Plastikos Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Millennium Healthcare 4370 Georgetown Square Atlanta, GA 30338 (770) 457-4677

Advanced Holistic Reconstructive Surgery

Lectured at the Association of Surgical Technologists, 2001.


Advanced holistic reconstructive surgery is a topic that you will not find mentioned very often in medical literature. As a board certified plastic surgeon and a board certified doctor in holistic medicine, I will introduce concepts of holistic medicine as they apply to plastic surgery.

We will review several forms of medicine, including holistic medicine, integrative medicine, energy medicine, and spiritual medicine, since these are emerging systems of medicine that are often associated with a great deal of resistance from traditional medicine. It is interesting that in Georgia, three out of four of the founding diplomats of the American Board of Holistic Medicine are surgeons, though whether a doctor is interested in holistic medicine has more to do with the doctor’s level of consciousness and spiritual development than it does with his or her specialty. There are leaders in holistic medicine in every field from cardiothoracic surgery to neurology and almost every medical specialty is represented. The board exams are based on a body of knowledge that was gathered by Robert A. Anderson, M.D. This body of information is called The Scientific Basis for Holistic Medicine. This is a collection of peer-reviewed articles showing the scientific basis for the effectiveness of all aspects of holistic medicine, including energy medicine, prayer, and the effect of consciousness on matter. For those doctors who claim that holistic medicine has no scientific basis, I would ask that they review the current medical literature, which is quite extensive and shows that this emerging discipline has many advantages over our more narrow traditional medical approach.

It is important to understand that surgery is the last bastion of traditional western medicine. Surgery is very practical with a “nuts and bolts” approach to the treatment of disease and even aging, which some consider to be a disease in itself. In the operating room, we are concerned with instrumentation, technique, sterilization, and proper procedures to protect the patient and the operating room (OR) staff. We as the OR team, are focused on that which we can control.

Today, I want to introduce you to some concepts that may appear to be beyond your control until you understand them more completely. Once you enter into the world of energy management, you may find that your view of the world has expanded and that you are not only able to understand but to be of more service to those you are trying to help.

Much of medicine is undergoing an “integration” of traditional western medicine with alternative and/or holistic medicine. This is where the term “integrative” medicine comes from. The role of the mind-body connection is being explored not only in many conferences and seminars, but in hospital and non-hospital based centers which are dedicated to treating the patient not only form a physical standpoint but also considering the emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects as well. Holistic medicine considers all these aspects rather than just concentrating on the physical alone. How can an understanding of holistic medicine help in the operating room and recovery room?

The first lessons of holistic medicine begin with your growth. It is important that you develop practices that help you become more conscious. What makes a great surgical technologist? It is not just knowledge and dedication. Like any profession, the great scientists, the great fighter pilots, and the great surgical technologists are intuitive. They merge energies with the patient and the surgeon to stay conscious of what is happening in front of them. That is where the famous quote comes from, “Give me what I need, not what I ask for”. A great surgical technologist anticipates and helps to guide the course of a smooth and efficient surgery. An inattentive OR technician keeps drifting in his or her focus of concentration, to thoughts not related to the surgery and the surgeon ends up doing the operation by themselves. A great surgical technologist anticipates and is prepared for emergency situations, and an inferior OR technician is ill prepared for emergency situations and struggles if an unexpected event occurs.

So how does one become more conscious? How does one become more intuitive? Think back to those cases where the energy was high and the case flowed well, and was very enjoyable. Compare that to the case where you were out of sorts and nothing was working well. To be at your best requires that you take care of your physical body. If you are exhausted or have a low blood sugar, you will not perform well. To stay at a high energy level, you must also be emotionally balanced. Remember you are there for the patient and try not to take suggestions or criticisms personally. To stay at a high mental level of focus and concentration, develop spiritual practices such as meditation, yoga, Tai Chi, or Qi-Gong to help steady the mind and sharpen your concentration. To develop your intuitive faculties, the same spiritual practices will open up your higher guidance. Through these spiritual practices you raise your vibrational level and thereby help to attract to you higher energy people. Do not be surprised if after you begin a spiritual path, your relationships shift, and those people in your life who are more “toxic” go elsewhere. I noticed that when I went to the hospital I would work with certain nurses and technicians and anesthesiologists and never with others. I would spend hours answering spiritual questions. When the energy shifted downward in one hospital, I was directed in meditation to move my patients to another hospital.

So what is this spiritual growth all about? It is not dependent on which religion you are a part of, as all religions have a core teaching that encompasses spirituality. Spirituality is more about releasing belief systems that are fear-based than taking on new belief systems. The path is not external to you. It is a system of internal guidance. Each person has a unique path. Some people learn to meditate, others play the piano, and others paint a picture or walk in nature. I often reach a high state of consciousness during surgery, which is why I feel that surgery is one of my spiritual paths. Anything that we love to do that is creative can be our spiritual path.

The first step of spiritual awakening is to become conscious of our thoughts. As we step back and observe ourselves what do we see? Once you are aware you are projecting negatively based thoughts, you can stop and consciously change your thought patterns to become more positive. A great spiritual leader once said, “Energy follows thought”. And “the mind is a builder and the physical is the result.”

So how can a thought-form cause disease? Take the thought, “I am better than others”. This thought is not in alignment with spiritual principals and may therefore lead to disease. How does this happen? In the mental body the thought is “I am superior to others”. In the emotional body the thoughts splits into, “I am better than others and I am not as good as others”. This conflicts causes stress and settles into the physical body in the area of the solar plexus or “power” center, lowering the energy in this part of the body. When the energy is lowered, one is set up for possible infection by H. pylori which can cause ulcers. Of course ulcers can be treated with antibiotics, drugs, and even with surgery, but energy medicine would have the patient consciously work on the erroneous thought-form so that the solar plexus energy center could be strengthened. In order to speed up the healing, antibiotics and drugs are usually given at the same time as the spiritual work is proceeding. We want to remove the chances of bleeding and perforation with physical medicine, while reducing the risk of recurrent ulcer disease with the spiritual work. Another example is interfering with the energy of the throat center, either by holding something back that needs to be said, or by not speaking the truth. Both can lower the energy in this area and make one more susceptible to viral and bacterial infections.

Spiritual psychotherapy has the following theories. Conflict that is not properly handled in the mental and emotional planes can lead to infection in the physical. Aggression that is not properly handled in the mental and emotional planes can lead to allergy and autoimmune disease in the physical; and, love that is not properly handled in the mental and emotional planes can lead to cancer in the physical. This is not to say that physical agents do not cause physical disease. It is well known that some physical agents can cause cancer such as radiation and carcinogenic chemicals. But imbalances in the emotional, mental, and spiritual realms can set the stage for one to be exposed to these agents, and once exposed, one is much more susceptible to damage from the lower energy created by the disruption in the higher planes. I have seen many patients where these principals hold true, and if we are able to handle the energy of conflict, aggression, or love differently, their diseases go into remission.

When one studies the spontaneous remission of life-threatening disease, there is often a spiritual shift that occurs either due to the incorporation of spiritual practices such as meditation or active spiritual work on areas such as forgiveness. When one is able to release or forgive resentments, there is a sudden rise in energy that may help to slow down or help life-threatening disease go into remission. The most important question we can ask the terminally ill patient is if he or she wants to live or die. Those who want to die, generally do, and those who want to live especially for a specific reason such as a wedding or the birth of a new family member, also generally do.

Spiritual and energy medicine are in their infancy. We have a lot more to learn about the relationship of thought-forms to disease. Surgeons and anesthesiologists do not often use the energy consciously to treat patients in the OR and recovery room. However many recovery room nurses are trained in energy medicine either through holistic nursing training programs such as healing touch or other programs. I have had recovery room nurses who upon seeing how tired I was after a long case tell me to go to the locker room and they would finish the healing for me.

In closing, I would like to remind you that we are all energy beings and as we become more conscious of the thoughts and energy we project around us, we will create the opportunity to shift our thoughts so that we may create health rather than disease. As we are drawn to spiritual practices that allow us to become more conscious, we can help ourselves and those around us in ways we never thought possible. As one raises their spiritual vibration level, the gifts of healing and prophecy and detachment from areas in our lives which cause suffering, including attachment to money and material things, attachment to relationships and attachment to power are released and a sense of peace and well-being stays with us, even in very stressful times. As we release fear, we become more loving and more confident as we access information and energy beyond the three dimensions that we are currently immersed in. To many of you this lecture will have little meaning, but to some it may plant a seed that starts you on a journey back to your true self. The self that is loving, not fear-based, the self that is intuitive and the self that is not attached to anything which causes suffering. You can learn to stay in a high-energy state even with the most difficult surgeons and circulators if you master these spiritual disciplines.