the
best
temp

Local plastic surgeon
designs bandage to
quicken the healing
process.

RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER

Dr. Golden attaches the bandage to Denise Duffy.

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38

r. Theodore Golden,
a plastic surgeon in
Troy, credits Little
Red Riding Hood
with a great idea.
"Too hot" is bad.
"Too cold" is bad.
"Just right"
happens to be 81
degrees Fahrenheit,
Dr. Golden says.
The native Detroiter and
University of Michigan Medical
School graduate has developed
a "climate control" bandage for
patients who undergo facial re-
constructive surgeries — like
facelifts, nose jobs and eyelid op-
erations. His invention aims to
catalyze the healing process and
reduce pain. It's a healthy al-
ternative to ice packs and cold
compresses, which often dam-
age the skin, he says.
"Just because God made ice
at 32 degrees doesn't mean it's
the best temperature. If ice is
kept on a wound for too long, it
can cause frostbite and kill the
tissue," he says. "I developed the
bandage because I wanted to
put post-operative wounds any-
where on the body in a thermal
environment where nothing bad
will happen and many good
things will."
Most patients who use Dr.
Golden's bandages are recover-
ing from facelifts. The normal

temperature of the
face is 90 degrees,
but experience taught
Dr. Golden that the face heals
best when kept at a tempera-
ture of 81 degrees. The trick was
to design an apparatus that con-
forms to the shape of body parts.
"There's an optimum tern-
perature and the bandage de-
livers it," he says. "It's not a
refrigerator, and that's the se-
cret."
Dr. Golden has patented a
method for constructing ban-
dages made of three basic com-
ponents. A soft, felt-like exterior
surrounds layers of plastic form-
ing two compartments. The out-
er compartment contains a gel
enabling the bandage to wrap
around the body's contours
without creasing. A crease
would stop the flow of liquid
through the inner compartment,
and this liquid is key to regu-
lating the bandage's tempera-
ture.
Two insulated polyvinyl tubes
attach the patient wearing the
bandage to a cold water gener-
ator. The generator is set for a
specific temperature — most of-
ten 81 degrees.
"It sounds simple," Dr. Gold-
en says. "But it took years to fig-
ure this out."
Barbara (she preferred not to
use her last name) received a

facelift from Dr. Golden last
May. The 48-year-old woman
from Bloomfield Hills says she
experienced minimal pain. The
black and blue, which friends
said could last for two weeks,
was "barely there."
"I went home on the Wednes-
day after the operation and wore
the bandage," she says. "On
Sunday, I was out with just a
hat and sunglasses. I ran across
people I knew and showed
them. They were really im-
pressed. Recovery has been com-
pletely uneventful."

"It's not a
refrigerator."

— Dr. Theodore Golden

Dr. Golden tells facelift pa-
tients to wear the bandage for
at least 18 hours, even during
sleep. And, because the cold wa-
ter generator is small, it is
portable. Attached to an exten-
sion cord, it can be carried
around the house. Still, Dr.
Golden advises his patients to
take it easy for a few days after
operations. Blood vessels and
skin tissue need time to heal.
"One of the biggest problems
with the facelift bandage is that

people look too good too soon
and they go running around,"
he says. "Relax a little bit."
In August, 100 bandages
were sold to physicians in Flori-
da and New York. The facelift
bandage is distributed by
Seabrook Medical Systems Inc.
in Ohio and sells for about $50.
Marketing his invention has
been a slow process, says Dr.
Golden, attributing the fact to
"human inertia."
"I consider it to be like the
seat belt and air bag," he says.
"There's no question that they
work, it just takes a huge
amount of time for good ideas to
be accepted."
Dr. Golden belongs to the
Birmingham Temple and lives
with his wife Diana and two
sons in Bloomfield Hills. He be-
gan work on his bandages in the
late 1970s and intends to con-
tinue to patent his inventions as
new ideas strike. ❑

