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Wayne,NJ June 20, 2009 -- Dr. Ramtin Kassir (www.drkassir.com) is set to offer the first available alternative to BOTOX® Cosmetic wrinkle treatment known as Dysport™ to his New York and New Jersey patients. This product, also derived from cosmetic botulinum toxin, temporarily smoothes wrinkles caused by facial muscle movement, such as those that appear between the eyebrows, across the forehead, and around the outside corners of the eyes.
"Competition is usually a good thing for consumers and since its release BOTOX Cosmetic has had none," says Ramtin Kassir, MD, FACS, a New York and New Jersey facial plastic surgeon. "It's exciting to be one of the first tri-state area practices to offer our patients an effective alternative."
What's the difference? Dysport, also known as Reloxin in other markets, offers similar wrinkle smoothing improvements as BOTOX Cosmetic with additional benefits. It has been found to take effect within the first day or 2 of treatment, instead of the 3 to 5 day delay typically involved with BOTOX Cosmetic. The skin begins smoothing out as treated facial muscles relax. Also, improvements from Dysport have been found to last months longer than those from BOTOX Cosmetic, especially in younger patients.
"Because Dysport can produce improvements farther from the injection site," explains Dr. Kassir, "my patients may need fewer injections than they do with BOTOX Cosmetic. Also, because improvements have been found to last longer, they don't need to return to the office as frequently for touch ups. These benefits all translate into helping patients maintain a more youthful look while enjoying increased affordability."
Because the effects of Dysport may disperse beyond the injection site, it's extremely important that these treatments are administered by a physician with proper training and experience. Being a facial cosmetic surgery specialist, Dr. Kassir has a deep understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the face. He takes pride in giving his patients a more relaxed, youthful facial appearance while ensuring their expressions remain natural looking.
"Now, patients will have greater choice, and that's exciting," adds Dr. Kassir. "I offer my New York and New Jersey patients Dysport, BOTOX Cosmetic, and a variety of other medical spa services. As a board-certified facial plastic surgeon, I also specialize in helping patients look younger and more vibrant through facial cosmetic surgery."
Dr. Ramtin Kassir (http://www.drkassir.com) is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon serving New York and New Jersey area. He specializes in facial plastic surgery and minimally invasive rejuvenation of the face, nose, and neck.
NY,NY , June 19 / Dr. Ramtin Kassir has announced the availability of Dysport, a botulinum toxin-A. Dysport, recently FDA approved, is the first cosmetic neurotoxin available alongside the widely used BOTOX(R) Cosmetic (botulinum toxin-A).
Dr. Kassir is one of New York/ New Jersey's largest and most experienced Botox practice, with locations at 799 Park Avenue in NY and in Wayne, NJ and Ridgewood, NJ.
Dysport is a simple, effective, non-surgical treatment that works by relaxing facial muscles, thereby reducing and smoothing away frown-lines and wrinkles. Dysport, like Botox, is a protein extracted from the bacterium Clostridium Botulinum. Dysport has been available in Europe , Asia and South America for over 10 years. Dysport is manufactured by Ipsen Pharmaceuticals (FRA) and distributed in the United States by Medicis, manufacturer of the Restylane dermal filler.
Many cosmetic physicians outside the U.S. who have used Dysport report faster action and greater longevity for Dysport when compared to Botox. In most unbiased neurological studies for the treatment of movement disorders, Dysport has provided equal or greater efficacy when used in a 2.5 to 4:1 ratio to Botox. In a double-blinded randomized crossover study in cervical dystonia (the most common use of neurotoxins in the world), results showed Dysport to be more effective than Botox with a similar safety and side effect profile when used in a 3:1 dose relationship.
Dr. Ramtin Kassir, founder of New York Park Avenue Surgery Center and Mona Lisa Cosmetic Surgery Center has experience using Dysport overseas. He reports that Dysport has a faster onset of action and longer duration when compared to Botox.
Mona Lisa Cosmetic Surgery Center was founded in 1999 by world-renowned facial plastic surgeon and laser surgery expert Dr. Ramtin Kassir. Today, the practice is one of the largest full-service cosmetic and laser practices in New York and New Jersey. Visit http://www.drkassir.com for more information about Dysport and a complete list of services and products offered by Dr. Ramtin Kassir.
By ALISON GREGOR
Published: June 16, 2009
A New York State law that takes effect on July 14 has physicians who perform office-based surgery scrambling to upgrade their offices or find new space altogether.
The legislation, called the Patient Protection Bill and signed into law by Gov. Eliot Spitzer in July 2007, is intended to ensure high safety standards in offices when surgery and other invasive procedures are conducted with more than minimal sedation.
It is the first time that New York State will regulate office-based surgeries. Doctors doing surgery will be required to have their offices accredited by one of three existing agencies by July 14, or face penalties for professional misconduct if they continue to perform operations.
Depending on their specialty, doctors may find that under the new law they need larger elevators, improved ventilation, backup power equipment with the ability to run for a longer period and other mechanical accommodations.
Since some medical offices cannot be physically adapted to meet accreditation requirements, especially in Manhattan, many physicians have been seeking new office space, said Paul Wexler, the president of Corcoran Wexler Healthcare Properties, a real estate brokerage firm specializing in medical office space.
“There are a wide variety of specialists who do their procedures in their offices, and over the last number of months, we’ve seen a significant rise, perhaps a 50 percent increase, in the number of physicians who have looked for new facilities,” Mr. Wexler said.
One such physician is Ramtin Kassir, a plastic surgeon whose practice, New York Park Avenue Surgery P.C., has moved into 799 Park Avenue, at 74th Street. Dr. Kassir had previously rented unaccredited office space in Manhattan, but was lucky enough to find a medical office that had already been accredited by the previous plastic surgeon, so he decided to purchase it.
“The reason I bought, despite a bad economy, instead of leasing again, was this place was accredited,” Dr. Kassir said.
Many Manhattan doctors’ offices are on the first floors of co-op apartment buildings, and some of these offer little hope of meeting the new standards.
“A number of these offices are in prewar buildings that could never be upgraded to meet the requirements,” Mr. Wexler said. “If you envision an office on the corner of your typical apartment building, you can’t all of a sudden stick a vent in the window that goes out into the street.”
Mr. Wexler said the new law may be causing more disruption for doctors in New York City than for physicians in the suburbs. In urban settings, especially in Manhattan, elective office-based procedures are popular, but buildings may be harder to upgrade.
Claire Pospisil, a spokeswoman with the New York State Department of Health, said the state did not know how many medical offices were conducting operations; this was one reason for the new law.
“It will help us determine that number,” Ms. Pospisil said. “Our guesstimate has been about 3,000 medical offices in the state do these, but we really don’t know. And we would estimate that approximately 70 or 75 percent of medical offices in New York City and Long Island do these surgeries.”
Mr. Wexler said that some doctors who have not been able to find new space easily in Manhattan would, on a temporary basis, be using hospitals or surgery centers to perform their procedures.
But there are few surgery centers in Manhattan. One is the Center for Specialty Care Inc., at 50 East 69th Street between Park and Madison Avenues. It is a 15,000-square-foot mansion built in 1914 and converted in the mid-1980s to medical offices, waiting rooms, five operating rooms and a recovery area. It has been licensed by the state since 1988 to operate as a surgery center.
Marcia F. Gowen, the center’s marketing consultant and tenant coordinator, said that the center, which has about 130 credentialed physicians, typically awarded new credentials to about three doctors a month.
“We credentialed three just last week,” she said in early June. “And I would say I have an increased volume of doctors coming in. We definitely feel the drumbeat of new legislation.”
The handful of private companies that develop medical office space in Manhattan have been acutely aware of the details of the pending law. Lee Moncho, who is developing a 15,000-square-foot building with medical offices for lease at 261 East 78th Street, between Second and Third Avenues, said that, for instance, besides two large elevators, the landings on the stairs serving the building’s seven levels have been extended to fit patient gurneys.
Mr. Moncho said the extra cost of outfitting the medical building to meet the law’s standards “wasn’t minor, but it was livable.” Rents will start at $5,000 a month, ranging up to $20,000 a month, depending on customization.
“What’s a nightmare is if you don’t do it, and then have to upgrade it” after the initial construction has been completed, he said.
Mr. Wexler said a big problem facing doctors in Manhattan was a dearth of recently built medical office space. Apart from 261 East 78th Street and one other building under construction on the Upper East Side, he could think of no others built by private developers in the last two decades.
“Other than hospitals building medical offices themselves, as far as private development of this type of product, it has not really existed in Manhattan,” he said.
Maria Veltre, an executive vice president with Citibank’s small-business group, agreed, saying that credit was available for doctors who wanted to buy space in a medical building but that few medical condominiums existed.
“A decent number of our health care clients are looking for new space to take advantage of the favorable rate environment that’s out there, but that’s countered with difficulty in finding the right space, especially in New York City,” Ms. Veltre said.
She added: “For people looking to either develop or sell real estate, this is a primary audience that you want to be able to serve because they are incredibly creditworthy.”
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