Check Out Michael Omidi’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Omidi.

Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a plastic surgeon specializing in the face and nose. Besides facial plastic surgery, I love performing mommy makeover procedures because of the amazing transformation. My training in facial surgery crossed over with pediatric plastic surgery since it involved cranial and facial deformities. I did this training in Miami Children’s Hospital. This opened up an avenue to travel abroad to take care of children with congenital deformities like cleft lips, palates and skull deformities. I traveled with Resurge and some other groups to Vietnam and the Philippines. We were strictly focused on children. What I noticed is that there are many more adults that need care with head and neck cancers and tumors all over the body which weren’t getting the care that they needed. It seemed that children with cleft lips would get the most charity funding and made great cover stories. We decided to put together a charity organization named No More Poverty (NMP.org) to address these specific issues. — adults with head and neck cancers, breast cancers and spine deformities.

This organization was founded by my family Julian Omidi, a dermatologist and Cindy Omidi, my mother. In one mission, we treated 35 thyroid tumors, head and neck cancers and burns in adults in addition to children with cleft lips and palates. In these trips, I was accompanied by surgeons, nurses, surgical techs and anesthesiologists from our own group. We usually spend three weeks on the mission and 1 week to wind down and vacation whether in Amalfi, Colombia or San Miguel, Bulacan Philippines. The trips are exciting and adventurous. Although we are trying to be as well equipped as possible, there are always challenges due to the lack of resources in the hospitals, medications and staff. We are always met with tremendous support from the local physicians and staff to accomplish a mission. There is a lot of learning in both directions on how certain things are handled with limited supplies. Patients and families are extremely gracious and thankful to be treated. Evenings after a long day of surgery with our staff brings us closer to sharing experiences together. We come as colleagues and leave as families, not just with our own staff but also with the local staff.

In one of the hospitals in Bulacan, Philippines disposable gloves were washed and reused due to scarcity. The district hospitals lacked ICUs and were very bare. Regardless, the people were always positive-spirited, prideful and had much hope for a better future. The University Hospital was kind enough to allow us to use their intensive care unit for longer and more difficult procedures.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Missions in various countries are always loaded with obstacles making each trip somewhat an adventure. The first issue is getting though customs. It is not uncommon for our supplies to be held up for several days to a week in customs before they are released. When a mission is three weeks, it seriously cuts into the valuable time necessary to perform as many procedures as necessary. Often we have to find the governor of the province to help us release equipment in a timely manner. Sterilizing instruments is always an issue because the autoclaves are not as efficient as they are here. They sometimes are used once or twice a day, making it difficult to perform multiple cases. Obtaining narcotics is always difficult. The pharmacies do not carry large amounts like in the States. We have to resort to not as potent pain killers after surgery. In small district hospitals, basic equipment such as suction, anesthesia machines, monitors, IV fluids and an array of necessary medications are not available.

This might mean having to share monitors between patients in surgery and recovery. Anesthesia machines are usually portable machines that vaporize the medications without ventilators. The anesthesiologist often pumps the air with a balloon manually throughout the procedure. Lighting, suction and cautery machines are smaller and not as effective making procedures more difficult. Blood work, EKG, MRI and CT scans are very scarce and will be ordered if absolutely necessary. What is not scarce is the wide array of pathology. I recall a 20-year-old boy coming in with a scarf around his neck in 105-degree weather. The boy lived with a tumor the size of a basketball enveloping his neck circumferentially. 16 hours of surgery removed the tumors on the front of the neck. The patient remained intubated in the ICU and on the second day, we removed the remainder of the tumor in another 8 hours procedure. The patient did very well and was completely cured after having to live with this tumor since he was 7.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Here in LA, we focus on cosmetic surgery. Our main focus is the Rhinoplasty procedure. Coming back home, we would appreciate all of what we have here. Abundance of anything we need and far-reaching technologies. My focus of expertise is performing rhinoplasty procedures. We start with 3-d imaging to be able to communicate our goals, likes and dislikes prior to performing a rhinoplasty. We employ the Piezo ultrasound device to shape and move bones, making it much less invasive with an easier recovery. We use TIVA anesthesia which is an advanced type of anesthesia with the patient completely asleep but not dependent on a ventilator and not paralyzed, reducing the risks of blood clots and complications related to general anesthesia.

Although I am a facial/rhinoplasty specialist, we do not limit ourselves to only face. Mommy makeovers involving tummy tucks, breast procedures, liposuction and fat transfers to the breast, buttocks and face are extremely rewarding procedures. I am the Inventor of a procedure I call the Mannequin LiftTM or Mannequin Breast LiftTM which lifts breasts and provides fullness and projection without the necessity of using an implant. Tummy tuck procedures can convert a non-faltering abdomen to a beach body in hours. Brazillian Butt Lift procedures are now performed at the same time as a Tummy Tuck and liposuction procedure by saving the fat and transferring using the Robinhood principle taking from areas of excess and transferring to areas of deficiency.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
One of the characteristics to success in surgery is to learn from others. The word passion may seem like an overused Cliche but in truth, it is the fuel that is necessary to drive everything else. No passion would be analogous to an engine without fuel. Passion is difficult to define, but clearly some things excite us and create a twinkle for reasons we can’t explain, whether it is a surgical procedure, a certain profession, playing an instrument or certain music. Once that’s identified, it can be nurtured. The passion or spark that pushes me is seeing a patient getting very excited when they turn the mirror around on day 7 after the cast is removed. The expressions on their faces are priceless, staring at the mirror in different angles. A mom that has 10 pounds of excess skin and muscles stretched out 4 inches going to a beach body after a 3-hour procedure brings joy to all of us in the office, not just the patient.

Compassion: far too often, professionals go through the motions without considering the patient.

Communication: Facial Beauty is so subjective that a one size fits all approach will never make your patients happy, no matter how great the results may be. It is imperative to identify what is bothering the patient before making a surgical plan. 3-dimensional morphs are great tools to communicate likes and dislikes with a patient or to point out unreasonable expectations. We have to remember that the measure of a successful procedure is patient satisfaction, not beauty in the eyes of the surgeon.

Knowledge: Trial and error would take years of errors in a relatively short-spanned career from finishing training to retirement. Therefore, trial and error is a less favorable approach. We are blessed with oceans of videos and educational material readily available. To improve, a surgeon must read any material, articles, watch videos and read as many books as possible on techniques.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.michaelomidi.com
• Instagram: @drmichaelomidi
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/michaelomidi1/videos?app=desktop