IF IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR JACKO ...; PLASTIC-SURGERY PATIENTS TURNING TO PURE OXYGEN.

Byline: Heesun Wee Daily News Staff Writer

When Robin Flannigan had laser surgery to remove wrinkles all over her face, doctors told her it would take six to nine months for the scars to heal.

But Flannigan wanted to return to her telecommunications job and get on with her personal life. And she wasn't willing to wait that long to feel comfortable showing her face in public. So she and her insurance company split a $2,500 tab for a few sessions with the latest tool to speed healing - hyperbaric oxygen chambers.

Hyperbaric, or extremely pressurized, oxygen chambers have been used for years to treat victims of diving accidents, carbon monoxide poisoning and more stubborn wounds caused by, for example, burns, diabetes, gangrene and radiation.

The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, reportedly bought the same kind of chamber for $125,000 back in 1986 and was rumored to have slept inside it to maintain a youthful appearance.

Now, the same technology is being made available to more cosmetic surgery patients who want good looks, too - and faster.

Flannigan said after four 90-minute sessions inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, she was looking better. By the 10th (and final) session, most of her facial redness had disappeared.

Since her surgery and hyperbaric oxygen treatment last fall, Flannigan said she has completely healed and is looking great today.

``I'm thrilled,'' Flannigan said. ``I would highly recommend this to somebody else.''

But the medical community is divided on the newest use of these lifesaving machines, which can cost about $180,000 each.

``There is no evidence that it does anything for plastic surgery,'' said Dr. Richard Grossman, who has been a plastic surgeon at Sherman Oaks Hospital and Health Center since 1964. ``It's a sales pitch.''

Medical officials who offer hyperbaric oxygen treatment to cosmetic surgery patients naturally disagree.

``Oxygen helps wound healing,'' said Dr. Ralph Potkin of the Hyperbaric Research and Treatment Center in West Los Angeles, one of the first independent facilities in the L.A. area - and among only a handful across the country - to offer hyperbaric medicine to cosmetic surgery patients.

Meanwhile, the public isn't waiting for any official medical opinion. Far from it. They're clamoring for pure oxygen's alleged abilities to repair, soothe and boost the human body and spirit. Witness the latest rage - oxygen bars now opening across North America, including one slated for Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood.

Star chamber

Potkin's West L.A. medical center looks like any dentist office - small, sparse, with a few magazines scattered in the waiting area. But beyond the common area, two cylindrical chambers dominate a large room that is no ordinary doctor's office.

On a recent weekday, an out-of-town businessman, who wants to speed up recovery from cosmetic surgery so he can return to work, lay in one of the two chambers set side-by-side like children's twin beds.

In an adjacent dressing room, Shirley Steinberger of West Hollywood slipped on a hospital gown. She returned to the chamber room and nestled into a fluffy bed of white blankets and pillows.

A hyperbaric medical technician wheeled her bed into the second chamber and shut the round door at her head. He pushed a few buttons, and Steinberger's treatment began.

For 90 minutes, Steinberger traded the air she - and the rest of us - breathes daily (a mixture of 20 percent oxygen, some nitrogen and other elements) for 100 percent pure oxygen at a pressure equivalent to about 46 feet underwater.

Her lungs absorbed and delivered the pressurized, pure oxygen to her bloodstream, which, theoretically, accelerates the repair process going on in her damaged tissues due to radiation therapy.

To pass the time, she watched ``The Price Is Right'' and ``The Young and the Restless'' on a nearby TV.

Steinberger said the on`ly discomfort she has ever experienced during an ``oxygen session'' is mild ear popping. And she'll endure it for the results she wants: no more deep, dark radiation wounds throughout her body.

The mix of cosmetic surgery patients and more traditional clients of hyperbaric medicine is a recent change for the 2-year-old center. During the past six months, the number of office patients with normal cosmetic surgery wounds has increased to about half.

And even at the high price - about $200 to $300 for each 90-minute stay - the center treats about 10 customers daily.

Potkin said time-strapped clients who want to heal quickly keep coming because the treatment works.

Of course, Potkin added, hyperbaric oxygen chambers aren't for everyone. Patients with lung problems should stay clear, said the physician, who also is clinical chief of pulmonary medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Potkin is also certified by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and is a member of the College of Hyperbaric Medicine.

In a worst-case scenario, a botched treatment of pressurized oxygen can lead to a toxic seizure, said Dr. J.B.Wilmeth, director of the baromedical unit at Los Robles Hospital/Medical Center in Thousand Oaks.

The waiting game

Lack of academic-sponsored research on the relationship between hyperbaric oxygen chambers and common cosmetic surgery wounds is one reason many hospitals with hyperbaric oxygen chambers, including the Sherman Oaks and Thousand Oaks hospitals, do not accept cosmetic surgery outpatients.

Volumes of research already have established the advantages of pressurized oxygen on deep-sea divers suffering from severe decompression sickness, victims of carbon monoxide poisoning, and those enduring serious wounds caused by burns, diabetes, gangrene and radiation.

But similar data on the perks of pressurized oxygen on average wounds caused by cosmetic surgery isn't available yet because doctors have only been using the chambers to `treat surgical wounds for the past two to three years, Wilmeth said.

``It may be perfectly acceptable in two to three years,'' Wilmeth said. But to gain that acceptance, ``we need to have university-based studies that show ... surgically induced wounds heal better when hyperbaric oxygen is applied.''

A standardized hyperbaric medical exam and licensing process for independent medical centers offering hyperbaric medicine also would promote credibility, doctors and medical officials said. No such criteria now exist. Hospitals practicing hyperbaric medicine have their own in-house rules.

The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, the primary watchdog of hyperbaric medicine, or any other medical group for that matter, currently does not regulate independent facilities in hyperbaric medicine. Nor has the society addressed or recommended hyperbaric oxygen chambers for routine cosmetic surgery wounds, said Jane Dunne of the Maryland-based group.

So what's a consumer to do while medical officials get around to further researching pressurized oxygen's effects on common cosmetic surgery wounds?

Find an independent medical facility with staff who has a history in hyperbaric medicine, Wilmeth advised. ``I think it's a `patient beware' type of situation.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1 -- color) Dr. Ralph Potkin at his Hyperbaric Research and Treatment Center in West Los Angeles.

David Sprague/Daily News

(2) Yes, that's Michael Jackson trying to stop the ravages of time inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber in a photo that hit the tabloids in 1986. Now, recovering cosmetic-surgery patients swear by the devices.

Associated Press

(3) Technician Jesse Ruben checks the levels of an oxygen chamber during a session at the Hyperbaric Research and Treatment Center. It costs $200 to $300 for 90 minutes in the tank.

David Sprague/Daily News