For decades I have been privileged to help rebuild and enhance the lives of many individuals in Rancho Mirage and Beverly Hills, California. Whether treating a child with a cleft lip or performing a breast reconstruction, I remain committed to improving on an individual's natural beauty with the latest techniques in cosmetic and aesthetic plastic surgery as well as delivering the highest quality care.

I think you will agree that trust matters most. I educate each of my patients so that they can make an intelligent and informed decision and be a full partner in a successful healing process. Being open and honest with my patients as to what they can anticipate in the way of results and potential risks and complications is extremely important. I would not perform a procedure on one of my patients that I would not willingly perform on a member of my own family. I have always looked at my work as the patient. It is someone who has entrusted and given me the privilege to operate on them and, in turn, to enable them to feel better about themselves.

Once the decision is made to go ahead with surgery, I bring a thoughtfully considered, aesthetic sense to the surgical procedure. The science - and the art - of plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery rests with the kind of individualized care I have provided to my patients over the past 30 years.

Facelift
The secret to a great facelift is a combination of several recent advances in other surgeries. Now the face can be lifted nearly vertically, whereas in the old days it was more of a backwards pull. That sometimes resulted in that fake “windblown” look. Thankfully, our results today purely repair what gravity and time took a way. A rested, more youthful look.

The face has three thirds.  The face itself is surrounded by the neck below and the brow/forehead above.  We always have a consult prior to surgery to determine what is “out of place” and how to fix it.  Foreheads are often handled with tiny incisions and lifted with the help of a scope, which is a wand with a camera lens running through it.

The operation has improved so much because of the resulting lower impact, faster healing, hidden and minimized scars and improved closing techniques. We now borrow liposuction techniques such as Tumescent to separate the tissues with minimal trauma to the cells.  Often times tissue glue is used instead of or in addition to sutures. The glue also allows me to permit the patient to be bandage free and return to an active life sooner. Most people just take a week off of work, rather than the two or three weeks that used to be the norm. So today’s facelift is a composite operation, borrowing the best components of other surgical techniques.

Breast Enhancement
One of my breast patients told me I had given her the “best accessories a girl can have”. She was responding to the fact that her pre-operative appearance did not take any kind of advantage of the cultural and fashion impact of the feminine figure. She was athletic and curvy, but had very little “up top”. Breast implants completed a figure she felt was incomplete and was very happy with the result. Although some of her friends were a little jealous.

It is natural for the female breast to change over the course of a lifetime but some of those changes are not welcome. That’s where surgery comes in. We can restore the youthful fullness and weightlessness to the bosom or give our patients a figure they never had but always wanted. Factors that change the breast shape and size are age, weight fluctuation and childbirth (especially multiple children) and breast-feeding.

Breast surgery is broken down into three categories, with some mixing of all three procedures. There is simple Breast Augmentation: making the breasts larger. There is Mastopexy, or breast lifting: making them higher. There is Breast Reduction: making them smaller. One example of a combination is a “breast lift with implants”, which, is a Breast Augmentation and Mastopexy combined.

Breast Augmentation. The safest and most reliable way to enlarge breasts is with an implant. These soft, round or tear drop shaped silastic prostheses go behind the breast and often behind some musculature as well. So your natural breast is sitting atop a convex chest wall, rather than a concave or flat one. Some percentage of your result is implant but often, most of what is seen, felt and caressed is your natural breast. Just better. Implants are all covered with the same material, silastic, which is a medical plastic. It covers nearly every implantable device ever dreamed of, including heart valves, pace makers, insulin pumps, facial implants and even contraceptive implants. It is very well tolerated by the body and it is the only part of the implant that comes in contact with you. The filling material is contained within. The implant can be filled with saline (salt water) or silicone. There are advantages to both, but they are different. What I would recommend for you will vary upon so many factors; the best course is to have a personal consultation on the matter.

Mastopexy - Lifting the breast comes down to taking in the “skin brassiere”. Think about it, the natural breast has two parts: skin and parenchyma. Parenchyma is the word for the substance of the breast, it’s the ductal tissue and fat that makes up the breast volume. If you have more skin than you need, a “skin reduction” will fix the problem. The postoperative experience is great! When you take off your bra, the breasts just stay right there.

Breast Reduction - Reducing breasts is like a miracle. If you saw the operation, you’d be amazed. I know I was while in training. Breast reduction involves removing sections of the breast tissue and skin that you don’t need and sculpting the remainder into a nice, cone shaped natural breast. We do all this while preserving the natural architecture and function of the breast gland in most cases. That’s right, often times you can still breast feed after breast reduction.

Nose Surgery
Few other plastic surgery operations have the impact and benefit of rhinoplasty. After all, everyone has a nose and it’s right there, in the middle of your face. There is even that old saying: It’s as plain as the nose on your face! So when a nose has distracting or incongruous characteristics, it can be the cause of sadness. But the “nose job” is probably the most famous of all plastic surgery. Everyone knows that noses get “done” so you don’t have to live with a nose you don’t like. Even so, lots of people are afraid of the operation, worried that it won’t come out right or everyone will know they did it.

Natural looking nose surgery results are the norm today. Ninety-something percent of nose results look so natural that no one knows it’s been done. If anything, the result of nasal surgery creates a nose that “fits in” with the other facial characteristics so that the result looks more natural than the nose you were born with. Natural noses, it’s the expert plastic surgeons mantra.

Advanced techniques have made Rhinoplasty a very low impact, short recovery operation. Using minimally invasive anesthesia techniques, our patients recover quickly and painlessly. While bruising is possible, it doesn’t always happen and most patients are quite happy with their results in a week. That is not to say that there is no swelling at that time, because there is. But the swelling often mimics the pre-operative appearance, so it’s not conspicuous. Then as the swelling subsides, the beautiful, handsome results kind of sneak up on you so no one notices the change.

Tummy Tuck
The suffix “plasty” in the name of many plastic surgery operations means: to shape, mold or form. It comes from the Greek work plasticos. Abdominoplasty is surgery that shapes the abdomen.

A “tummy tuck” as it’s often called uses advanced surgical techniques to tighten the muscles and remove excess skin and fat. The operation takes about two hours and does what few other plastic surgery operations do. It can result in a fit, rock hard abdomen.

We most often do what we call a “full tummy tuck”, in which the benefit of the surgery goes all the way from the pubis to the rib cage. Abdominal scars and striae (stretch marks) are often removed as a normal part of the procedure. The incision, while the primary concern of every pre operative patient is rarely an issue post-op. It heals well and is easily concealed in even risqué fashions.

Sometimes a “mini-tummy tuck” is recommended. It is an abbreviated operation intended for those who just have a problem from the belly button downwards. The incision is shorter too, not unlike a C-Section incision but better, obviously. We sometimes refer to the combination of breast augmentation or lifting and a mini tummy tuck as the “Mommy Make-over”. Because it restores the attributes that childbirth of two or three children tend to take away.

Liposuction
Liposuction has gone through many incarnations over the years. It was invented in Italy in the sixties, but only became popular after a high profile French surgeon published good results a decade later. In the eighties it was unclear who the best candidates for the procedure were. Was it an operation to make obese people thin? Or was it best suited for those who barely needed it, people with a single “figure flaw” or two? Later in the eighties the health club scene proliferated and more “ideal” liposuction candidates presented themselves.

In the nineties more changes occurred. Power assisted liposuction came along, as well as “ultrasonic lipo”, which is akin to today’s “smart lipo”. These are all inventions that add something to the tip of the cannula (the liposuction instrument) that dissolves the fat that is to be removed.

My key to success with liposuction has boiled down to two things. One, developing the talent and artistry of sculpting the body with thin, low impact instruments while using a combination of tumescent and sedation anesthesia. And two, choosing the patients best suited to the procedure, people who have reasonable expectations and are willing to do their part to insure a great result.

At the end of the day, liposuction is sculpting. It’s an art. And in my practice satisfaction rates are very, very high. Think about it, an outer thigh has four elements to consider but only one of them (the fat) is adjustable with liposuction. The other three elements are skin (it’s elasticity), muscle and skeletal architecture. It takes a lot of experience to know what to do, how to do it and upon whom it should be done. That’s why my practice is filled with so many happy, healthy and shapely people.

Eyelid surgery
Eyelid surgery is called Blepharoplasty. Most people think they have two eyelids, but you actually have four. Uppers and lowers. The problems that develop with eyelids over the years are fatty herniations that look puffy and stretch the skin over time. This results in bags and laxity that are easily corrected with surgery to restore a rested, younger look.

Eyes are the window to the soul. But the eyelids are the frame-work to that window. So they have to complement the individual. Blepharoplasty can make the eyes look “bigger” by removing encroaching tissue from the corners, but the true shape of the eye is not changed with surgery. Your eyes can be done as a solitary procedure, but are most often combined with another operation such as a facelift.

New advanced techniques enable us to provide a beautiful result in less time than you would think. Often times the eyelid puffs can be removed from an inside-the-eyelid approach for a completely invisible incision. Incision-less surgery sounds kind of futuristic but it’s here now!

MALE BREAST REDUCTION - Gynecomastia
Nothing will force an otherwise healthy, happy young man to become an introvert the way excessive formation of breast tissue does. It is an actual medical condition called GYNECOMASTIA. It is not normal and should be corrected with a simple excisional procedure that results in a flat, normal male chest. The operation makes a world of difference psychologically.

We often hear from concerned parents or the young male adults themselves. They are wearing two or even three T-shirts to hide the chest, they change their clothes in the bathroom stall instead of in the boy’s locker room and sometimes they just plain refuse to take their shirts off in public or at the pool or beach.

The corrective procedure is conceptually one of the simplest in plastic surgery. The excessive breast tissue is partially fat and partially ductal breast tissue. Often times the simple liposuction of the chest is enough. If the ductal tissue is also excessive, we make a tiny incision on the perimeter of the areola (nipple). It heals inconspicuously and the resulting flat chest makes a huge difference on our patients immediately. I can honestly say I have never in my career known someone to regret having this done. As a surgeon it is one of the most gratifying things I do for my patients.

Body Lifting
With technical advances and minimally invasive techniques, more people are having bariatric surgery (Lap-Band, gastric bypass etc.) than ever.  Many formally-obese patients come in to see us having lost 100 pounds and more.  While this is a healthy change for these individuals, the effect on the skin can be devastating to an otherwise happy person.  That’s where we come in!

Nearly anything on the body can be lifted.  Necks, arms, breasts, knees and thighs.  The incisions may be extensive but with expert plastic surgery technique and post operative laser treatments, they are rarely of concern to our patients.  We sometimes stage these procedures, which means having several surgeries a few months apart.

The “biggest hit” is usually the tummy.  Often times we do a Belt Lipectomy which is like a tummy tuck on the tummy which we continue around and do the same thing on the back.  This is usually a stand-alone procedure, meaning we do that operation and nothing else.  Arms, thighs and breasts are usually done ins some sort of combination, depending on the person, their health and how much weight they lost.

The goal of body lifting surgery is “to look good in clothes”.  Even minimal clothes.  The other goal is to love the way you look!

Facial Implants
Facial implant surgery is one of the most fun plastic surgery operations to do. For the surgeon, that is. Who can ask for more? Great results, minimal swelling, immediate results and a happy patient are the norm.

By far, the most common facial implant surgery is chin implant. This procedure offers numerous benefits with very little trauma or recovery. The proper chin implant makes up for a deficiency that may have always been there, may correct the illusion of jowliness, or just strengthen the jaw line in a complementary way. No matter, the results are immediate, the swelling and recovery are minimal.

Cheekbone implants, jaw and nasal implants are also available. Facial implant operations are low impact because the surgery, by its very nature is minimal. The surgeon creates a pocket, puts an implant in it and closes the incision. No wonder the recovery is minimal!

Non-surgical injection Rhinoplasty  
You may have heard about it in the media, because it sounds too good to be true. Imagine having your nose done without the “surgery experience”. No anesthesia, no time off work, no pain, no bruising and minimal expense. Well, for the small percentage of patients with unsatisfactory nose shape, non-surgical rhinoplasty isn’t a dream. It’s here.

Injecting medications into depressed, indented nasal defects isn’t new. “Tissue clay”, which was simply the patient’s own blood mixed with medical gelatin had its fifteen minutes of fame twenty years ago. The problem was that is was not permanent. In fact it didn’t last long at all and contributed to scarring. That scarring would complicate any future attempts at injection and surgery.

Radiesse - is a newly approved injectable with an excellent safety record. This user-friendly material is a reasonable choice for limited use in the nose on some patients. It is calcium hydroxylapatite (which is kind of like a man-made bone dust) and a gel which is water-and-glycerin based (which is a carrier for the dust). It comes in a 1.3 cc syringe and is ready to use with just a touch of local anesthesia.

Who is a good candidate for injection rhinoplasty? The perfect patient has a low volume depression (which is often caused by trauma or a previous surgery) on the dorsum (silhouette) where the bony portion of the nose meets the lower, soft cartilaginous portion. The perfect patient would also have reasonable expectations and be disinclined to choose surgery or be a poor choice for surgery.

Our practice has patients who are four years post-injection with excellent results. We cannot promise to every patient that it is permanent yet, but it looks very promising. Only in a face-to-face consultation with a plastic surgeon can you find out if you are a candidate for non-surgical injection rhinoplasty.

Scar Revisions
I can’t tell you how many times I get a referral from a dermatologist or other clinician to remove a lesion because the resulting scar location would be in a location that is “of concern”. My natural question would be, when is the scar not of concern? Cancerous or benign, the precise and exact technique of a Plastic Surgeon is a good thing when it comes to removing lesions or scars.

If lesions are removed in a thorough and accurate way, there is less likelihood of a recurrence or missed tumor. If a scar is excised in a subtle and delicate manner, there is less stimulation for the body to respond with scarring and inflammation. The credo of all doctors is “do no harm” but the credo of the plastic surgeon is “cause no scar”. While no one is perfect, I think our scars (or lack thereof) rival the best of them.

Scar revision involves the removal of a scar by excision and immediately reconstructing it with plastic surgery techniques. With our abilities, we can confidently predict when our resulting scar will be significantly better than scars acquired from trauma, acne or other surgeries. Rarely do we encounter patients more appreciative than those upon whom we have made a problematic scar inconspicuous.

National Science Foundation Grant Winner
American Association for the Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgical Facilities, Inc.
Fellow of American College of Surgeons
Fellow, International College of Surgeons
Fellow, American Academy of Facial, Plastic and Reconstructive Surger

Graduated with High Honors, Woodrow Wilson High School, Long Beach, California
B.S., with Honors in Biological Sciences, The University of California at Irvine
M.D., with Honors in Medicine. The University of Southern California of Medicine
Surgical Resident, Department of Surgery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles

County Medical Center
Resident and Chief Resident, Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Facial Plastic Surgery, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California
Resident and Chief Resident, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Lenox Hill Hospital, The Cornell University School of Medicine, New York, New York
Diplomate, American Board of Plastic Surgery.
Diplomate, American Board of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery.
Diplomate, American Board of Cosmetic Surgery.
Diplomate, American Board of Medical Examiners.
Phi Beta Kappa, California Chapter

Assistant Clinical Professor of Plastic Surgery, The Darthmouth Medical College
Assistant Clinical Professor of Plastic Surgery, The University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Assistant Clinical Professor of Plastic Surgery, UCLA School of Medicine

Century City Hospital, Beverly Hills California
Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, New York
Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Infirmary, New York, New York
New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, New York, New York

Revealing the New You, A Guide to Plastic Surgery
Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Plastic Surgery
Otoplasty in Facial Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

American Society of Plastic Surgeons
American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
International Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Marquis Who's Who in Medicine and Health Care
Marquis Who's Who in America

Marquis Who's Who in the World... "which is limited to those individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their own fields of endeavor."

Co-Host of the hit Dr. Phil spinoff show:  “The Doctors”
Common guest on the Dr. Phil show including segments: What’s Up Doc?

National television on 20/20, 48 Hours, Sally Jessie Raphael, Leeza
Phil Donahue, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Hollywood, NBC News, ABC News, British Broadcasting Corporation and USA Today Allure, Glamour, Mademoiselle, On-line surgery.com, first to perform live surgery