About Our Practice
Our Mission
Our goal at the Aesthetic Facial Plastic Surgery Medical Clinic is to provide the most personalized and comprehensive treatments for our patients’ facial aesthetic and functional concerns. We provide a wide variety of surgical and non-surgical services, which are explained in this website. We emphasize a professional yet friendly atmosphere to help all patients feel confident and relaxed. Our attitude and surroundings are personable and unpretentious. We strive to improve each patient’s sense of well-being, confidence, and ability to project the youthful personality and image that each of us feels.
We feel that each individualized process must begin with patient education. Informed patients are better able to make knowledgeable treatment decisions, and form realistic expectations of projected outcomes. In addition, anxiety is minimized through better understanding of likely post-treatment experiences and timelines. To accomplish these goals, Drs. Kabaker and Hicks spend any time required to ensure that each patient understands the background, best treatment option, risks, benefits, alternatives to treatment, and projected results of each surgical and non-surgical procedure. They convey information both verbally and in writing, and are always available to answer questions, so that no patient feels overwhelmed.
As you go through the process of choosing a plastic surgeon, you need to consider the style or “artistic touch” of each practitioner that you meet. Though it is not an easy task, you must find a doctor whose aesthetic goals match your own. The styles of Drs. Kabaker and Hicks emphasize outcomes that are natural and realistic. They feel that overly aggressive treatments carry an unacceptable risk of leaving patients looking “altered” and unnatural. Drs. Kabaker and Hicks recommend additional procedures only if they are mandatory to achieving each patient’s aesthetic goals.
Our Doctors
Your face is the most important feature in expressing your identity and self-image. You should therefore trust your face only to a surgeon who specializes exclusively in facial surgery. Through extensive education in otolaryngology and facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, Drs. Kabaker and Hicks have a comprehensive understanding of facial anatomy, physiology, function, and aesthetics. They are exclusively trained in all techniques of facial and neck plastic surgery to provide excellent technical results.
Both Dr. Kabaker and Dr. Hicks use state-of-the-art computer imaging software, to help you estimate your likely post-operative appearance. While altered photographs do not provide any guarantees of outcomes, they will help to maximize confidence in your decision to proceed with surgical treatments.
Dr. Sheldon S. Kabaker
Dr. Kabaker grew up in Illinois, and received his medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1964. He completed his internship at Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and subsequently saw active duty in Vietnam. He continued his surgical training at the University Hospital in Cleveland, the Hines VA Hospital in Illinois, and the Los Angeles County USC Medical Center. After this period of extensive postgraduate training, he completed a fellowship in facial plastic surgery, studying under Dr. Richard Webster of Boston, a renowned facial plastic surgeon.
Dr. Kabaker founded the Aesthetic Facial Plastic Surgery Medical Clinic in Oakland, in 1972. The longevity of this clinic is a testament to Dr. Kabaker’s dedication to his field and his patients. He is an internationally recognized expert on hair restoration procedures, ranging from micrograft hair transplantation to scalp flaps, tissue expansion, and hairline lowering procedures. He is routinely invited to give lectures throughout the world on these topics, and is credited with introducing the Juri flap and scalp expansion operations to many notable hair transplant surgeons.
Dr. Kabaker’s expertise is not limited to hair restoration. He excels at providing a full range of surgical procedures, including rhinoplasty, facelift, brow lift, blepharoplasty, neck lift, and scar revision. He has written numerous chapters in textbooks and articles in medeical journals. He averages six weeks of continuing medical education annually, and has studied all aspects of facial plastic surgery in France, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Argentina, and Australia.
Read more about Dr. Sheldon Kabaker
Dr. David L. Hicks
Dr. Hicks spent his childhood in Connecticut, and graduated from Harvard College with a degree in biology in 1989. His career began in the finance industry, providing mergers and acquisitions analysis for high technology companies at Morgan Stanley in New York City. Dr. Hicks soon realized, however, finance was not his calling, and turned his attention to surgery, his original career interest. He worked as a surgical technician at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco until entering Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, from which he graduated in 2000. He completed his internship in general surgery and residency in otolaryngology at the University of California, San Diego. While at UCSD, Dr. Hicks won numerous awards for his research in cartilage tissue engineering, and has multiple publications relating to both research and clinical topics.
Dr. Hicks continued his training in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery by completing a fellowship under the guidance of Dr. Frank M. Kamer at the prestigious Lasky Clinic in Beverly Hills, CA. Dr. Kamer is well known for advancing the techniques of the “deep plane” facelift, widely considered to be the most effective approach to facial rejuvenation. Dr. Hicks brings this expertise of the deep plane facelift to his practice in Oakland. In addition, Dr. Hicks mastered the latest techniques of minimal incision browlifting, blepharoplasty, and neck lifting during his fellowship.
Rhinoplasty and nasal reconstruction procedures are also specialties of Dr. Hicks. Both his residency and fellowship provided numerous opportunities to excel at all aspects of nasal surgery, from closed and open rhinoplasty to nasal reconstruction after trauma or cancer surgery, nasal airway repair, and septal perforation repair.
Read more about Dr. David Hicks
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