Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon uses his patients liposuction fat to fuel his girlfriends SUV.

Liposuction fat as car fuel? This may be a marketable solution if gas gets up to $4 a gallon again.

via medical news today post:

A plastic surgeon who practised in Beverly Hills, California, is being accused of using human fat liposuctioned from former patients to fuel his car.

According to Forbes.com, Alan Bittner allegedly collected the human fat and turned it into biodiesel for his own SUV and his girlfriend's car. He is being investigated by California's public health department.

Numerous food processing companies are considering using waste products such as animal and vegetable fats as fuel: they are a rich source of triglycerides that can be converted to biodiesel. According to Forbes, Bittner wrote on his website that many of his patients asked him to use their fat as fuel. His website is no longer online.

However, although the idea itself may seem to satisfy "green" values, it is against the law in California to use what is essentially human medical waste as fuel for cars.

It appears it is not the patients that object to Bittner using their fat as car fuel; it was when health officials investigated complaints that the doctor allowed his unqualified girlfriend to perform procedures that they discovered evidence to suggest he was breaking the law by allegedly using waste human fat as a source of diesel fuel.

A lawyer who represents the patients who are suing Bittner told Forbes that the procedures performed by the girlfriend and an assistant resulted in too much fat being removed and this left the patients disfigured. Attorney Andrew Besser said lots of patients have made similar complaints to the state authorities.

The news agency reported that the investigations will probably be dropped because Bittner closed his clinic and moved to South America before Christmas.

Biodiesel is a non-petroleum-based diesel fuel comprising methyl or ethyl esters converted from vegetable oil or animal fat (industrially known as tallow), which can be used either on its own or with petroleum-based diesel in unmodified diesel engine vehicles. It is not the same as straight vegetable oil that is used alone or blended in some converted diesel engines

Chinese Plastic Surgery

It seems that you may very well have mental problems if you want plastic surgery in China according to this article:

"In general, about 30 percent of patients requesting plastic surgery are suffering from mental problems and are not suitable for an operation," Ye says. "For them, psychological therapy may be more important than an actual operation."

Should I open a medical spa?

Below is an example of the many emails I receive from doctors in residency. Many of these types of questions are from doctors in Family Practice but there are also quite a few from Plastic Surgery and Dermatology residents who don't want to be a lacky forever.

I've removed the name from the email but the questions are common so I thought I'd post this and see what sort of collective wisdom you more experienced doctors have for an about-to-be-graduate.

I am currently in my first year of Residency in Family Medicine. I am very interested in Aesthetic Medicine and in opening up a Cosmetic Spa when I am finished with my residency training. What are your suggestions in terms of how feasible this will be for me? Do I need to work for a few years as a general practioner before being able to proceed in this direction, or do I have the opportunity to dive straight into a cosmetic spa when I finish my training. I am hoping to use my elective time to learn cosmetic procedures. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
VJ, MD
University of Oklahoma

Medical students leaving Family Practice for Dermatology & Plastic Surgery.

Plastic surgery recession vs. vanity?

The economy sucks, discretionary spending is down, and now begin the reports of a plastic surgery recession.

Of course, the talking heads have been wrong before. The press only runs two stories... ever.

How great something is. And then, how we've just found out that what we thought was great really sucks.

Here's an example of a story on the start of a plastic surgery recession via MSNBC:

The bad economy is causing some faces to fall, and Botox is no longer an option for lifting them.

Plastic surgeons are the latest to report their bubble has burst.

The "New York Times" reports fewer tummies are getting tucked and buttock implants have bottomed out.

When the American Society of Plastic Surgeons surveyed its members, some 62-percent reported performing fewer procedures in the first half of this year.

Some purveyors of surgical perfection admitted they're now letting some patients negotiate fees.

Both fashion and medical experts who study the industry agree that austerity is making a comeback.

More people now worry more about mortgage payments than cellulite.

One analyst reported a 30-to-40 percent drop in business in image-obsessed Or ange County, California.

Faces frozen from Botox injections have gone the way of overpriced SUVs, expert say, while wrinkles are the new black

Of course, they may be correct. But, then again, cosmetic plastic surgeons are in the vanity business, and vanity is as constant as the Northern Star.

Now comes word from The Wall Street Journal that plastic surgery is having a recession heyday!

"Vanity appears to be trumping frugality in a looks-conscious society," reads the fist line of a piece titled "Keeping Up Appearances in a Downturn."

It goes on to say that plastic surgeons reported an increased demand this fall for minimally invasive procedures. (O.K., so the two newspapers agree on actual face lifts.)

"Things are so bad [in financial markets] that investments aren't even worthwhile anymore, so people are investing in themselves," the paper quotes an Omaha-based dermatologist, who treats a patient named Maralyn Barr.

Ms. Barr lost her job in June as a district sales manager for bookstore chain Borders Group Inc. She is $140,000 in debt from her 22-year-old daughter's education. She has cut back on eating out and other lavish spending, but not her Restylane and Botox injections. "It's like comfort food," she said.

Huh? Botox and Restylane instead of real food? As I said, vanity is as constant as the Northern Star.

Dallas Plastic Surgery: Lecture on Restylane, Perlane & Radiesse.

Medical Spa MD Membership Launches!

If you've been waiting patiently after becoming a Medical Spa MD Member, your wait is over.

Welcome to Medical Spa MDs new Membership Program as one of our thousands of physician and pro members!

You should be receiving your invitation and first message and free file downloads via Sendside in the next few hours.

(If you haven't received an invitation and you know you've joined; First, check your spam folder, it might be there. With thousands of messages going out there may be a few that fall through the gaps and take a little longer.)

When you receive your invitation via Sendside make sure you join! It's the only way you'll recieve the information and files.

We’re using Sendside as our membership communication platform for a number of reasons.

• First, it’s completely secure and even HIPPA compliant. (It’s used by banks, hedge funds and boards of directors already.)

• Second, It allows me to interact with you in ways not possible before. I can send legally binding contracts and see when you’ve read a message for example.

• Third, It allows us to do some truly revolutionary things that can’t be done with email. (You’ll notice that I’ve actually sent the entire web site in this first message using the tabs above.)

• Lastly, the Personal Edition account you’re in right now is free for you. Medical Spa MD is picking up the tab.

You will have received a message from Sendside as well that explains more about Sendside’s awesome abilities. Suffice it to say, you’re now right on the technology edge.

A  ZIP file willl be attached to your Sendside message. You’ll want to download it to your computer and unzip it to access them. (For those of you who are technology challenged I’ve added instructions.)

The files that are included:

• Medical Spa MD – Employee Handbook
• Medical Spa MD – Employment Contract
• Medical Spa MD – Front Desk Manual
• Form5.4.3 - Notes IPL Treatment
• Proceedure.1.3.1 – New Patient Charts
• Proceedure.2.2.4 – Taking Patient Photos

(The entire business plan, operations and training manuals, procedures, forms, and system will be made available shortly as some sort of paid plan.)

You’ll also notice that there are some tabs at the top of your Sendside message that have Classified Ad Listings and Sponsorship Opportunities. If you’ve got medspa items you’d like to sell go ahead and list them. It’s free, which is a fantastic price.

Please give some thought as well to helping keep Medical Spa MD in business by sponsoring a link to your medspa in our Medical Spa Directory. It’s cheap and you can cancel through Paypal at any time.

If you're a legitimate business you should also consider becomming a Medical Spa MD Select Partner by filling out the form or advertise or sponsor links on Medical Spa MD here.

So, enjoy the files, look through the tabs, and revel in your free Sendside account. If you haven't yet joined, now's the time.

Medical Spa MD: Membership Launch

If you've one of the 2,283 Members who have already joined Medical Spa MD you should be receiving your first downloads and reports in the next few days.

If you're a plastic surgeon, dermatologist, aesthetic physician, medical provider, technology provider or pro working in cosmetic medicine, you're invited to join now and receive the first of our free medical spa reports.

Medical Spa Marketplace: Classified ads for medspas and physicians.

Medical Spa MD now has an area for classified ads where you can buy and sell individual items.

Since our previous classified ad provider closed down, I haven't been able to find a suitable replacement so I bit the bullet and created one to go along with the Select Partner program.

This new area is for INDIVIDUALS to list items they have for sale. (If you're looking to fill a position you could use it for that too.) It is NOT for businesses to list their products or services. Businesses that want to sell are invited to join the Select Partners program.

If you have something you want to sell, list it. It's free.

Update on 2008-12-12 01:57 by Medical Spa MD

Within the first 24 hours of adding the classifieds area for IPL's, lasers, and medical spa equipment and products we listed a Palomar 1064 and Fraxel 1500sr. Excellent.

If you have something you're looking to sell... list it. It's free, which is an incredible price.

Medical Spa MDs Select Partner Program!

    

The Medical Spa MD Select Partner Program is now here. Whew.

Over the last few years I've received a large number of requests from companies that provide products and services to cosmetic medical providers who want to offer services or information to Medical Spa MD Members and readers.

(Many of you will remember classified board that was here for a while. At last count I think it moved more than half a million dollars of IPL's and lasers as well as assorted medspa stuff.)

There are also a fair number of requests from members who are looking for guidance on buying technology or equipment and there's always been a tremendous amount of interest in forming some sort of physician buyers group to approace vendors for discounts.

To fill this demand I've created a section of the site for reputable companies that are already selling to medical spas to offer their services to Medical Spa MDs Members as well as the growing number of patients who are now visiting the site. Offers will be at a discount.

In the next few weeks I'll begin adding special offers to this page as we accept new cosmetic medical business suppliers into a Select Partner Program for Medical Spa MD members. If you're a reputable company who would like to become a Medical Spa MD Select Partner please let me know.

This program will provide an opportunity for vendors to get in front of the two thousand Medspa MD Members and tens of thousands of other physicians to provide savings on products and services. Members will be visible on this site and be included in Medical Spa MD's member communications.

If you would like become a Medical Spa MD Select Partner and offer your products or services on this site you may apply here.

Select Partners that sell on Medical Spa MD must:

• Be a legitimate business that currently sells to cosmetic medical providers.
• Provide a offer or price that is exclusive to Medical Spa MD Members and not generally available.
• Benefit Medical Spa MD.

I'f you know of a reputable company that sells products or services to medical spas and cosmetic medical practicies please let them know and we'll get them signed up and moving inventory.

P.S. Our spectrophotometer supplier has run out of inventory so they are not currently available. When I find another supplier I'll add them again.

Lumenis responds to Medical Spa MD's love and hate comments.

Lumenis seem to be some bad feelings towards some physicians who have posted comments on IPL and laser reviews and  Medical Spa MD physician clinical exchange forums.

Herer is the content of an email I received from Lumenis about comments in the forums of Medspa MD:

Message: Dear Sirs,

It has come to my attention that a physician has created a blog and has used foul language and misinformation as a campaign against the company Lumenis, Inc. This can be found at http://www.medicalspamd.com/clinical-user-groups-physician/post/588128#post591701. We are aware of this physician who has sent us profanity laden emails containing threats and libalous and malicious content. We are purusing this matter with our attorneys.

It appears that this same physician has created this blog, and is using several aliases to respond to his own questions and provide comments. Given the derisive nature of his comments, we are asking that you remove these unfortunate comments, as well as monitor future comments placed on this site.

I thank you in advance for your serious attention to this matter.

Regards,
Rob Ellis
VP Global Marketing
Lumenis

There was at least one other email I recieved immediately after this one from someone stating that they had been asked by Lumenis to look at who was posting these comments. This person represented themselves as being tech-savvy and stated as above that most of the comments were left by someone posing as multiple individuals and responding negatively to questions that they themselves had asked.

With thousands of physicians reading this site each month the forums are very valuable and recieve a tremendous amount of traffic. It can certainly hurt a companies reputaton to have their IPL's, lasers, and management trashed. This is a good place to note that while information valuable, it should not be taken as more than what it is. It's entirely possilble that Lumenis is correct and this doctor is attempting to use tactics that are less than truthful.

Be somewhat suspicious of unidentified comments and please only use one screen name. If you're found to be doing something like this you may have your IP address blocked and all of your comments removed. It's happened before.

On my side it's about all I can do to try to keep the spammers out. On some days this site can get more than 25 new spam comments. With the 20-40 legit comments and 6-10 emails that's a lot and it's why I'm moving to distribute content to Medspa MD members via Senside.

Medical Spa MD: Membership Downloads

Ahem... If you've been around Medspa MD for a while you'll have noticed some recent changes in the way things look and how some areas work. The forums have a new look and usability and (finally) when you click on a link to the right you'll be taken directly to that comment. (whew...)

Of even grater import is that Medical Spa MD Members will be recieveing the first of what I hope to be a long list of benefits for joining the site. (Join Medical Spa MD here.)

All Medical Spa MD Members will be recieving Medspa MD files using a new communication platform called Sendside.

While I haven't decided specifically what files to send, I'm leaning towards examples of patient admittance forms or esthetician / laser technician employee handbooks. (If you've got a thought feel free to leave it as a comment.)

These first downloads will be free. In the future that may not be the case so count yourselves among the lucky.

If you're a Medical Spa MD Member, accepting this Sendside invitation will allow you to immediately download the content and also provide you with a free Sendside account that you can use for free. I'll certainly be delving into Sendside in more depth but suffice it to say, you'll want to join.

One of the neater features that Sendside offers is the ability to control and restrict content. In fact, I'm embedding a video below that gives a greater overview of Sendside's capabilities and feature set.

So, if you haven't already joined Medical Spa MD... do it now, and make sure that you accept your Sendside invitation when it arrives.

(Note: All future members will recieve these files as well on something around a bi-weekly or monthly basis.)

If you haven't joined the more than 2000 Medical Spa MD Members already... do it now.

Efficacy of 3 different light doses in the treatment of actinic keratosis with 5-aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy.

Efficacy of 3 different light doses in the treatment of actinic keratosis with 5-aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy: a randomized, observer-blinded, intrapatient, comparison study.

J Am Acad Dermatol.  2005; 53(5):823-7 (ISSN: 1097-6787)

Radakovic-Fijan S; Blecha-Thalhammer U; Kittler H; Hönigsmann H; Tanew A
Division of Special and Environmental Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

BACKGROUND: Topical 5-aminolevulinic acid-based photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) has been established in recent years as an effective treatment for disseminated actinic keratosis (AK). As yet, however, data are lacking to define the optimal light dose for activation of ALA-induced protoporphyrin IX in AK.

OBJECTIVE: In the present study our purpose was to compare the efficacy and tolerability of 3 different doses of red light for ALA-PDT of AK. METHODS: Twenty-seven patients with at least 3 clearly definable, mild or moderate AKs on the scalp or face entered the study. After occlusion for 4 hours with 20% ALA, one AK each was irradiated at random with a single dose of 70, 100, or 140 J/cm2. PDT-induced pain was assessed by the patients by means of a visual analog scale that graded pain intensity between 0 and 10. Follow-up examinations were performed 1 and 3 months after PDT.

RESULTS: One month after PDT, the rate of complete remission (CR) was 89% for 70 J/cm2, 92% for 100 J/cm2, and 81% for 140 J/cm2. The CR rates at 3 months were 81% for 70 J/cm2, 77% for 100 J/cm2, and 69% for 140 J/cm2. No significant difference in therapeutic efficacy was found among the 3 light doses at either 1 month (P = .36) or 3 months (P = .96) after PDT. The degree of PDT-induced pain during irradiation was substantial and not statistically different (P = .06) for all 3 light doses.

LIMITATIONS: The conclusions from this study are limited by the small sample size and only apply to topical ALA-PDT.

CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that a red light dose of 70 J/cm2 may be sufficient for effective topical ALA-PDT of disseminated, mild to moderate AK on the face and scalp.