Dr. Nicholas Perricone

Big lips! Feh! What is it with these women who pay doctors big bucks to give them fish lips? Are they nuts?! And the tragedy is they think they look good. Now, there is nothing wrong, my snooky ookums, with a little nippity-tuckity. (And my friend who is experiencing HIV-related facial wasting is currently looking into cosmetic options.) However, if I can avoid the knife I certainly want to. Early in my twenties, fortunately, I learned to eat healthy, drink plenty of H2O, seize forty winks nightly, and care for my skin. Recently, I’ve been guided by Nick, rather, Dr. Perricone. He’s so handsome…oops, I digress. Anyhow, he says, “Aging is optional, and we no longer have to age like our parents.” Well, a statement like that to an old broad like me—honey, I was hooked! For several years, I’ve followed his organic program that covers the entire body both inside (food/supplements), as well as outside (skin). Through his sage advice I’ve seen some grand improvements. I eat wild Alaskan salmon often, exercise regularly, and I follow his natural topical face regimen. I first met Nick, long an AIDS advocate, at an AIDS benefit several years ago.

Dr. Nicholas Perricone is an award-winning board certified clinical and research dermatologist. You may have been captivated by one of his many appearances on PBS, or on Oprah, Larry King, or the Today Show. Or you might have picked up one of his life-changing books (his current tome is The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet). Nick also holds dozens of U.S. and international patents for skin treatment and systemic disease.
In town on a business trip, Nick meets up with me at the newly reopened Getty Villa in Malibu. At the outer peristyle, a lovely outdoor promenade, we sit together on a circular stone bench that overlooks a large, stunning reflecting pool. The doctor is in!

Ruby Comer: [Eyeing the ebony bronzed nude figure in the pool]. It seems most of the sculptures in this garden are of nude men. Oh, I like that! [Nick smiles.] Nick, when I say the word AIDS, what comes
to mind?
Dr. Nicholas Perricone: A very good friend of mine, Ed Morrow, who passed away many years ago. He was one of the first to be stricken with [what was] an unknown disease at the time. We met in college, we were based in the army together, and he was best man at my wedding. Ed was a brilliant teacher in New York City. I can’t say enough good [things] about him.

That’s sweet. It seems you two were very close comrades.
Ed’s boyfriend got sick very rapidly and then passed away. So he was concerned about his health. He later got shingles, and became very, very sick. It was a sad process.

The last time I saw him was at Christmastime and he wasn’t feeling well. Being a teacher, he didn’t have much money. And as a physician I had a little bit more money, so I said, Look, why don’t you go home and visit your mom in Detroit? He didn’t want to do that, so I convinced him. And I’m really glad he did, because shortly thereafter he ended up getting a fungal infection of the central nervous system. That was the last time he saw his family.

Oh, how heartbreaking. That was at the beginning of the epidemic....
Yes, it was a scary time. As a resident in dermatology at the Henry Ford Hospital, we had half the floor with the infectious diseases people and at that time we were looking at the dermatological signs of immunosupression in these patients. So we saw a huge number of patients and still wondering at that time how communicable this was. [A French tour group passes in front of us.]

We’ve come a long way in twenty-five years, but not far enough.
It’s one of the saddest scenarios because it strikes down young people who are just getting started in life. There is such a tremendous amount of AIDS research and, yet, this virus is just bulletproof. There’s got to be some breakthrough, and still there’s nothing in terms of immunization. Yes, it seems like we haven’t progressed that much.

I’ve seen this disease take so many people. One patient of mine, a minister, came in with an overall body rash. We did some blood work; he was positive. He was a wonderful preacher and a humanitarian. [From that diagnosis] we watched how his life just collapsed. It’s so sad, Ruby.

Oh, Nick. Indeed. Tell me about the AIDS event in your neighborhood.
For several years, a couple years ago now, Guy Ferrara hosted AIDS Project New Haven’s annual event in memory of his two brothers, Andrew and Anthony, whom he lost to AIDS. One year, I hosted wine tasting. [A chirping bird lands on a nearby oleander shrub.] I believe Andrew passed away in 1992, and when Anthony found out he was HIV-positive, he committed suicide. That was the late eighties before the cocktails.

Can you possibly recommend something for those who are battling the virus?
The most important message is that anyone who has an active disease, like being HIV-positive, has a tremendous inflammatory load in their bodies. And it’s the inflammation that causes the devastating changes that we see clinically. So we approach this with the anti-inflammatory diet. This would be critical, as well as taking aggressive amounts of the anti-inflammatory supplements—alpha lipoic acid and acetylcysteine, vitamin E, coenzyme Q10. It’s that inflammation that also causes muscle loss.

Oh, I’m listening. This is exciting.
Then there are very low levels of glutathione in the cells because the cells are being taxed by this inflammation. Glutathione can’t be absorbed orally, so I actually created a transdermal glutathione to give my patients. There’s a case study in one of my books on an HIV-positive person I know in New York who I gave the cream to and it raised her energy levels. The idea is to maintain high levels of antioxidants, which act as natural anti-inflammatories, in your body. Along with what I’ve mentioned, get sufficient rest, drink enough water, and don’t do anything that would tax the body in terms of psychic or physical stress.

I like your plan.
And then of course you probably would want to see an endocrinologist and supplement with hormones, because we see a rapid drop in testosterone and growth hormone; sometimes the thyroid is affected. You want to do all the supplementation back to physiologic levels, natural hormone levels, to prevent the wasting aspect of the disease.

Whoa, it seems you’ve covered all grounds here, Nick. Next time I’m in New York, I want to visit your flagship store [Madison and 67th]. Hope we can get one in Los Angeles soon.
We’re working on it, Ruby! Before we end, I just want to encourage your readers to make an effort to take care of themselves and be aggressive [with the program] to maintain excellent health so that they can continue to lead a normal life to pursue those goals that we’re all here on earth to pursue.

Visit the doctor at www.nvperriconemd.com. Contact AIDS Project New Haven at: www.apnh.org.

Ruby Comer is an independent journalist from the Midwest who is happy to call Hollywood her home away from home. Reach her by e-mail at MsRubyComer@aol.com.

August 2006