Dave: [00:00:00] I did have 28 square inches of skin
Victor: removed from my face, and I [00:00:05] did that because of two things. When you age, three things happen. Concomitantly your [00:00:10] skin and your muscles and everything sags. Our facial framework is attached to the bone [00:00:15] by little ligaments and they stretch, so we start sagging. We also start losing [00:00:20] volume as we age, and our skin quality deteriorates.
Stem cells, I think are magic for skin. [00:00:25] Dr. Victor
Host: Ola is a renowned Costa Rican plastic surgeon known for combining advanced [00:00:30] reconstructive techniques with regenerative medicine. He combines European surgical training with cutting edge [00:00:35] stem cell therapies to deliver both aesthetic and functional outcomes.
Victor: I think Botox is one of [00:00:40] the things that really helps your skin because by blocking some muscles, you avoid your [00:00:45] skin from breaking.
Dave: What advice would you have for young people who either don't want to [00:00:50] have cosmetic surgery later in life, or just wanna remain looking really healthy? What should they do to their skin?[00:00:55]
You are listening to the Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey.[00:01:00]
I did have 28 square inches [00:01:05] of skin removed from my face, and I did that because of two things. [00:01:10] One, I used to be really fat. In fact, you could grab a handful of skin [00:01:15] on either side of my face. And on top of that, as you age, your [00:01:20] skin, even if you are as healthy and you're following all the longevity programs like that, gravity still [00:01:25] exists.
Sort of like how your fingernails grow and you cut them well, at a [00:01:30] certain point, if we're gonna live for a very long period of time, no procedure that I'm aware [00:01:35] of stops skin from responding to gravity over time. So what do you do about it? [00:01:40] I went through all the different, um, tightening procedures, RF lasers, [00:01:45] and they help.
But I lost my dimples 'cause I'm at 5% body fat and [00:01:50] that also will give you extra skin. So, and people are saying, Dave, you're not at 5% body fat. Dude, [00:01:55] I don't care. Five point half percent, whatever. Like, look at the cover of heavily meditated if you [00:02:00] think that I have large amounts of body fat, so whatever.
But what's going on there [00:02:05] is I said, all right, what am I gonna do? I've looked at all these things for years, actually. I've tried all the different stuff [00:02:10] and I said, all right, I'm gonna get this removed. So it's kind of like. Part [00:02:15] facelift and part dealing with the side effects of obesity, and I would [00:02:20] rather you not get obese in the first place because you will grow extra skin [00:02:25] according to the equations.
I've got about half of a [00:02:30] large bath towel worth of extra skin distributed throughout my body because I was 300 pounds and [00:02:35] I'm now about 195 pounds. So, yikes, that's not where you wanna [00:02:40] be. I don't want you to be there, and if you're there or you're just aging, we're gonna talk about that. And we're also gonna talk [00:02:45] about boob jobs.
I've been thinking about getting one for you. Okay. Not really. We're gonna talk [00:02:50] about boob jobs or breast implants. Our guest today is Dr. Victor Ola, [00:02:55] and he performed the procedure on me, and he is also one of the top. [00:03:00] Breast implant experts in the world, I would say certainly in Costa Rica. And you [00:03:05] fly around internationally and speak at conferences on this, and we're gonna talk about breast implants [00:03:10] so that you can understand if you have them or you're thinking about getting them.
Is it always a bad thing [00:03:15] who is susceptible? And I've covered this on other episodes as well, and you're gonna [00:03:20] find that Victor has a unique perspective on this that is very [00:03:25] personalized. So that's what we're gonna talk about today. Victor, thanks for flying to Austin from [00:03:30] Costa Rica
Victor: in order to be on the show.
Thank you for the invitation, Dave. I'm very honored to be [00:03:35] in this podcast and I'm very happy to share my experiences with you and your audience. [00:03:40] Let's start with
Dave: a cool, cutting edge longevity stuff. So you work with RMI, which is the clinic [00:03:45] where I've done the whole body regenerative therapies where I've done the [00:03:50] brain.
Incredibly powerful brain central aging clock reset using stem cells, [00:03:55] and we work together on my recovery protocols, uh, [00:04:00] with your work and with RMI in order to use stem cells to speed healing. [00:04:05] And let's start with that. How have stem cells changed either [00:04:10] breast implants or cosmetic work on the face?
Victor: Well, um, Dr. Jean [00:04:15] Papapa and I co-founded RMI like around 12 years ago, and we opened the, to the [00:04:20] public around four years ago. Uh, and basically we wanted to use, uh, the power of cells [00:04:25] to improve, you know, humans and. And make a age better. Mm-hmm. Treat conditions, you [00:04:30] know, and as plastic surgeons, of course, one of the things that we started working with was [00:04:35] a skin enhancement, you know, and, uh, we developed a protocol that we called skin, you know?
Music: [00:04:40] Mm-hmm.
Victor: Basically we use, uh, needle radio frequency to generate [00:04:45] micromass in the skin. Okay. And then we inject umbilical cord, expanded [00:04:50] MSEs in, uh, the skin in the dermis, like, you know, you would do with meso therapy. [00:04:55] And we start to notice that, you know, this skin was, you know. Starting [00:05:00] to improve a lot better than with the video frequency alone.
And this is of course, because [00:05:05] of all the epigenetic, you know, modifications that, um, bial cord [00:05:10] cells have on the resident cells, making them work better and work like younger cells, you know. So the [00:05:15] skin quality started to improve a lot. Then we started to also combine plastic [00:05:20] surgery with, uh, fat transfers using stem cells.
You know, like when you do a lipo filling in [00:05:25] your face rather than using fillers. We started to combinate this, you know, fat [00:05:30] with, uh, expanded umbilical, umbilical cord cells, MSEs, [00:05:35] and also with some growth factors that were developed, you know, in a [00:05:40] matrix of hyaluronic acid. I. And we started to see how the skin of these patients [00:05:45] not only got better, but they also started to heal quicker.
You know, the scars were better. And the [00:05:50] recuperation time was a lot faster.
Dave: Well, in my
Victor: case,
Dave: that's what we did. So you [00:05:55] pulled some fat out of my butt. Could you find much fat there? No, it was very hard to [00:06:00] find fat.
Say, say that again, louder. It, it was hard to find fat as a former obese guy. Happy you are probably at, you know, [00:06:05] 5% body fat.
Yeah. It was really the, the most difficult part of the surgery was getting your fat [00:06:10] was about 20 ccs or 50 ccs. How much did you get?
Victor: No, like, I think maybe
Dave: [00:06:15] around 15 or six
Victor: 17 cc.
Dave: Oh, that was all you could
Victor: find. Yeah, it was really, yeah, it was really difficult [00:06:20] to get
Dave: it. I did try to put on fat before by eating even more carbs and it just doesn't [00:06:25] work.
So. We took that fat and then you mixed it with the stem cells [00:06:30] and the growth factors, and then you put that into my into my face [00:06:35] to help volumize, which is
Victor: good. Yeah, exactly. When you age, uh, three [00:06:40] things happen. Concomitantly, uh, your skin and your muscles and everything [00:06:45] sags, you know, Google Gravity.
Mm-hmm. Uh, our facial framework is attached to the bone, [00:06:50] uh, by little ligaments called before Nest ligaments, and they stretch. So we start sagging. [00:06:55] We also start losing volume as we age and our skin quality [00:07:00] deteriorates. So when we're doing facial surgery, we need to try to address those [00:07:05] problems. And this way we.
Arrived to a much better result and a much [00:07:10] natural lookin result, which is what we're really striving to do with facial surgery nowadays. I [00:07:15] did ask for duck lips, but you wouldn't
Dave: give 'em to me.
Victor: No,
Dave: I, we, we didn't do anything to my lips at all. [00:07:20] Now, in terms of skin quality, [00:07:25] what did you find? In my skin? No,
Victor: your skin quality is pretty good, you know, when you, [00:07:30] um.
Take care of your skin when you are very well with very good nutrition mm-hmm. And you don't [00:07:35] get as much sun exposure, you know, then skin quality tends to be better. This is also [00:07:40] something very genetic. Some people, um, tend to, to keep [00:07:45] more hyaluronic acid in collagen in their skin. And, uh, this of course helps them have a [00:07:50] better quality of their skin.
Mm. The less, thickness your skin has [00:07:55] the worse quality it has and the more prone it is to getting wrinkled. And this is part of the things we try to [00:08:00] do with radio frequency and the stem cell combination. You know, this is something that helps the skin [00:08:05] become thicker, tighter. You know, it generates the collagen onic acid.
And [00:08:10] this, you know, of course, helps skin quality and, and it looks a lot better. Uh, what we also [00:08:15] do is we then follow up with a facial peel, you know, a soft peel. And [00:08:20] this generates a little bit of trauma for the stem cells to start sending more [00:08:25] information to the resident cells. And this improves further the quality of the skin.
Dave: I [00:08:30] definitely remember the peel that you did under my eyes. Uh, it was, it took about a [00:08:35] week for it to fully peel, but the under eye difference is, is really profound. I mean, [00:08:40] it's completely smooth and I, you know, take good care of it. I don't avoid the [00:08:45] sun entirely. Post procedure, I avoided the sun. For a while.
I do put mineral based [00:08:50] sunscreen on, but I don't mind getting five or 10 minutes of UVA and UVB [00:08:55] because it seems like it's a positive. Stimulus for collagen thickness in [00:09:00] studies. But sitting out in the sun for an hour on my face isn't something that I wanna do. So [00:09:05] avoiding all sunlight seems a bit scary for skin, right?
No,
Victor: no, no. You should never avoid completely [00:09:10] sun. It's actually a very healthy thing to do.
Dave: There you go.
Victor: What you need to be very aware is of course, after [00:09:15] surgery you have to avoid it, right? And, uh, on your regular [00:09:20] lifestyle, it's important to. Have sun, you know, but not in excess quantities because [00:09:25] then you start to get more skin damage, you know?
Yeah. Due to the UV radiation. It also
Dave: depends [00:09:30] where you're from. So I, I'm primarily northern European, genetically, with some other weird stuff mixed in there, here and [00:09:35] there. So I have, I. Easy to age skin. And fortunately, I [00:09:40] think this idea that I pioneered the collagen collagen movement [00:09:45] around eating collagen, there are studies that show that that helps with skin [00:09:50] thickness, and I only recommend today 20 grams of collagen a day.[00:09:55]
Uh, there are people who go way above that and there's reasons you wouldn't want to do it that have to do with [00:10:00] oxalate formation from excessive collagen, but zero collagen doesn't seem to be a good idea [00:10:05] either. So if you're listening to this and you know you're familiar with my work back in Bulletproof, I.[00:10:10]
Number one, I have nothing to do with Bulletproof anymore, and there are tons of vendors [00:10:15] of collagen right now, and 20 grams seems like the sweet spot. You don't need to go [00:10:20] above that, and even 10 grams could be beneficial. And since I did that for many, many [00:10:25] years, I like to think that that was one of the reasons my skin quality is where it was.
So you could do a [00:10:30] procedure that worked well. What advice would you have for young people who either don't [00:10:35] want to have cosmetic surgery later in life, or just wanna remain looking really healthy? What should they do to their [00:10:40] skin? Well, you know,
Victor: I think it's impossible to avoid aging, you know, and, [00:10:45] uh, and we've dedicated a long, a long time, and a lot of.[00:10:50]
Thought and work to trying to make it slower. Mm-hmm. And I think with what we are doing in [00:10:55] RMI and um, what we are developing for the future, we're going to get better [00:11:00] doing this, you know, for sure. Mm-hmm. Uh, I think there's a lot of things like [00:11:05] stem cell reprogramming, viral vectors in plasmid that we're going to incorporate in the [00:11:10] future, uh, that are going to help, you know, humans slow much better.
And [00:11:15] not only that, but also live a lot better and healthier. The most important thing I [00:11:20] think. Is to try to live a very healthy life. You know, nutrition is super important. Uh, again, [00:11:25] you know, sun exposure is good and healthy, but you need to have a controlled sun exposure. [00:11:30] Correct. Uh, using, creams that can, you know, help your skin [00:11:35] Quality is very important.
You know, uh, skin is like a muscle. You, you need to work [00:11:40] it out for it to grow and for it to be healthy, right? And you work skin [00:11:45] by inducing a little bit of trauma like you do when you work out. You know? So people that want [00:11:50] to keep better quality skin as they age should do, lasers, they [00:11:55] should do microneedling with radiofrequency, uh, because this generates traumas [00:12:00] that induces fibroblast to produce new collagen.
You know, also if you [00:12:05] are taking good quality collagen, this is also going to improve your skin quality. Uh, [00:12:10] you need to start looking eventually into rehydrating. With onic [00:12:15] acid, your skin, uh, the use of soft peels, you know, once a week is very [00:12:20] important. Think that, you know, fibroblasts have a 21 day cycle to produce [00:12:25] collagen.
So if you can do some sort of stimuli every 21 days through your skin, those fibroblasts are going to [00:12:30] keep working mm-hmm. And producing better quality collagen. And also of course, very [00:12:35] important the use of Botox. You know, I think Botox is one of the things that really [00:12:40] helps your skin because by blocking some muscles, you avoid your skin from [00:12:45] breaking having repetitive trauma in the places where your wrinkles are, you know, in [00:12:50] correspondence with the muscle contraction.
Okay? So these things do help a lot, you know, keep your [00:12:55] skin in better quality and, give it a little bit more like Lifetime. [00:13:00] Got it.
Dave: Soft peels. I don't actually do those very often, if ever at all. This [00:13:05] is glycolic acid or what would you recommend?
Victor: Well, there's a bunch of soft peels in the market that you can [00:13:10] use.
Glycolic acid is one of them. The important thing. You know, is to, to be [00:13:15] sure that the pill that you choose is a pill that really works for your skin. As you were saying, [00:13:20] there's a big variety of skins. You know, there's a classification called Fitzpatrick, you know, [00:13:25] uh, classification. And it will basically very white people, uh, are type one, [00:13:30] and darker people are type five, you know?
And this. You know, range [00:13:35] of variety requires different peels, you know, so, so what People
Dave: are basically fucked is what we're
Victor: saying. No, [00:13:40] but they tend to age a lot faster, you know, and, and they take, uh, some damage wars, you know? Yeah, yeah, [00:13:45] yeah. So it's very important to have an assessment of your skin. Uh, we [00:13:50] nowadays have machines with softwares that help us a lot.
You know, see, you know, what type of [00:13:55] damage your skin has. And based on that, you know, we picked a better peel or the better skin [00:14:00] protocol to help you. And definitely since we start using stem cells for this, uh, the [00:14:05] results are,
Dave: are much, much better. The stem cells, I think are magic for skin. And guys, [00:14:10] full info on this.
If you're interested, I just put all the links. It's dave [00:14:15] aspr.com/rmi. That's got all the stuff I did to my face, all the stuff I did to my brain. 'cause I [00:14:20] went down there and there's about 10 days of healing. So the first five days I had bandages on, and then the [00:14:25] second five days as I'm healing, as I'm doing hyperbaric, I also did the central [00:14:30] aging clock reset where we use focus ultrasound to open up my blood brainin [00:14:35] barrier and put stem cells and exosomes into my hypothalamus and my [00:14:40] hippocampus to improve memory and to improve.
The aging clock in the brain. [00:14:45] So I'm like, if I'm gonna be recovering, I might as well do all the upgrades I can while I'm there. So that was kind of a, a [00:14:50] double thing. And just Dave asprey.com/rmi has the info on the range of [00:14:55] stuff that I did because I think you're interested in that. And if you're not interested, then don't go there.
But there's still a lot to [00:15:00] learn here.
[00:15:05] Now young people should be doing, uh, an occasional peel. They should be using some sort of [00:15:10] skin cream. One of the things that I did to speed my healing is I brought one of [00:15:15] the true light devices down with me, and this is a light therapy device that did red, [00:15:20] two shades of red infrared, and amber, which helps with small vessels.
So every day I was doing [00:15:25] probably 40 minutes of that. Is red light therapy important for people's [00:15:30] collagen thickness and for their faces? Like, what's your take on it?
Victor: Yeah, I think, you know, uh, again, you [00:15:35] know, skin requires stimuli and there's many different types of stimuli and like [00:15:40] muscles, and I always use this analogy because everyone goes to the gym.
And you know, if you [00:15:45] want to have a really good result, you need to work out, uh, regularly. You need to do intense, you [00:15:50] know, lift so that your muscles become stronger. You need to have the right nutritional [00:15:55] support. Mm-hmm. The right timing to do it. There's a lot of factors that help you build better [00:16:00] muscle.
Same thing happens with skin and red light therapy is one of those things that can help, you [00:16:05] know, improve the quality of your skin. What about the electrical
Dave: stimulation of the face? I [00:16:10] remember. Geez, was it Suzanne Summers sent me this thing called like a face [00:16:15] blaster, and it ran little electrical currents through the face.
Good or bad?
Victor: Well, the [00:16:20] rationale behind this is trying to generate muscle contraction to increase the tone of your muscles. Okay. [00:16:25] I don't really have a lot of experience with this. It does make sense that if you [00:16:30] are able to accomplish better muscle tone, uh, also like with facial yoga, [00:16:35] uh, this might, you know, improve the, the tone of your muscles and [00:16:40] avoid laxity, which, you know, drives to okay.
Falling down. Of course, need to be [00:16:45] very, very persistent and, uh, and do it very regularly to be able to [00:16:50] accomplish a good
Dave: result. I've looked at facial yoga practices and they seem like a [00:16:55] lot of work and I haven't really done them. I'm open to electrical stimulation on the face. I haven't done that [00:17:00] much of it either.
Mostly 'cause, well, I just have a lot of things to do and it just doesn't bubble to the top. [00:17:05] But for people who are really interested, you probably can reduce the ligament [00:17:10] lengthening if you're doing these yoga practices on your face. And that could be [00:17:15] helpful. But there's something else that happens that I didn't know about that you taught me about.
Um, and [00:17:20] it's that the muscles on your throat [00:17:25] here they actually start to split. I. Over time, and this is a normal aging thing. [00:17:30] In fact, they'll also split on your abdominals as you age a little bit as well. What's going on with that [00:17:35] and what does that do with aging?
Victor: Well, there's a process that happens when we're in, you [00:17:40] know, embryologically it's called, uh, gas ration, and we go [00:17:45] from being flat.
Entities to circular entities. So basically, gas [00:17:50] ation is a process where we start to go into a cylinder. One side [00:17:55] arrives a little earlier than the other one to the midline. And this is where we are not perfectly symmetrical, [00:18:00] but like the platysma in this case is the muscle that goes from the anterior margin of your [00:18:05] mandible.
To the clavicle and a little over the clavicle. And these muscles basically are [00:18:10] united in the midline as we age. They do stone and they start to [00:18:15] become atrophied and they start to separate. So those bands that you see here mm-hmm. You [00:18:20] know, are, are basically the plAsa muscle that gave up and separate it from its, you [00:18:25] know, counterpart.
Can you exercise your platysma? Yeah, of course. How you can [00:18:30] put your chin up and start doing like this. Like
Dave: facial yoga moves.
Victor: Exactly. It [00:18:35] requires a lot of time, you know? Okay. A lot of, you know, discipline. Uh, but [00:18:40] of course, if you contract and contract the muscle, it's going to become uh, stronger.
Stronger, and have better [00:18:45] tone. Okay. Uh, the problem is when it becomes lax, you know, and it's in a position that gravity really is [00:18:50] not helping everything that's attached to the plAsa will fall down with the plAsa. Mm. [00:18:55] And of course this is why the skin looks so tight when we do surgery. Basically [00:19:00] fixing the plati in the midline and pulling in the upward makes the skin come tighter [00:19:05] immediately.
Got it. And that's basically what we do.
Dave: And in my case, I had a lot of extra skin. I think I've [00:19:10] probably lost, I. An inch and a half on my neck size from losing weight. So I had the extra [00:19:15] skin there plus the platysma problem. So you actually sew the platysma back together? [00:19:20] Yeah. In the middle. And then you change the attachment points on the edges?
Victor: Exactly. We basically, the [00:19:25] platysma goes from the midline to around here. So we fix it in the midline, [00:19:30] and then we pick the pla map and anchor it to the mastoid bone. Behind your ear. [00:19:35] Behind the ear. Okay. And that basically gives, you know, a very, very good support to the plAsa, [00:19:40] which brings along the skin and gives support to the skin.
Okay? At the same time.
Dave: I have a [00:19:45] little story about platysma that you may appreciate. When my kids were [00:19:50] little, like five, six years old we would do this whole body awareness, [00:19:55] relaxation exercise where I started their toes and you know, this is your to, and just do like a little massage and [00:20:00] these are your, these are your big toes, your little toes, so that they could get better, better proprioception.
And then I said, well, [00:20:05] let's learn about the body. So this is the name of the bone, this is the tibia, this is the fibula, this is the [00:20:10] femur. This is the quadricep. And we'd go up so that they just had the body [00:20:15] awareness and the names where the organs are. And I was doing this with my son and I got up to [00:20:20] the platysma and I couldn't remember the name of it.
And neither could he, [00:20:25] even though we'd done it before. So I said, this is your, uh, scrotum. [00:20:30] And of course being, you know, five or six, whatever age it was, he's just starts laughing 'cause he knows what a [00:20:35] scrotum is. So then he runs out, goes, mommy, mommy, look my scrotum. And he is putting at his neck. So [00:20:40] there you go guys.
That's my seventh grade sense of humor, cord to longevity. But that's funny. [00:20:45] So you're about to be a, a dad, right? Yeah, I'm expecting a [00:20:50] little girl. Little girl. And you have kids now? No, first it's your first. Wow. It's [00:20:55] gonna be an adventure that leads us into a conversation around [00:21:00] boobs. Hmm. Now you've done thousands of implants [00:21:05] of people who have breast implants that are failing, and you've also placed a lot of breast implants.[00:21:10]
Can you tell me how is it that you can take out failed breast implants [00:21:15] and put new breast implants in? People thought breast implants were supposed to be [00:21:20] bad. Well,
Victor: Around, I would say seven or eight years [00:21:25] ago, I had a lady who came into my office. From South Carolina. Mm-hmm. [00:21:30] Uh, and she told me, Dr.
Sola, I saw you doing an unblock [00:21:35] resection in YouTube, and I want you to do the same procedure for me, and I [00:21:40] want you to record that you did the full unblocked resection. What's an unblocked resection? Okay, so [00:21:45] when you place a breast implant into your body, we arise a type [00:21:50] four hypersensitivity reaction.
It's an immunological reaction to the implant, [00:21:55] which basically forms a shell. Okay. A biological shale that covers [00:22:00] the implant, okay. Your body cannot destroy it. Because it sees as a foreign body. [00:22:05] So basically it cocoons it with this biological capsule. Okay. And an block [00:22:10] resection is removing that biological capsule completely without leaving any [00:22:15] pieces back behind and without breaking, uh, the biological capsule.
Right. So you [00:22:20] basically are taking. As a whole, you know, unit, and this is why we call it an block [00:22:25] resection. Okay.
Dave: And this is basically a balloon of scar tissue Exactly. That's around [00:22:30] the implant. Yeah, because implants are not [00:22:35] biocompatible it. It's not that the body thinks it's part of the body, it recognizes it's a [00:22:40] foreign body.
Right? Yeah.
Victor: Silicone is bio tolerated. Not biocompatible. [00:22:45] That's a big difference. And that's a difference. Yeah. Yeah. I always tell people, you're biocompatible with your [00:22:50] wife. You bio tolerate her mom, you know, so, oh my god. You know, that's, you know, a way [00:22:55] of, you know, making it, you know, funny. But the body doesn't really uh, [00:23:00] recognize silicon as its own.
So there's this reaction, and it's called a biological [00:23:05] capsule. And some people get a much bigger reaction than others, right. Yes. That's why we have captured [00:23:10] contractures for years. You know, uh, we have tried to study why it happens, [00:23:15] and the reality is that some people have different immunological reactions.
[00:23:20] Just like when you go on a field trip and you get stung by a behavior, you have three people. One of them [00:23:25] can get a little, you know, lump in the skin that's itchy. Another one gets the lump and [00:23:30] puffy eyes, you know, and another one gets an anaphylactic reaction. There's different immunological [00:23:35] responses to every antigen, and in this case, the implant is an antigen recognized as [00:23:40] foreign by the body.
Dave: So it's basically same implant, different [00:23:45] responses based on biology and maybe some other stuff we don't even understand. Exactly. Okay. Yeah. [00:23:50] What is the best type of breast implant that's gonna
Victor: work for the most people? [00:23:55] Well, actually, you know, all breast implants are made out of poly silane. It's [00:24:00] the name of a compound, and most breast implant companies, if not all, [00:24:05] use the same manufacturer of silicone.
As, you know, their raw material to fabricate the [00:24:10] implants. And then they basically do a different manufacturing process to the shell, you know, [00:24:15] to improve, you know, the biocompatibility of the implant. [00:24:20] So you're saying that there's no difference between any of the different types 'cause they all have the same shell, it's the same [00:24:25] material that is used the shall.
It's different. Some companies make 'em with sugar [00:24:30] or with a salt, you know, and somewhere may make them with, uh, lasers. [00:24:35] It's a big science behind it. Okay. The shell of the implant, uh, [00:24:40] has a lot to do with how the body reacts to the implant. Is there any kind of
Dave: testing [00:24:45] you could do to see which kind of shell material is gonna be best for you?
Not really. [00:24:50] Okay. I would suggest. That there's a company called Melisa [00:24:55] Diagnostic or the MELISA tests that would probably do that and. [00:25:00] The reason I know this is I was a co-founder of that company in 2008 in the [00:25:05] US and I've, I know it's still available. I don't know who offers it. Now. [00:25:10] This is where you can take various implant materials.
When I was doing that, we focused [00:25:15] on metal implants. We found that people would have a non antibody mediated [00:25:20] response to certain types of metal. Like we had a, a little boy who had that [00:25:25] condition where your ribs grow inward and crush your lungs. Mm-hmm. And they have to put a brace in so you can survive.
Well, they put [00:25:30] a titanium brace in that contains a nickel as well, even though it wasn't on the list. And he started [00:25:35] dying. And we used the test to figure out which implant materials were compatible [00:25:40] with them and got the FDA to give, a compassionate exemption so he could get a zirconium implant. [00:25:45] 'cause zirconium doesn't cause any problems in humans, but most metals do.
And number [00:25:50] one, why do I need permission from the FDA to do whatever the hell I want? Guys, back [00:25:55] off and thank you Bobby Kennedy for becoming sane and relevant again. And [00:26:00] uh, secondly the idea that maybe down the road we might be able to test [00:26:05] breast implants to see is this, is this working? So I don't know who runs meza these days.
But I [00:26:10] think there might be some cutting edge ways to figure out what works, and I, I would [00:26:15] encourage you and others in the field say, well, maybe we can figure out what implant [00:26:20] material will cause the least capsule formation so that you get more natural, soft [00:26:25] results and you get less immune inflammation.
Does that make sense?
Victor: Well, there's a lot of studies that have been done [00:26:30] already to, to see which type of shell generates less capsule. And actually there is a [00:26:35] company that has developed a cap, uh, shell mm-hmm. That generates very little [00:26:40] response. Mm. To the implant. And this, is that what you use?
Sometimes I use [00:26:45] this. I mean, it depends very much on the case, you know? Okay. Surgery is not really like a recipe. [00:26:50] Uh, sometimes I use this, you know, type of implant, especially in women who have the history of [00:26:55] capture contractures, you know? But you know, these implants that generate less, I. [00:27:00] Biological capsule also tend to open the, the, the pocket that is [00:27:05] generated.
So sometimes the implants can jiggle inside you. So it depends very much on your skin [00:27:10] quality, your history, you know, there's a lot to, to influence selection. Okay. That [00:27:15] requires a lot of, you know, medical expertise and also evaluating each individual [00:27:20] separately. And this is
Dave: why you might wanna work with someone who's done a huge amount of procedures, 'cause they [00:27:25] develop that over time.
And I just, I think there's wisdom to that. One of the [00:27:30] reasons that I selected you and Dr. Vince Jian Papapa to do the work [00:27:35] together on my face. Vince has been on the show a couple times. He's a founder. Um, there's this old [00:27:40] group called A four M. Mm-hmm. That was at a time, maybe like [00:27:45] 25 years ago, sort of the leader in longevity education.
And I [00:27:50] think it's, it's gotten a little bit. Conservative and a little bit, maybe almost stale at [00:27:55] this point, but Vince was a driving force. I interviewed him last year at at their event [00:28:00] and. What's interesting with Vince is 34 [00:28:05] years of, of experience doing this and a leader in longevity, advanced science, the fact that you [00:28:10] and Vince partnered on this and that you're working on the longevity side of things, [00:28:15] uh, which is larger than just the cosmetic side, but you're also both experts in that.
I'm like, I want the [00:28:20] longevity stuff first and foremost, and I want the world's best on the cosmetic side. So [00:28:25] that, that was what drove me to come down and work with you, uh, because I'm like, wow, I, I'm, I'm [00:28:30] getting. Someone who's done this procedure many, many times. So that's cool that obviously [00:28:35] guys, I'm not talking about breast implants, I'm talking about the face stuff again, but when it comes to breast implants, you also want someone [00:28:40] who really has a, just a huge amount of experience with it so they can [00:28:45] select the right ones versus, you know, a pharmaceutical rep came in, you should put this implant in [00:28:50] and then just goes down the road.
Victor: Yeah. I think, you know, it's very important to let, uh, women know [00:28:55] that there is a group of women that. Don't tolerate implants, [00:29:00] and there's a group of women who don't have any problems with implants. What I do recommend, [00:29:05] at least in my experience, is that implants should be removed or replaced every 10 [00:29:10] years.
Uh, because like the tires of your car, they start to wear off and they [00:29:15] start to dissipate silicone molecules that can interfere with biological [00:29:20] processes in your cells. They can chelate. Neurotransmitters, they can block receptors, [00:29:25] they can interfere with, uh, your mitochondrial function. Uh, [00:29:30] they can generate upregulation epigenetically of some genes, [00:29:35] MP three or TNNT three, and this increases upregulation [00:29:40] of metal proteinases, which can lead to inflammation.
Mm-hmm. And the development of [00:29:45] interleukins that have been isolated. In women with breast implant illness symptoms and [00:29:50] that are not isolated in women who don't express symptoms. Yeah. So this is really important, you know, and [00:29:55] we were speaking before about gluten, you know, 1% of the world's population is [00:30:00] intolerant to gluten.
Uh, we cannot forbid the rest of the world eat pasta. Uh, [00:30:05] but unfortunately there is a group of women, uh, who. You know, have a hard time with the, [00:30:10] the silicone in their body and they do get sick and express a myriad of [00:30:15] symptoms mm-hmm. That, you know, makes 'em really sick. And by removing the implants, uh, [00:30:20] they really improve.
I did a series of around 500 patients that I removed their [00:30:25] implants and followed them up for around, uh, one year. And, uh, [00:30:30] 87% of of the women, uh, were rid of their symptoms after a year and [00:30:35] 92% reported important improvement, you know, in the way in which they [00:30:40] felt. Wow. So there's a really, really big correlation with this and, uh, I think.
[00:30:45] People need to be aware, you know, and if you're a woman who has breast implants and [00:30:50] you're experiencing massive hair loss skin problems polyarthritis your, [00:30:55] your knees and your joints hurt, you know, you have denied those cognitive disorders. I. [00:31:00] Palpitations, you're probably suffering of this problem.
And low heart rate variability maybe? Yes. Would be a [00:31:05] symptom. Yeah. Yeah. And this is due to alterations in receptors and [00:31:10] neurotransmitters that get chelated by the silicone molecules.
Dave: So there's a group of women who [00:31:15] just don't tolerate them. And then there's a group of women who seem to have very few, if any [00:31:20] problems.
Yes. Okay. For the women who don't have problems, you're still [00:31:25] recommending every 10 years that you take out. The implants and then replace [00:31:30] them. Is that a big procedure?
Victor: No, it's actually a really quick procedure and it's very easy to do and with a [00:31:35] very fast recovery. And the reasoning about is very simple.
When I remove implants [00:31:40] that are around 10 years old and I basically touch them like that, I can see [00:31:45] filaments of, uh, cohesive geling inside the implant starting to come out. [00:31:50] And basically, this is because the external shell of the implant starts to give up. You know, [00:31:55] friction changes in temperature.
The hydro AEs of macrophages mm-hmm. [00:32:00] Start to deteriorate the shell of the implant and it starts to give up, you know, like the tires of [00:32:05] your car. Okay? So eventually it's better to change 'em and then avoid all these silicone [00:32:10] molecules to be living the implant and going into your body and generating problems.[00:32:15]
Dave: It seems like sauna use would speed the breakdown of breast
Victor: implants. True or false? [00:32:20] Yeah. Or there's, there's a lot of people who say this happens, you know, I have not [00:32:25] seen a study that will really certify this. But there's, you know, some people [00:32:30] that say This is major temperature changes, you know, this is a polymer can, you know, have [00:32:35] an, an effect
Dave: on it.
It makes a lot of sense. So I would say. There's [00:32:40] abundant evidence that using a sauna, infrared or not has longevity effects [00:32:45] that you want. But if you have breast implants and use the sauna, you might want to change 'em maybe every seven years or [00:32:50] something, because the life cycle of them would go down.
Very likely. Okay. [00:32:55] Got it. And it's so weird how things can be true and real and reasonable, [00:33:00] even if there isn't a double blind study. So I'm gonna say that's what I would recommend just based on [00:33:05] thinking. But like you said, I haven't seen a study. And isn't it weird that the breast [00:33:10] implant manufacturers really wouldn't wanna fund a study like that?
Victor: Well, actually there is [00:33:15] a study, it was, uh, done with 150 patients. Mm-hmm. That was done. [00:33:20] Eh, it used three groups, you know, one control group and two groups. Uh, [00:33:25] one with the 50 women who had implants and another group, uh, without symptoms. Mm-hmm. And another [00:33:30] group with implants and symptoms. And basically three interleukins were found to be [00:33:35] upregulated.
I. In the group with implants and symptoms. And these are interleukin 17, a 13 and [00:33:40] 22. And, uh, these are pro-inflammatory interleukins. Got it. So, you know, [00:33:45] you can see it's, those weren't from sauna though, just to be No, no, no. This is just, you know, but it's a, it's a [00:33:50] very complex physiopathology. Okay? Mm-hmm.
And basically I will divide it in, in the following [00:33:55] way. There's. An inflammatory component due to an upregulation, you know, of [00:34:00] genes that produce inflammatory cytokines and also the immunological [00:34:05] response that happens around the implant in the biological shell. Mm-hmm. Okay. The other one [00:34:10] is biological.
You know, there is. Basically a disturbance [00:34:15] of the normal biology of your cell by, you know, blocking receptors or [00:34:20] chelating neurotransmitters or affecting the ation process in [00:34:25] mitochondrial, you know? Okay. Uh, and then another one, which is epigenetic with [00:34:30] the upregulation by the. Molecules of silicone, of some [00:34:35] genes that increase metal propanes.
Okay. Which, you know, turns over, you know, [00:34:40] into pro-inflammatory cytokines in your connective tissue.
Dave: Let's talk about that for a minute. Just [00:34:45] in the context of overall aging. There's. I think I've identified [00:34:50] 19 different unusual aging pathways that you can affect just by [00:34:55] getting the right signal into cells.
And something that you don't hear about except [00:35:00] in longevity textbooks is MMP nine. And MMP nine is a [00:35:05] pro aging molecule. And if anyone's ever eaten. [00:35:10] Bad oysters. If you get the paralytic poisoning, you probably die. But the other [00:35:15] kind is a bacteria that raises MMP nine levels. And when MMP nine goes [00:35:20] up, this is what makes you feel like you got hit by a truck.
And it can last for a couple, [00:35:25] a couple weeks, and it's whole body aches, pain, swelling it. It's [00:35:30] miserable. So. Going back, oh, six months ago or something, [00:35:35] I ate a bad oyster in Las Vegas. You know, note to self eating oysters in the desert is probably not a [00:35:40] good idea. Anyway, I woke up, just soaked in sweat. The next day.
It was like a truck [00:35:45] hit me like, ugh. So I said, well, I know I've got the kind of bacteria that [00:35:50] makes MMP nine, and this is a very strong pro aging molecule and you want to keep your levels down. [00:35:55] So I did some research and it turns out that there is a technology that lowers MMP nine, [00:36:00] and it's what my company use is called Wasabi Method, which is a.
Shockwave type [00:36:05] of therapy. So I got out my wasabi device and I went over my pretty much entire body, [00:36:10] but especially the sore points and the symptoms went down dramatically [00:36:15] because this physical, mechanical shearing force vibration delivered in the right [00:36:20] dose. Will affect that molecule. So people don't know.
MMP nine is a core [00:36:25] factor in aging, and if you get an advanced panel, you might have your levels monitored. And what you're [00:36:30] saying is breast implants can increase levels of this, which cause that systemic [00:36:35] pain and systemic inflammation, the things in the knees and all. So I would suggest you [00:36:40] probably, if you're into longevity, uh, way above what's normal, like I am, you might want to know [00:36:45] your MMP nine levels, and you might wanna manage them.
You could do wasabi method, you could do any anti-inflammatory thing [00:36:50] like that. But if you have breast implants and your MMP nine is high, or all these other inflammatory [00:36:55] cytokines, maybe it's time to change them out or it's time to remove them.[00:37:00]
How would you [00:37:05] know if a woman walked in to your clinic tomorrow and said, I'm having some of these inflammatory symptoms. Heart [00:37:10] rate variability's low if things aren't right. I've had my breast implants for 10 [00:37:15] years plus. How would you know if she's someone who needs to have her [00:37:20] breast implants out or replaced?
Victor: Okay. This is a really tricky question to to [00:37:25] answer because there's really not a real rule about this. When I started doing [00:37:30] this, like around five years ago. I got an email from Doc, uh, a colleague [00:37:35] from Month Mouth Hospital in New Jersey. His name is Dr. Arthur Brower. Mm-hmm. He was the [00:37:40] chief of the, um, uh, rheumatology department.
Okay. Telling me, Dr. Ola, [00:37:45] if you're planning to do research, take these papers that I wrote into account. And Dr. [00:37:50] Brower is a very smart individual. Very, very interesting papers. You know, and this of course opened [00:37:55] my mind to a lot of things that most surgeons don't really take into consideration. We are [00:38:00] not allot into biology.
Vince and I are maybe a little of an exception. You guys are super nerds. [00:38:05] I love that. Yeah. But this, you know, was very interesting to read and of course I'm always reading epi epigenetic [00:38:10] journals and, and I start to find these things and start putting this together. I. Women who [00:38:15] have a breath implant illness as it's called, and I think it's more [00:38:20] of a silicone toxicity syndrome because it follows a pharmacological pattern, you know?
Mm-hmm. [00:38:25] Sorry. The most, the more exposure you have to silicone molecules, the more symptoms you have, [00:38:30] the less. And then as you remove them, then the symptoms start to disappear over a period [00:38:35] of time. Okay. And I think that. It's very difficult to tell [00:38:40] exactly who has, you know, this intolerance or not. In some women, some [00:38:45] women come with a quantity of symptoms that is just, you know, they come and tell, take 'em out, you know, I [00:38:50] know I'm sick.
I, I am, I feel horrible. We take 'em out more or less a month [00:38:55] later, uh, they start to feel better and they start to feel better and better and better and better. Yeah. [00:39:00] And after more or less a year. They feel back to normal. And again, [00:39:05] 87%. So it's a, a big correlation. Okay. Um, but there is a group of women who [00:39:10] are maybe expressing a couple symptoms at the 10 year mark.[00:39:15]
It's becomes their decision whether they want to replace them or remove them completely. [00:39:20] And it depends very much on, you know, what the patients want, you know? But my recommendation is [00:39:25] at least replace the implants every 10 years because you're going to be avoiding [00:39:30] those silicone molecules from traveling all over your body, generating these problems.
Dave: [00:39:35] Danica Patrick came on the show and I thought she was really courageous for just talking about [00:39:40] breast implant illness and what happened with her health when she had them taken out. So she [00:39:45] would be an example of someone who like get 'em out and then her biology [00:39:50] healed. And you're saying there's another group of people where they're saying, you know, I'm just gonna change 'em out.
Like [00:39:55] I change the tires on my car because I like my breasts to look a certain way. And that you can do that and [00:40:00] be healthy if you have the kind of immune system that doesn't respond.
Victor: True. [00:40:05] Yes. I would say there's, you know. Again, that immunological variability [00:40:10] between people, you know, makes it more prone to developing the problem than other people.
Dave: [00:40:15] One of the things that really changes breasts is [00:40:20] breastfeeding. So a lot of women, they finished breastfeeding and they've told me this, you know, I'm [00:40:25] a dad of two teenagers. Like, oh, my breasts don't look the same. They [00:40:30] didn't bounce back. Number one, if you have been breastfeeding and you want your breasts to [00:40:35] bounce back, what should you do?
Victor: Well, it's very, very difficult for it to happen on its own. [00:40:40] Mm-hmm. Uh, you see there is some ligaments called suspensory ligaments. Mm-hmm. Uh, [00:40:45] which help, you know, have the breast in the right place when you breastfe, they. [00:40:50] Stretch and they normally don't come back around 5% of women, uh, have this, [00:40:55] you know, come back after breastfeeding, but it's, you know, most of it's only 5%.
Yeah. Yeah. [00:41:00] Most, most women would require a breast lift eventually. Okay.
Dave: What's the difference [00:41:05] between a breast lift
Victor: and a breast
Dave: implant?
Victor: Well, a breast augmentation or when you, [00:41:10] or you use a, an implant is a procedure that you do through a very tiny incision. And you [00:41:15] can place the implant under the gland or under the muscle or into a plane.
[00:41:20] And basically it doesn't require ma major scars or the excisional skins.
Music: Okay.
Victor: [00:41:25] Uh, a breast lift requires the excisional skin because there's too much skin in the breast [00:41:30] sagging, right. The repositioning of the gland in some cases. [00:41:35] And reshaping the breasts basically. Okay? And you can do this. In three [00:41:40] ways.
You can do it without an implant in case you have enough volume and you don't desire [00:41:45] bigger volume with an implant if you desire bigger volume [00:41:50] and without an implant and a U flap, which is this technique that I invented [00:41:55] where you use a flap of the upper abdominal wall to basically [00:42:00] fill the, the, the breast and use a biological breast reputation.[00:42:05]
Dave: So it's an interesting decision. You can have the implant, which is [00:42:10] a relatively small procedure, but then it carries a risk of an inflammatory response to the [00:42:15] implant. Or you could have a more invasive procedure that involves more [00:42:20] trauma to the, to the skin and to the muscles that doesn't have a risk of [00:42:25] rejection.
Is there a way to know which is the right way to go?
Victor: Well, again, not [00:42:30] really. This depends very much on the age of the patient, the [00:42:35] necessities of the patient. Some women didn't have breast uh, I mean, were [00:42:40] not breastfeeding and they want bigger implants. And some women just, you know, [00:42:45] wanna lift without the implant.
It depends very much on each individual,
Dave: but what you can do. [00:42:50] If you're doing a breast explan from someone who's getting sick from the breast implants, [00:42:55] you could do your invented U flap procedure. So then they still have breast [00:43:00] volume, but they don't have implants. Exactly. That's groundbreaking and that's really [00:43:05] important.
And I know there's some people sitting here, you might be sort of judging, well, can't they just deal [00:43:10] with it? Look. Biohacking. You change the environment around you and [00:43:15] inside you to have full control of your own biology. And if you want full breast by any means necessary, it is your [00:43:20] right to do that. And people wanna judge you.
Well, they could probably go pound sand. [00:43:25] Likewise if you want a third eyeball in your forehead. I don't know how to do that, but that sounds kind of cool. [00:43:30] So if we can do that with stem cells program to donate a new eyeball that can be integrated, maybe [00:43:35] I would do that. So I would just say there's no good or bad.
It's [00:43:40] just, it's your body and you get to have it for as long as you have it, and you can do whatever you want to it. [00:43:45] And anytime people are are super judgy about that, I'm like, you should go back and [00:43:50] maybe do some trauma work on that. Because anytime you're having these feelings of [00:43:55] aversion is always a lack of forgiveness and trauma.
If you read heavily [00:44:00] meditated, I go through all the science, all the pathways, and what you can do about that. So bottom line is. If [00:44:05] you look at someone and they've got a whole bunch of piercings, tattoos fake [00:44:10] boobs, butt implants, whatever, it's fine to say, I wouldn't choose to do that to my body [00:44:15] because of the risk or because it's just not what I want.
But if you're sitting [00:44:20] there feeling any emotion at all about someone else's choice, they could equally [00:44:25] feel that emotion about you for not doing it. So if you just wanna be peaceful about it. Except that [00:44:30] people are gonna do what they want. There are a lot of women who would like to recognize their breasts when [00:44:35] they're 50 or 70 like they did when they were 25.
And there's nothing wrong with [00:44:40] that. The difficulty is if you decide you want that and you're not informed of the [00:44:45] potential risks and the potential opportunities for different ways to, to do this, and that's what I wanted to talk [00:44:50] with you about. You could do a U flap, more trauma, less rejection risk. You do an [00:44:55] implant, higher rejection risk, less trauma.
Right. Or you could do a combination of the two. [00:45:00] And if you have the bad response, which so many people I know have had, then you need [00:45:05] to know that this is a likely cause and that you could remove them and [00:45:10] still maintain the breast volume you want. And that's, I. Cool. That's useful. And I [00:45:15] consider that biohacking.
And look, if you wanna lengthen your legs with some kind of [00:45:20] technique, go for it. Like it's, it's your body. And we're at the point in society [00:45:25] where you can do almost anything you want. And it's not a good or bad, it's [00:45:30] just, it's your body, it's your future. It's how you feel, it's how you look, how much energy you have.
[00:45:35] You get to pick, just pick wisely. And that's what this whole thing's about,
Victor: you know? [00:45:40] I became a, a doctor when I was 22, and I studied [00:45:45] medicine in Costa Rica. Then I went to Italy to do my plastic surgery training, uh, then [00:45:50] to France, to do my microsurgical training, and then to Hackensack Medical Center where I met, uh, [00:45:55] Vince.
Music: Mm-hmm.
Victor: And I have been in practice for 18 years, and if there's [00:46:00] one thing that I have learned. Is to listen to patients. I think that patients [00:46:05] are, you know, the people who really teach you how to do medicine [00:46:10] better because everyone has a different necessity and that needs to be respected. [00:46:15] I just told you a few minutes ago about that lady who came from South Carolina, and [00:46:20] she came to my practice in a moment in which I had no idea.
That this [00:46:25] was a problem. And she was really prepared. A very smart woman [00:46:30] brought a lot of papers and I had to tell her, look, you are [00:46:35] speaking to me about something. I just never read or heard about it. Wow. So let me go [00:46:40] study come back in two days and, uh, we'll have a [00:46:45] more educated conversation on my side because she was really well educated already.
I [00:46:50] went and started. Looking at papers and researching, and I found [00:46:55] a lot of information that I really didn't know being a doctor and a specialist in this [00:47:00] field. And I spoke with several colleagues in different parts of the world and they had no [00:47:05] idea about it also. So I think it's really, really important to be humble when you're a [00:47:10] physician.
And to listen to patients. Everyone has different needs. Everyone has [00:47:15] different issues or problems. Psychological health problems just [00:47:20] needs, you know, and like you were saying, our job is, is not to judge them, [00:47:25] but to listen to them and to help them in the best way that we can. And I think this is where, you [00:47:30] know, science really has an.
Important effect and positive effect in people. [00:47:35]
Dave: That's fantastic. There are a whole bunch of functional medicine and [00:47:40] longevity doctors who listen to the show, like a lot of them. And thanks guys for your time and attention. [00:47:45] Who I find are really good at listening. And if you go to say a [00:47:50] family practitioner or someone who has three minutes per patient because of insurance company [00:47:55] overregulation and things like that they don't have time to listen.
But they're also not trained to [00:48:00] listen in medical school, uh, the way that you did, I. What made you the kind of [00:48:05] doctor who listens, this is how you're taught in Costa Rica.
Music: Hmm.
Dave: It was the old school [00:48:10] training. Got it. What are the differences between medicine and Central America [00:48:15] and in say, north America?
What do you see as different? I.
Victor: Well, [00:48:20] central America is, you know, different 'cause I, I was never a doctor in any other country of [00:48:25] Central America, but Costa Rica. Mm-hmm. Costa Ricans are nice people by, you know, by, [00:48:30] by genes, I guess, you know, because, you know, Costa Ricans are very easygoing people. Yeah. [00:48:35] And they are very friendly people.
So they normally will sit down and talk to you and, [00:48:40] and listen to you and share with you. And it's very. Cultural, I [00:48:45] guess, you know? Mm-hmm. And, uh, this, I guess, is the way in which we're taught, you know, there's a lot of science [00:48:50] in med school. Uh, we have a very solid health system. But I think there's a [00:48:55] lot of humanity also in the way in which medicine is done in Costa Rica.
Mm-hmm. And and I think [00:49:00] this, you know, helps a lot, you know, and, um, I think that the [00:49:05] system I, I mean I also studied in Europe for, uh, almost seven [00:49:10] years. I was in Italy, France, and Luxembourg. They're very good health systems [00:49:15] with a lot of resources and a lot of, you know, possibilities. And [00:49:20] then in the United States also when I did my fellowship in, in Hackensack with, uh, [00:49:25] Dr.
Capella and with Dr. Jean Papapa. And I think that. You know, [00:49:30] probably what you were saying is very important. Time allocation is, uh, more difficult [00:49:35] in the, in the United States than in Costa Rica or, or also in Italy. Mm. So [00:49:40] I think this has a lot to do, you know, because Okay. Doctors are a little forced into taking [00:49:45] decisions very quickly and and this sometimes has an impact in the quality of the, [00:49:50] you know, service that the patients are getting.
Dave: Some women report huge [00:49:55] increases in the libido after having their breast implants removed. What's going on [00:50:00] hormonally?
Victor: When you optimize, uh, your body systems, [00:50:05] everything works better. And uh, I think that's a summary to your question. [00:50:10] When you have a system that is loaded with, uh, [00:50:15] molecules that are not supposed to be there.
And I always use this analogy, if you have a, an engine that's [00:50:20] perfectly running and you take a screw and you throw it inside, it's going to end up [00:50:25] landing in a place where it wrecks the engine. Mm-hmm. And this is basically what happens when you have [00:50:30] foreign molecules going around in your cells. Uh, they wreck [00:50:35] hormones.
They wreck the, the receptors where hormones have biological [00:50:40] effects, you know, and the reproductive system. It's not, you know, an exception to these [00:50:45] problems. So I would say this, you know, is very important. And also [00:50:50] when you feel ill, I. You're inflamed, you can't sleep. [00:50:55] Mm-hmm. You feel anxiety, you have palpitations, you have brain fog.
You know, [00:51:00] it's very hard to, to think about sex. Those aren't sexy. So yeah.
Dave: There's also the [00:51:05] HPA axis dysfunction, and if you're new to the show or just [00:51:10] becoming a biohacker, it's. Hypothalmic pituitary adrenal axis. And when you have [00:51:15] toxins and inflammation, something in that signaling gets messed up, and then your adrenals start [00:51:20] making too much adrenaline.
Or you can have too much cortisol, you can have 'em at the wrong time of day, [00:51:25] and that will kill your libido, whether you're a man or a woman. So if they're [00:51:30] causing problems, it could be, like you said, lack of sleep, which is tied to HPA. [00:51:35] So I would just say. If you've had implants for 10 plus years or you got them and things were never [00:51:40] quite the same again, you probably should look at your inflammatory uh, markers and see what's going on in there.[00:51:45]
And then you got, you can go to rmi and, and check it out. It's dave [00:51:50] asprey.com/rmi. You can go to a local practitioner. How would someone go [00:51:55] about if they just wanna stay in their city, say, I wanna get my, my breast implants removed. I know I have [00:52:00] problems. How do you know if someone is good at explants versus someone who [00:52:05] maybe doesn't understand the biology?
Victor: Well, I think the, nowadays it's very easy [00:52:10] because you can just Google, you know, this information. There is, uh, many, [00:52:15] uh, social groups in Facebook and, and Instagram where this information is available. I. [00:52:20] I think if you're a patient who's considering having these services, it's very important that you [00:52:25] look at the experience of the doctor, uh, the techniques before and after results, and [00:52:30] also what patients are saying.
There's a, a group called, uh, breast Implant Illness by Nicole. I. [00:52:35] And they have like a list of surgeons
Music: Oh, cool. Uh,
Victor: that, you know, are well [00:52:40] recognized to, to do good, you know, jobs in this case and the experience [00:52:45] of many women there that, you know, uh, have had services with these doctors and then, [00:52:50] you know, that would probably make it easier for you to have, uh, the right selection.
So
Dave: testimonials [00:52:55] is a good thing. I love that. Uh, my recommendation would be. [00:53:00] Well, if you can get stem cells to speed healing afterwards, there are things you can do with stem [00:53:05] cells in Costa Rica that you cannot do in North America. In fact, I'm very skeptical of stem cells in North [00:53:10] America because of the legal limitations we have.
So I'll use exosomes in North America, [00:53:15] but when I go to Costa Rica, I'm happy to get stem cells because I think it's much safer. [00:53:20] So my recommendation would say it's a three hour flight. It's a similar cost. You're [00:53:25] getting advanced healing things that you wouldn't otherwise get in the us so that's, well, that's why I went down and [00:53:30] had my facial circumcision.
Victor: Well, you know, when I was a resident in [00:53:35] Milano, I was in a hospital corn gua hospital, and there was a doctor [00:53:40] there who was treating people who had scars. Mm-hmm. Burns [00:53:45] with fats, transfers, he would inject, uh, right under the scars, [00:53:50] uh, fat that he collected through a liposuction. Mm-hmm. And I asked him, why do you [00:53:55] think.
These scars are improving. And he told me, because there are, uh, mesenchymal [00:54:00] stem cells in these fat cells, right, that help the skin. Uh, and that stuck to my [00:54:05] brain. I wanted to learn surgery, not, you know, MSEs. Some years later I met [00:54:10] Vincent and this triggered me starting an eight year process to change the law in [00:54:15] Costa Rica.
Mm. And. Wow. I have a, wow, an executive decree [00:54:20] to regulate stem cells in Costa Rica and make 'em legal. So it was not an easy task. Wow. [00:54:25] So you did that? I didn't realize that. Yeah. Yeah. It was an, an eight year, you know, process. You know, [00:54:30] uh, the regulations in Costa Rica are pretty strict. Do you
Dave: realize now Costa [00:54:35] Rica and UAE are the two countries with the most acceptance [00:54:40] of stem cells, uh, in the world right now where there's medical freedom for.
People and [00:54:45] physicians to do things. I, I didn't realize you played such a heavy role in that.
Victor: Thank you. Yeah. This was during the [00:54:50] administration of, uh, former President Soli. Uh, Dr. Fernando Loca [00:54:55] was the, uh, health minister and I basically started to present to the Ministry [00:55:00] of Health, uh, you know, all the information that Dr.
Jean Pappa and I had put [00:55:05] together from some studies that were done in Rutgers University. A lot of information that we had [00:55:10] developed in animal studies, et cetera, et cetera, and we were finally able to prove to the [00:55:15] Ministry of Health that what we were doing. Was, you know, uh, safe and that it has [00:55:20] had efficacy.
Nowadays we have treated patients from all over the world [00:55:25] and, uh, with very good results, and also with impeccable safety [00:55:30] margins. And this, you know, helped a lot of course, you know, going back to the breast and infant [00:55:35] illness problem, I was always very focused in trying to accomplish a good aesthetic outcome.[00:55:40]
This is not easy surgery to do. It requires a lot of expertise. I did my training [00:55:45] in breast surgery in the European Institute of Oncology in Milano, Dr. [00:55:50] Berto. There was the guy who was the leader in reconstruction in [00:55:55] one single time for women with breast cancer. So I start applying these concepts into [00:56:00] reconstructing explanation patients.
Wow. Uh, and um, and yes, [00:56:05] afterwards. Uh, in the last few years when we were able to legally use stem [00:56:10] cells, then we started to use stem cells during the surgery. And this, of course, like in your [00:56:15] case, help them be cooperate quicker get less inflammation and heal faster. [00:56:20] Wow.
Dave: Well, Dr. Ola, thank you for being on the [00:56:25] show and for standing up for medical freedom in Costa Rica and for a [00:56:30] real conversation for women about.
The fact that you can, [00:56:35] in some cases safely have breast implants and what to do and what to do if you wanna have them removed. If [00:56:40] you wanna maintain breast volume. 'cause I think this is something a lot of women care about. And thanks for the [00:56:45] work you've done on my face and explaining what happens in the various parts of the face.[00:56:50]
I. And guys, if you're listening to the show or ladies, dave [00:56:55] asprey.com/rmi has all the info about the stuff that I did. My recommendation, if you're into [00:57:00] longevity, is a part of your biohacking practice is go down there and stack procedures, uh, the way I [00:57:05] did. So I made my brain substantially younger while I did the work on removing all the extra skin from [00:57:10] obesity and aging.
So
Victor: thanks again for your work. My pleasure. Thank you for your invitation to come here. It [00:57:15] was a pleasure. And anything that you need, I'm very happy to help. See you next [00:57:20] time on the Human Upgrade Podcast.
[00:57:25] I.