This document is for the media and our office staff to better understand how our practice has developed and changed during the last 30 years.
It was 1985 when both Dr. Horowitz and Dr. Nichter completed Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery training at the University of Virginia and moved to California. Dr. Horowitz joined a private practice in Long Beach while Dr. Nichter assumed a full-time faculty position at USC. Dr. Horowitz joined the clinical faculty at USC helping train surgical residents. During his tenure at USC, Dr. Nichter became increasingly active with InterPlast, traveling overseas to perform surgery on children and patients in need of reconstructive surgery.
During this same time, Dr. Horowitz was instrumental in building the largest non-university plastic surgery practice in Southern California. This group was PlASTICOS (Plasticos Institute for Plastic Surgery). The group continued to grow and in 1993 Dr. Nichter was invited to join PLASTICOS. This group grew to six Plastic Surgeons with four offices including Long Beach, Newport Beach, Orange County and Huntington Beach. PLASTICOS owned a three room outpatient surgery center and provided services to more than a dozen hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange County. PlASTICOS surgeons provided emergency and reconstructive care to all patients regardless of ability to pay.
As California’s healthcare system evolved it became impossible for PLASTICOS to continue to deliver care under the same structure. The PLASTICOS surgery partnership dissolved however Dr. Nichter and Dr. Horowitz remained together and formed Pacific Center for Plastic Surgery. At the same time changes were occurring in Interplast and Dr. Nichter’s Southern California chapter was closed. This became the birth of the PlASTICOS FOUNDATION with Dr. Nichter as president and Dr. Horowitz vice president. The focus of the doctors began to shift toward more cosmetic surgery with reconstructive surgery largely performed overseas through the PLASTICOS FOUNDATION.
In 2008 Dr. Dr. Horowitz introduced the Lite-Lift® modified facelift, and “coined the name” as it provides patients with an easier, quicker procedure that can be performed in the office with local anesthesia. The BioSpa Aesthetician was one of the early patients and a video of her 2009 surgery is posted on YouTube.
Dr. Horowitz’s enthusiasm for innovation presented again more than 15 years ago when he introduced the limited incision “lollipop” breast reduction to Orange County. Dr. Horowitz and Dr. Nichter still remains two of the very few doctors locally to perform this amazing procedure
The newest exciting growth of the practice is the expansion of BioSpa into a freestanding Medi-Spa, offering all nonsurgical treatments for skin, face and body contouring. BioSpa was originally born more than 18 years ago as part of the Plasticos Institute for Plastic Surgery.
Dr. Horowitz chose the name BioSpa to embrace the science and biology of skincare in Medical Spa treatments. The path this past year Dr. Horowitz and Dr. Nichter pushed forward with this new expansion in Newport Beach to accommodate the desire for both men and women to have the option of non-surgical cosmetic care.
