May 8, 2017

Meet Dr. Dave E. David, M.D. of Medical Face and Body Aesthetics in West Roxbury

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Dave E. David, M.D.

Dr. David, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Having been raised in Hollywood, Florida, I received my Bachelor’s Degree from The University of Florida in 1974, graduating with Honors and on The President’s Honor Roll.

I then attended The University of South Florida College of Medicine from 1975-1978, where I was president of my medical school class, finishing in 3 years. I then received my Internship Certificate through Harvard, and completed my residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology in 1982 through the Harvard and Tufts Hospitals, after which I moved to California and was in private practice in Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, California.

A friend of mine (who’s wife’s baby I delivered, was a prominent Cosmetic Surgeon in my office building and was the Cosmetic Surgeon “to the stars”, treating many of the most famous celebrities out there. He, being one of the pioneers of liposuction in this country and the president of the American Liposuction Surgery Society, asked me if I wanted to learn to do liposuction. At first I declined, because my OB/GYN so so busy, that I didn’t have a free minute to take on something new.

My patients, however, on whom I would perform gynecologic surgery (hysterectomies, Cesarean sections, etc.) would often (half kiddingly, but half seriously) ask me if I could “take out a little fat” while I was in there. After hearing this quite a bit, I approached my friend and said that I’d be interested in learning to perform lipo. I then began attending liposuction courses given by him and others in Las Vegas and in southern California and became certified in liposuction. He then offered to introduce me to the original pioneers of liposuction in both Paris and Rome, and so I went overseas and studied one on one with the doctor in Rome and the doctor and Paris. Lo and behold: Both of them AND the doctor who “invented liposuction (in Paris) were all gynecologists!

I then performed liposuction with my friend and colleague in Newport Beach, in his office.

As the years past, I continued to practice Obstetrics and Gynecology both in southern California, also treating many celebrities. While I was practicing, I was also an Assistant Clinical Professor of OB/GYN at The University of California, Irvine Medical School. Also in the late 1980’s I produced and hosted the instructional video “Making Womb For Baby”, which was available through Blockbuster video.

In 1993, after having married out there and having my first 2 sons, I chose to move back to the Boston area, where I thought it would be a more “normal” environment to raise my sons (and my subsequent 3rd son).. I then continued my OB/GYN practice in Medfield, Mass, until 1996.

Having always being interested in health, fitness and weight management (having helped my OB patients lose their weight after pregnancy, etc.), I opened up a weight loss center in Needham, MA. My weight loss program was featured on the cover of Women’s World Magazine and I produced the audio program “Secrets To A Slimmer You”.
During this time, I was also acting as a medical-legal consultant and joined the team at United Health Care and soon thereafter, became Medical Director of United Health Care. During all this time, I stayed busy, teaching at Harvard (part time), as well as teaching Human Anatomy and also Human physiology at The University of Rhode Island for 7 years.

Over the years (actually beginning in the late 80’s) I have been involved in the national media, having appeared in several infomercials (or Beach Body and other renowned companies) with many celebrities, including members of the KARDASHIAN family, Joan Rivers, Farrah Fawcett, Marilu Henner, etc., and appeared as a medical news analyst for CNN, Fox News Channel, and regularly live at the news desk at NECN for about a year. I also was a frequent guest on many of the national talk shows and hosted my own local TV show in the Boston area in the 90’s (“There’s A Doctor In The House”).

Since I’d been interested in health, wellness and anti-aging for so long, when Botox and dermal fillers started becoming popular, I became certified in non-surgical facial rejuvenation and began helping people turn back the clock, since I had always had an artistic side to me and an eye for symmetry.

I then opened Medical Face & Body Aesthetics. Soon thereafter, minimally invasive forms of liposuction became available and I became very interested in this, since I had had the great training and experience with conventional liposuction in the 1980’s. So during the first decade of the 2000’s, I became certified in Smart Lipo, which was quite a step up from conventional liposuction. Soon thereafter, liposuction technology advanced to the point where it had evolved into VASER lipo. After seeing the results of VASER (which utilizes ultrasound energy to first liquify the fat prior to its removal, I became even more excited. So now, in addition to the patients being able to undergo lipo that used such small instruments, and the patients not having to be put to sleep, I was realizing what a fast recovery they had, with minimal discomfort (both during, and after the procedure) and they had great results.

With the utilization of the ultrasound portion of the procedure, it became evident that even the hardest and firmest tissue (such as the male breast) was actually able to be removed using liposuction, where that was not possible using conventional lipo. Additionally, it had been found that VASER had such a skin tightening effect, that being able to perform VASER on people’s necks without ending up with a “turkey neck”, was fabulous. The same was true for being able to perform liposuction on women’s arms, without sagging skin.

My practice, Medical Face & Body Aesthetics, incorporates only myself as the only doctor, performing all of the liposuction and facial rejuvenation, myself, not utilizing nurse practitioners or physician assistants. For patients who want a completely non-invasive procedure, we offer Coolsculpting which requires no downtime, on incisions, scars or compression garments.

We have a small office staff comprised of very warm caring people and we know all of our patients very well. At the free consultation, the patients get to have all of their questions answered by my staff and by me, and I get to personally evaluate which (if any) procedure the patient is a candidate for.

All of my VASER lipo patients get a call at home that night from me, to check on how they’re doing. They also have of course, follow up visits.

The most rewarding part of my work (for me) is seeing my patients back post operatively and seeing how happy they are and how their lives have changed (this is particularly true of men who have suffered all of their lives with “man boobs”, never wanting to take off their shirts or wear tight shirts.

Over the years, I have performed several thousand VASER liposuctions and my patients come from all over New England and from other parts of the country for their lipo with me. I also get quite a number of referrals for corrective lipo, where patients have had previous lipo elsewhere, where they’re not happy with their results.

I feel that doctors can be good at a lot of different procedures, but nobody can be great at EVERYTHING. That’s why for many years now, the ONLY procedures I perform are VASER lipo and Botox and facial fillers. That’s all I do, day in and day out and I love my work and my patients are very special to me. As far as the Botox and facial fillers, I pride myself in never making my patients look fake or phony. I think less is more. So a subtle lip enhancement without looking like a duck, or a small amount of Botox where they don’t look frozen, is what I go for. I want my patients to have people say to them that they look great, but not be able to figure out why…….not that they “had something done”.

My patients and I also have a lot of fun in the office and even during surgery. Our surround system will blast 60’s music (or whatever the patients want) during surgery, as they often sing along with the music. Some patients just want quiet spa music……and we have that, too.

The one thing I have to say, though, is that it’s one thing to be able to help patients who pay you to look good, but I feel that God has blessed me with talent and compassion, and since I always have looked at myself as a doctor first and a specialist second, I also like to give back and use my knowledge and skills as a physician and surgeon, around the world where people are less fortunate.

Therefore, I traveled to south Asia after the devastating 2004 tsunami and led an emergency surgical team to treat patients and did the same thing after the tragic earthquake in Haiti in 2010. I feel we should all use the gifts God gave us to help those who need our help.

Has it been a smooth road?
Fortunately it has been a smooth road, as I try to keep up with the changes in medicine and especially in specialty.

One struggle I have is overworking myself sometimes. In addition to office patients, new consults, follow ups, Botox and fillers, I perform about 10 VASER procedures a week. I am at the age now, when I should start working less and enjoying life more, but I end up giving in too often, because I don’t like to see patients disappointed when they go to book their surgery and have to wait so long to have it performed.

The challenges are the rare times we have a patient with unrealistic expectations. We try to be sure that they fully understand what realistic expectations are from any cosmetic procedure, and that while almost all of my patients are very, very happy with their care and results, the rare patient who is not, is unsettling to me, because I’m the kind of person who in every aspect of my life, likes to make everybody happy (as unrealistic as that might be).

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Medical Face & Body Aesthetics story. Tell us more about the business.
I think what sets me apart from others, is not just my vast experience, but I am absolutely obsessive about my work and trying to get everything as perfect as possible, but also we love getting to know our patients and we have so much compassion for them.

I always say, “People don’t care what you know, ’til they know that you care”.

I think I’m very fortunate that I’ve been blessed with the gifts that I have. I’m not sure if you call it luck or not. I think the course our life takes, though, has a lot to do with our attitude, our generosity, our caring about people and our communication.

I also tend to advertise my practice on radio and TV, and chose to write, produce and host all of my own commercials, as I think the patient (or viewer) should see and hear who will be treating them and feel a sense of connection with a real human being. I like to look them right in the eye on my TV commercials and talk directly to the individual. I’m quote a couple of times a month in the national tabloid magazines, for my opinions on celebrities’ cosmetic procedures, etc., but that’s very impersonal. I much more enjoy connecting directly with people.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Cosmetic Surgery, like all of medicine is very rapidly changing. The half-life of medicine is 10 years, which means half of what we know now, was not even known 10 years ago and that in 10 years, half of what we know now, will be obsolete.

We have gone from very invasive, high risk, procedures, to minimally invasive and non-invasive procedures with fewer risks and side effects. This trend will continue in the right direction for a long time to come.

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