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It's a call that's telling me I'm here to serve. It's a need
to make a difference in the world. 24 hours day or night
these healing hands will make it right. Looking in their eyes I
know that I'm changing lives, changing lives, changing lives
for the better, for the better, changing lives. Hello everyone,
I'm Grace Sells and welcome back for another edition of Best Docs
Network, the show that's featuring some of the best
doctors in the Houston area that are really changing people's
lives. We have a lot of great doctors on our show today and up
first we're going to see how breast augmentation helped
change Karen's life with plastic surgeon Dr. David Altamira. You
know I just always felt like my body was out of proportion. When
I would try on clothes I just, it was never when I looked into
the mirror what I envisioned in my own mind. So I guess that's
what prompted me to start researching and looking on line.
I just, I never felt like my full potential. Karen came in
just wanting to have bigger *** because she had always
felt that her breast size was out of proportion to her hips.
She had always wanted to be a little bigger. She just felt she
needed it to kind of balance out her shape so she was, after
discussing it with her, a really good candidate for that. As soon
as I met his staff and him, I know he had that attention to
detail just speaking to him. Something about him set him
apart from the others. He just made me feel safe. I knew I
could trust him and his work. So there's a lot of factors that go
into it. By taking the measurements and using them
carefully to that particular patient and matching it to the
size of the implant, we can give them a good aesthetically
pleasing size and shape that looks good and matches their
body. It was an outpatient procedure so I came in that
morning, the same day I was out and back at home. It was a
really good experience. It really made a huge difference in
her confidence and self esteem. It may seem like a small thing
to someone who didn't know her or just a casual observer but in
her mind it made a world of difference. It just really
changed her personality. It kind of brought her out of her shell,
she just felt better in a bathing suit and photographs,
just being out socially so it was a real blessing for her over
all. Before my breast augmentation I was wearing a
size A and after the augmentation I was a C. I had
already decided I wanted a very natural look and that's
something that's very important to me. That is what Dr. Altamira
gave me, a very natural look and I'm very happy with the results.
Drink green tea. It's packed with heart boosting and cancer
stopping polyphenols that black tea doesn't offer. Green tea
also delivers a boost of alertness but from a smaller
dose of caffeine than black tea. I was quite tired and I travel
considerably and at that time I would go through an airport and
I'd have to stop and rest and so I realized that I needed to
check in with a doctor and see what was going on. So Mr.
Richardson has cardiomyopathy, ischemic cardiomyopathy from
coronary artery disease, multiple blockages that really
weakened his heart over time and that's how I found him many,
many years ago, about 15 years ago. Pretty common that you
neglect yourself, you think nothing's ever going to be wrong
but I found out I had high blood pressure and I was border
diabetic ad did a CAT scan and during that time they found out
that I had an irregular heartbeat. So at that time I was
told I needed to go to the emergency room and next thing I
knew I was having a quadruple bypass. We were able to
intervene on his cardiovascular disease, coronaries, fix those
but what happened was the heart was so weak so he ended up
needing a device which is different than a pacemaker, it's
a shockbox. A defibrillator is put in under the skin and again
like the pacemaker the wires will go to the heart but then
this box is able to protect the patient, shock them if the heart
stops or if the heart goes into ventricular fibrillation or
ventricular tachycardia. I'm able to carry on my daily work
duties and I can travel. I'm not so sure if I hadn't had this
great care that I would have been able to do that at my age.
I'm going on 71 and still working everyday so I give Dr.
Varughese lots of credit. She's helped me sustain a good life.
He's been able to function normally and it has actually
improved the function of his heart. He can walk around, he's
not short of breath. He can take care of his thousands of
employees and customers and what a blessing that's been for him.
If you have a question for any of the amazing physicians you've
seen on our show today, just head to our website, it's
bestdocsnetwork.com, go to the doctor's profile page and click
on the Ask A Question tab. And you may have a question for our
next doctor. We're going to hear about post nasal drip and
deviated septums with ear, nose and throat specialist Dr. C. T.
Nguyen. My biggest problem was that I got several allergies, I
couldn't breathe, I was snoring at night, I was sneezing a lot
during the mornings when I woke up and I was always having nose
discharge. Irma is a young professional who came to see me
because she can't breathe through her nose. She has this
chronic problem that never went away. She consulted many doctors
and all she got was a prescription of antibiotics and
that's it. Since I was a child I had that problem. I been treated
for allergies. I get better for specific periods of time but I
travel a lot, I travel internationally. So it's
different pollens and different trees or the landscape is
totally different so I couldn't find a solution. Doctors have
treated Irma's problem with multiple course of antibiotics.
I see this condition all the time. The patient has been
treated with antibiotics, antibiotics, antibiotics. The
problem is that antibiotics may improve your symptoms but it
will mask the cause of the problem. He explains you
everything, he shows you, you know, like with endoscopy I
could see my nose inside, I saw where parts were infected and he
was telling me what he can do for me and what would be the
results. Decide upon a plan of treatment consisting of
endoscopic sinus surgery assisted with GPS like
technology to target her diseased sinus. He really
accommodate the surgery to my lifestyle. He already told me
you're going to follow your allergy treatments with me and
now everything is working perfectly for me. We are at the
forefront of medical technology to improve our patient outcome.
We want our patients to recuperate faster and feel
better. I'm breathing , I feel healthier, I feel younger. I
highly recommend the sinus surgery for everybody that has
chronic infections. Taking a multivitamin is a quick and easy
way to make sure you're consuming the essential vitamins
and minerals that you may not be getting from food. Make sure
your supplement delivers 400 IU of Vitamin D which is the dose
that's said to reduce the risk of early death by 7 percent. You
hear a lot about probiotics now a days, a lot of people take
probiotics. In some cases that's good, in some cases it's not
going to help much. Probiotics are micro organisms that people
take and it gets in their intestines and populates their
colon with the good kind of bacteria like the lactobacillus
for example. There are lots of different kinds of probiotics
and in general people that are healthy and are having no
gastrointestinal symptoms don't need them, however, if you've
had a lot of diarrhea, say you have a lot of gas, either from
the upper end or the lower end or let's say you just have a lot
of bloating and feel bad, probiotics may help you. Don't
get the expensive brand name stuff over the counter, get the
cheap stuff. Yogurt may work sometimes but generally the
probiotics that are over the counter are more concentrated
than yogurt and it does repopulate your colon with the
right bacteria and can help you with everything from gaseousness
to diarrhea. That's a crowd pleaser. Go ahead and take it,
it might help you. I've always been slim or on the slim side,
always had a little pooch for a tummy but it wasn't anything
that I couldn't you know cover up in clothing or suck it in.
And then like I wake up one morning and just went what's
this and it didn't matter how much I exercised, I've always
ate well, I could not get that stomach to go down and it
happened in the upper section also. Our patient for
coolsculpting came in for abdomen treatment, very
concerned about her stomach. She had areas that she couldn't get
off despite diet and exercise. So I just went hmm clothes
aren't fitting, I can't go on like this and so I started
researching and I decided on the coolsculpting simply because
it's noninvasive, I didn't want to go under the knife. The
coolsculpting procedure will take about an hour. It is
noninvasive. When the procedure is done you can go about your
daily activities. You'll see the most results at about 2 months
so the whole concept is, is you can take the skin and soft
tissues to a lower temperature, freeze the fat, which actually
kills the fat but it leaves the surrounding tissues intact. Of
course you get you know the list of what could happen and I
didn't have any cramping. I did have just ever so slight
bruising, not purples and blues, just a little red and a little
tender and that was it. It is permanent. The affected area
will kill about 25 percent of the fat cells. The
recommendation these days is do two treatments within a month,
that way you can get about 50 percent reduction of the area.
Some patients just need one and are happy with it. A lot of
patients can get two and get better results. I had it a year
ago last January, yes, and I'm just really thrilled that I had
it done. My clothes fit again. I could not wear this skirt a year
ago. And it was cheaper to have it done than going out and
buying a new wardrobe, simple as that. I would say I'm a victim
of fashion and I like feeling good in my clothes. I like to
look good and so yeah there's a little vanity in there and the
hubby kind of likes it too. For more information and to check
out hundreds of videos head to our website, it's
bestdocsnetwork.com. And up next we're going to see how David had
a smile makeover with oral surgeon Dr. Paul Metz. My teeth
needed to all be extracted, they were crumbling, they were
breaking, I couldn't chew my food. He's a professional, an
accountant and he's certainly concerned about finances and how
to structure his budget and he was the guy that his lower teeth
were worse off than the uppers. And so that was an area that he
decided to focus on. I guess this started in 2009 and this
really happened in kind of in two settings so that in 2009 we
did the lower and in 2011 we did the upper. The bottom is all
done and I'm in the midst of having the prosthesis on the top
done. And also with David his concern regarding his budget. We
were able to do this without grafting. Previously in the
upper jaw because of the maxillary sinuses we would have
to graft those areas in the majority of cases that we were
replacing a full jaw worth of implants. But with the advent of
cone beam CT we are able to look at individuals from a 3
dimensional standpoint radio graphically ahead of time so as
to know where the bone is so that we can position implants
within that bone and avoid the need for sinus grafting and
subsequently lower his overall cost significantly as well as
increase the predictability. No longer do I have to make sure
that everything is in place where it's supposed to be in
place. It's, I have, I have a new chance at a brand new set of
teeth and they don't hurt. It's satisfying to see him come back
smiling, see him walking down the hallway standing upright
with their chin up, smiling and being much more confident so
from a psychological standpoint outside of the health benefits
that you see, the mental health benefits are significant. I'm a
CPA, I meet with clients and high net worth clients.
Appearance is important to me, it's certainly not of the utmost
importance, but it's important to me and I don't want to be
embarrassed by a crumbling smile. It's a wonderful,
wonderful solution. Universal General Hospital is a hospital
like no other with state of the art medical treatments and an
inviting environment that pampers patients and families
and encourages relaxation and healing. I decided to come see
Dr. Marvin because I struggled with weight my entire life.
Well, Amanda's a fairly young patient. She was in her mid 20's
when she had the surgery. She did meet the national institute
health criteria for weight loss which means that her body mass
index was 41. She was morbidly obese. She wasn't manifesting
too many other medical problems related to her weight yet but
again she's on the young side so she had some lower extremity
swelling and those kinds of things, tipoffs that things
aren't quite right. I was very uncomfortable. I was like one of
the only heavy people in my group of friends. My husband is
very lean and active so it had a lot to do with our lifestyle and
I wasn't able to go to the pool and I didn't want to wear
sleeveless shirts or when my friends went out to the club I
didn't want to go to the club. So it had a lot to do with my
age and I wasn't able to live life. Amanda's lost from 240
pounds down to 128.5 pounds and that's a very significant weight
loss. That's great, that's a very good outcome for a gastric
sleeve. The recovery for me was pretty simple. I took two weeks
off of work. I could have gone back within 5 to 7 days. I get
emotional, it changed my life. Just wearing sleeveless shirts,
being able to dress like everybody else, being able to
spend time with my husband and go to the pool, and just be
active. A lot of people started to talk to me again because I
wasn't friendly whenever I was heavier. I was angry, I didn't
want to do anything, I was like a hermit. So my response is I
mean, they want to know how I did it and I'm very open about
how I did it. I was like you know I had this surgery. I
couldn't do it myself. I could not do it without the surgery,
could not have done it. My patients, since obesity is a
systemic disease, when we cure it for them they get better on
so many fronts. It's nice to see how they're doing afterwards.
They really are changed people. For more information on some of
the best doctors in the Houston area and to watch other life
changing stories, logon to bestdocsnetwork.com. Deep
breathing can help you relax but that dose of oxygen will also
make you feel happier and more alert. Practice this by taking
deep breaths, sucking air in through your nose until your
lungs are full. On our website, bestdocsnetwork.com, we have a
map that can help you find the best doctor that's closest to
you which could be our next doctor. And we're going to hear
about treating neuromas and how Bernard's life was changed by
podiatrist Dr. Gabriel Maislos. I first started having some pain
in my right foot after an incident stepping out of a pool
and I thought it was a simple bone bruise but then I had some
numbness and so I went to see some podiatrists and initially
they felt it was related to my diabetes. When he came into my
office he complained of you know shooting pain in his toes. So
after doing an examination and an ultrasound exam and he
exhibited signs of a neuroma. A neuroma is essentially a nerve
that is compressed by the size of the metatarsal so the nerve
courses in between and with a neuroma it becomes inflamed and
after a while it develops like a fiber sheath and it's no longer
just inflamed, it's enlarged. In terms of quality of life, I'm a
big golfer and you know it was really made every day and
certainly the enjoyment of playing golf a lot less
enjoyable because of the problem. So Mr. Webber came in
with symptoms of a neuroma and I believe I treated him a couple
of times with sclerosing injections, orthodics were given
to him and as well as instructions on stretching and
taking an anti-inflammatory. And he just didn't get better. So at
that point he elected to have surgery. Well I think certainly
in my case as a diabetic and given that the symptoms are so
similar that this could happen to other people. I wasn't even
aware of what a neuroma was and being a diabetic so I think just
awareness is a key to understanding that numbness
doesn't always mean diabetic neuropathy and it could be an
actual injury to your foot and you should see a podiatrist. The
procedure, it's very rewarding because patients like it and
there's minimal pain postop. If anything there's some temporary
numbness and then after a while patients regain sensation. My
experience with Dr. Maislos, what I like about him is he is
very circumspect, so he doesn't assume anything. Let's go
through all the steps, he's really interested in finding a
solution, very pleased with the care that the doctor has given
me. Get at least seven hours of sleep a night. It will help you
live longer, lower your stress, sharpen your memory, and reduce
cravings for fattening foods. I came to Dr. Lewis because I
always wanted to have really white teeth and my teeth were
straight. I never had to wear braces, didn't have any of those
issues but I had extreme sensitivity. So I could not use
any of the whitening strips or just the gels that anyone could.
I had a, my gums were receding probably because I'm one of
those brushers that brush the wrong way, didn't do the
circular motion. She really wanted veneers. She had just
gone through a lot of personal stuff and she wanted to make a
change in her life, but she really did not want her teeth
touched. She did not want anything reduced on her teeth or
anything prepared. So he sort of walked me through the process
and I found out that what he could do was I didn't have to
have any you know, didn't have to have my teeth all filed down.
They just sort of buffed them and he just recreated sort of my
smile. It didn't, it's really strange because he didn't change
a whole lot but it did change a whole lot. So we did the set on
her and it turned out beautiful. I've done thousands of them and
people were very happy with them and they're, and what we found
out is in most cases they're stronger, even though they're
very thin, they're stronger than regular veneers because the
strength isn't derived totally from the thickness of porcelain,
I mean you have to have a certain thickness, but it's
derived from the bond to the tooth and we found that when we
bond to the enamel which is the natural outer layer of the tooth
that we get a much stronger, much harder veneer. Just the
craftsmanship was amazing. I mean it was like going to a da
Vinci or somebody because it was such tiny details but it really
changed my smile. So in actuality not only are they you
know less destructive to the tooth or you don't have to take
anything off the tooth, but they're also stronger and so
they look, they look great. It was painless, came back, put
them on, was getting my hands massaged during the whole
process and I walked out and I had a perfect smile that looked
natural. I enjoy smiling and I love having people say you have
the prettiest smile. Today we're here with Dr. Reynolds Delgado
at the Texas Heart Institute. He's the director of cardiac
transplantation at the Texas Heart and we're so happy to have
him with us. Dr. Delgado, thank you for being with us today.
Thank you, Annie. Now we know that cardiac transplantation is
something that seems so far removed for most people but
really so many people are in need of this great help. And can
you tell us a little bit about how you evaluate a patient for
transplant? Yes, well first of all there's a lot of people that
need it as you say. Around 6 million people in the United
States have heart failure and a good proportion of those need a
transplant. The problem is we only have around two thousand
donors hearts available to us in the nation per year. So we
really have to focus on those patients who can get the most
out of those two thousand donors. And so really that's the
focus when we're working somebody up for transplant,
finding someone who's going to live a long healthy life after
the transplant. Exactly, now there are several ways of
helping the patient, right, with assist devices. Would you kind
of mention those for us? Yes, and you know the transplants are
a limited resource so we only have that limited number that we
can do per year. But there are other things we can do that are
not. An example is the artificial heart devices. These
are known as LVADs or left ventricular assist devices and
these are small motors, small motor pumps that are tiny, about
this big. They can be implanted with a surgery in the chest,
underneath the heart and they can pump blood for the heart.
And so really in a failing heart we have other alternatives like
this. We see that there's hope for people who can't even get a
transplant but they could come and be evaluated for even this
assist device. Absolutely, absolutely, there's so much we
can do beyond transplant. And as for transplants, we do many of
them. We did 57 in 2012. That's a lot of transplants, that's one
a week. But one thing that's important for people of Houston
to know is that herein where we are standing and sitting is the
greatest med center in the world. Just right there is the
greatest cancer hospital in the world and here is the greatest
cardiac hospital in the world. And within this med center we
can do just about anything that's doable in medicine.
That's excellent. Thank you Dr. Delgado, we really appreciate
you. Thank you, Annie. My legs were very, very tired. I
couldn't sleep, toss and turn, couldn't get comfortable, they
would just hurt all night for years. Restless legs is best
described as a very strong sensation or urge to move your
legs. It becomes disabling because it creates an anxious
sensation, it's hard to explain, you're not sure what's causing
it, you just have this overwhelming urge to move your
legs. It almost always occurs at night and because of that it
creates severe insomnia and severe anxiety. I had varicose
veins, I knew I could see them on the outside but I didn't know
about the veins on the inside that were not allowing the blood
flow to go past my knees. They would just go up so far and then
just go back down to my feet. We mapped her veins very carefully
using ultrasound. We again isolated all the bad things, the
ones that were too large and the blood was running backwards
because the valves had failed and we selectively ablated those
using radiofrequency under ultrasound guidance. No pain,
just a little stinging when they first go in with it but really
not much even though they said it's not gonna hurt, it's not
gonna hurt but it really didn't. The last treatment I had I
didn't feel a thing. We do that without any incisions or
anesthesia. Patients can walk in, sit down, have the
procedures done, stand up, walk out, get in their car and drive
themselves home. I would say don't worry about it, just do
it, just get it done because you need to have it taken care of.
I'm sleeping now, I rest comfortably and it turned out
good. In the past we used surgical procedures. The
problems with that, 1 it required general anesthetic, 2
it required big cuts with potential side effects like
infection damage to nerves, arteries, muscle and they
weren't selective, we were almost randomly choosing veins
to treat and they weren't always the only or maybe even the
correct veins to treat. Now we selectively treat only the veins
that are running backwards so it works much better. Those were
some really life changing stories. And that's going to
wrap up today's edition of Best Docs Network, the show that's
featuring some of the best doctors in the Houston area that
really do change people's lives. If you have a question or
comment or a life changing story of your own, we would love to
hear from you. Send us an email at info@bestdocsnetwork.com.
Thank you again for watching and we'll see you next week.