s – it’s a good reason to go to Beverly Hills now.  Thank you.

Dr. Paul S. Nassif:      It was my pleasure, my pleasure.