Welcome And The Big Question

Dr Andrew Greenland 0:00

Hello and welcome to Voices in Health and Women's. This is the public month where we speak with healthcare leaders, practice owners, and innovators about the realities of modern healthcare. On this show we explore both the clinical and business side of healthcare, covering patient care, practice growth, industry trends, leadership, and the challenges facing independent healthcare providers today. Today's episode tackles a topic of generating significant interest across healthcare, longevity, and aesthetic medicine. Regenerative medicine. Is it genuine innovation, industry hype, or how the future, or the future of how we approach aging? Joining me today is Dr. Philippe Hamida -Pisal, a minimum director of PHP Health First and PHP Aesthetic, based on London's Humble Street. Philippe has built a practice that combines aesthetic medicine, dermatology, wellness, and private medical care with a philosophy centred on addressing the root causes of aging rather than simply treating visible symptoms. His approach integrates lifestyle, nutrition, stress management, and preventable health alongside traditional aesthetic treatments, giving him a unique perspective on the growing connection between aesthetics, longevity, and regenerative medicine. So, with that, Philip, I'd love to welcome you to the show and thank you so much for joining me today.

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 1:09

Thank you, Andrew, for the nice uh introduction. So, and thank you for the invitation because the longevity is part of um it's been part in my in my practice for quite a while. And uh with uh your uh podcast, I think it will be very interesting to develop uh more in depth about how we can implement the longevity in our practice on a daily basis, really.

Dr Andrew Greenland 1:35

For

Philippe’s Path Into Private Practice

Dr Andrew Greenland 1:36

sure, and I'm really looking forward to this conversation. But before we dive into regenerative medicine, would you mind just telling us a little bit about yourself, your journey into medicine, and what led you to create PHP Health first?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 1:47

So, what uh so I'm a French uh doctor, obviously. I'm based now in in London, but my major clinic is in London, but I have uh two other clinics abroad. So I set up the PHP. Uh PHP is my initials, but also is uh uh private healthcare providers, so uh professional healthcare providers, apologize, but it was about you know dermatology first, and then we we we change, not change 100%, but we expand to the aesthetic side, not because we wanted to do it, it's because our patient asks us to provide some aesthetic treatment. Obviously, we do we provide other treatments such as uh nutrition, wellness. In fact, it's more the concept of 360 degrees, it's a we do more on a holistic approach. It's not only you know looking good from outside, but also it's looking good from inside. And this is for us, it's our philosophy, is when we call the French touch, but the French touch is not only the way we look, it's also feeling good inside because we know that there is impact uh from inside to outside, and vice versa. So our approach is really holistic, is a full 360-degree approach in our clinics.

Dr Andrew Greenland 3:12

Amazing.

The 360 Degree View Of Ageing

Dr Andrew Greenland 3:13

And you know, on that point, one thing that really stood out um from our previous conversation was your belief that aesthetic medicine shouldn't simply focus on the visible signs of aging. And you talked about addressing inflammation and stress and nutrition and lifestyle and other underlying factors. So, how do you describe the relationship between aesthetics, wellness, and longevity?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 3:32

So this is very interesting questions because when patients come for uh aesthetic treatment, they ask, for example, um, oh, I want you to get rid of my wrinkles, but I want to look younger. So, in fact, the two questions, aesthetic and longevity, they ask at the same time. So this is where there is, it can be separated, but they can be a bit combined. It's like if we take, uh take another example. If we took, if we take exactly two exactly twins, uh sisters or brothers, we put in different settings, one on the stress and the other one uh with the normal situations. If they have the same skin issue, example, acne, we will notice that one treatment is going to work on one, but the same treatment is not going to work on the other one. So while we do uh dermatology clinic, our questions is why is it not working? What is not working? What why why this cream uh uh what cream you use, what what are the uh your your routine and so on? But our question is not why the treatment is not working. So really we need to look deeper why on two patients why one treatment is working really well, but the identical treatment for the identical condition is not working at all. So it's allow us to push deeper and not just to change a treatment. Oh, this one is not working, that one will work because we know that if we don't uh search deeper, sorry, I reap myself, so the treatment is not going to work. So we need to to deep uh to deep uh more information to understand what is the underlying condition for the medication or the topical cream not to work.

Dr Andrew Greenland 5:33

Got it. So when somebody comes in requesting um Botox or fillers, how often do you find the real issue involves broader health factors from your your experience?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 5:44

So this is uh this is an uh this is so you we need to uh to realize that uh with experience we're getting more uh it's easier to talk about everything, first of all. When you have returning patients, it's as well uh easier. Uh so when you have a returning patient, and they said to you, they say to me, Oh, you know, my botox or my feeler doesn't uh last as long. So it's where we need to start to ask the question. You know, the the consultation, the most important. Uh I remember when I was in the hospital in France, my mentor used to say to me, Philippe, the first uh the first consultation is the most important. If you if your consultation is not doesn't last one hour, your patient is not going to listen to you. So you have to be very focused on the first consultation. And the first consultation, it's all about lifestyle as well, because you cannot uh just to talk about oh, I've got some wrinkles, or I've got some deep lines, or I've got XYZ. We need to ask the lifestyle, the food habit, do they exercise, uh, any history. Uh, there is a the the the medical questionnaire needs to be very uh wide, very deep, and not just, you know what, um you have wrinkles, I'm going to target your wrinkles. We need to push it for them to realize that yes, there is so much we can do, but we do 10% by injecting, for example, butium toxin, but 90% is from the patient's side. So are we correct? But it's a quick fix, in fact. The rest is come from the hand.

Dr Andrew Greenland 7:28

I don't know how long you've had the interest in wellness and longevity, but was there a particular point when you kind of really latched onto this and realized the leverage that you could have by incorporating this into your practice? Was there some like a patient episode or particular thing that triggered you? Because I guess you may not have been doing this all through your medical career. I'm just interested at what point this became you know really, really pertinent to you.

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 7:50

So these uh these longevity uh it's really I'm going to to be it's more uh recent. When I say recent, it's a year or two years. Since I had uh two models, I deal a lot with uh models, and when my treatment treatment routine did work really well on one uh models, and the same treatment for the same condition did not work at all. So it's starting to query okay, what else could I offer to the models which the treatment did not work to help her to understand the condition? The other thing as well, the other point, it's I had a very good friend who suffered from psoriasis, and one day uh the the treatment, no treatment were working, and so on. And one day I sat with her, I sat for two hours, and I explained to her the etiology of the psoriasis. And I told her if she understands the etiology of the psoriasis, is already 50% of the treatment. Because if you don't have an understanding, so you just have to believe, and you know, we know that uh we're losing patience, so patience uh as such. So we want to they want a treatment and but they want an effect straight away. It doesn't work like that. It has to be, first of all, uh trust relation with the practitioner, but also uh understanding of the step by step because we're never going to offer, you know, it has to be step by step to see if the patient follows, because if the patient doesn't follow, there's no point. I'm wasting my time, they're wasting their time, so there is no point to go further.

Dr Andrew Greenland 9:37

Thank you. So do you mind just uh telling us a little bit about your practice as it stands, PHP, and what does a typical I guess there's no such thing as typical, but what does a typical patient journey look like and how might that differ from a conventional aesthetic practice?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 9:54

So um, first of all, we have French practice, and now we have French Korean practice because I have a Korean doctor um uh joining us, so it's all about the again as well the holistic approach. So what um I wouldn't say differentiate uh make a difference because at the end of the day we provide the same service, we have the same type of patient coming to a clinic, but we allow, we uh we're able not allow, we're able to go deeper in our uh consultations to push further. This is because we establish for a long time, so we're not worry about asking some it might be some strange questions, but some normal questions that we do in the NHS, you know, do you smoke, do you uh do you exercise, is some questions that in aesthetic practice clinics sometimes we don't we forget to ask. But it's it's very important if we want to have a treatment to last longer, it's very important to understand what they're doing because if we explain to them that what we're doing, instead of having an example, uh Botox every three months, if they listen to them, if they give us all the information, uh Botox every three uh three times a year, sorry. So they might need the Botox only twice a year, so it's going to be a saving. The Botox might uh bothium toxin might last longer. The same for the filler, the same for exosome. We're going to have a better response with exosome, stem cell, and uh polynucleotide. We know that is a trend right now. So it's how we approach the patient to let them know that Botox fillers are quick fix, but we can make we can we can make the treatment last longer as long as we can push the uh consultation further and to try to help them to understand what they could do to uh to get a better outcome, really.

Dr Andrew Greenland 12:07

Thank you. And has patient awareness changed over the last few years in respect of this more holistic approach? Or are you somebody that's having to kind of you know educate them on the value of it?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 12:18

So definitely the patient awareness it's uh it's it's higher now because of the internet, they're all linked on the internet, they start to look at it, but indirectly, like I was saying to you before, they without realizing, they ask us two uh two in one questions. I I go back to a question I did mention previously. Can you deal with my ring coal? But I want to look younger. And in fact, you know, uh when we're using the the word anti-aging is a misleading because we cannot stop aging and we should not use the anti-aging. I use anti-aging, but we should we should not use because we can't stop aging process, but we can help uh uh the most appropriate wording should be the pro-aging or age gracefully, but not anti-aging because it's impossible. So, to answer to your question, yes, patients are more aware, some definitely because they do the research, but some they're aware, but they ask without realizing.

Dr Andrew Greenland 13:25

Thank you. So

What Regenerative Medicine Really Means

Dr Andrew Greenland 13:26

I know you um recently spoke at an international congress on the topic of regenerative medicine, myth or reality. So let's start with the obvious question. What exactly is regenerative medicine?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 13:37

This okay. Well, to understand the regenerative uh medicines or regenerative aesthetic, we need to look at the definitions. So it's what we store an organ which is deficient, okay? So this is a proper regenerative. Uh, we have to be very careful because the the the line between medication and aesthetic or medical device is very narrow. So what we can say, what we can't say. So when we uh we announce that uh the regenerative aesthetic medicines will restore an organ, we restore the skin useful, they restore XYZ, it's a bit of uh again misleading because it's not we're not talking about medications, it goes towards, but is not is got hasn't got a straight action as a regenerative. It's it is the reality. So, yes, I did I was uh a speaker on that congress, and it was about is it a myth or is it is it a hyper myth, really?

Dr Andrew Greenland 14:47

So it's obviously become a very popular term. It sounds like it might be being overused, it sounds like there's misconceptions from both the practitioner side and the patient side, from the patient side of things. Um, is that your take on it?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 15:01

Definitely, definitely. The problem is okay, in fact, we don't have influence on patients. Who's got more influence is influencers. Social media is bombarding with information. So if uh a celebrity is mentioning that they had you know XYZ treatment, everyone wants to have the treatment because they think that's uh that, but if we tell them, oh you know, I would wait a little bit to have exosome, uh take an example, because we don't have enough data and we don't have enough information, and the the study did not really standardize. So then they said, Oh, you know, he's he doesn't know what he's talking about. So we have to provide the treatment, but with honesty, because we don't have enough uh information about uh is the the the outcome is going to be copied, copy and paste on the all the patients, which we don't have right now. Polynucleotide exosomes are too new, are too new treatment. We don't have enough information like butium toxin, which uh it's uh for more than 40-50 years. So those when there is a new treatment, we have to we are working on eggs because sometimes you know we can realize there is some side effect or you know, uh adverse event that initially they were not announced, and more we treat patients, more there is some adverse event.

Dr Andrew Greenland 16:33

So, what aspects of uh regenerative medicine genuinely excite you as somebody in the field? What really excites you?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 16:41

So, regarding regenerative uh medicines, uh regenerative or longevity medicines, it's more about you know um the commit the the investment to the patient to uh to help to reach a good result. I explain. Um it's for them, it's to um to uh to realize that the treatment that we provide is not a one-off treatment. I did mention to you before, it's do we have this two-way uh collaboration patient practitioner. What we do represents 10%, 90% is going to be done by the patient. And what uh uh what is for me the excitement is not really an excitement, but enjoyment, is when the patient comes back and they said, you know, I follow your recommendation, and it's true. I feel my skin far more hydrated, I feel my skin much glowy, I feel my skin more radiant, and in fact, everyone notice. And in fact, we know that a skin which is in a better condition, more hydrated, and so on, any treatment we're going to provide, they're going to last longer. Studies show it. So it's when the patient comes back and said, You were right, doctor.

Dr Andrew Greenland 18:11

And on

Safety, Sourcing And UK Legality

Dr Andrew Greenland 18:12

the other side of the coin, which aspects of regenerative medicine are concerning to you? And where should practitioners be cautious about it?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 18:22

So the problem is uh regarding the regenerative medicines, it's knowing the source, very important, because we have to know the source of what we are injecting into a patient's face. This is the most important. You're talking about regenerative medicines, regenerative medicines we are talking about exosome, and you know that exosome, there is multiple you know, exosomes, the source is human exosome, and we know in the UK, France, it's illegal to use those uh human exosomes. Animal exosome is illegal, just synthetic. So very important to know the source, to get all the information about the stability of the products because we need to to to the company providing the products, they need to be honest about where the products come from, the source, the traceability, the cold chain. You know, uh uh uh uh stem cell, there is a cold chain somewhere. So, why do they not respect the cold chain? So it gives us a bit of red flag. Should we uh trust them or not trust them?

Dr Andrew Greenland 19:32

Thank you. Um, you mentioned earlier on that the uh anti-aging is not particularly helpful. So, what does healthy aging actually mean if if that's a better turn of phrase?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 19:43

Healthy, healthy aging, healthy aging, sorry, it's someone who's looking really good for the age, first of all, and also they accept they embrace the age, uh, and they have a proper lifestyle, really. Uh proper lifestyle, so they're not they don't want to do too many treatments, and they're happy the way they look, and they're not always chasing up the useful look, useful look, which doesn't represent the reality really.

Dr Andrew Greenland 20:18

And do you talk often to your patients about biological age versus chronological age, and what's your take on that kind of comparison?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 20:26

Yes, well, actually, one of my sister-in-law, she's uh 57, and she's uh the the biological age is 37, so she was really really uh impressed uh by the um by the by the the result. She gained 20 years, and uh um in fact, so is it going to is it really really reflecting on the reality? But there is a psychological part who make the person very uh very uh pleased, so positive mind, uh um uh exceptional, you know, um uh really positive about this, and it's sort of you know, I carry on like that because I've got uh um a positive effect on what I'm doing is doing really well. It does work, so I should carry on doing it, doing it because it seems to be very effective.

Dr Andrew Greenland 21:30

Thank you. So I'm guessing that these kind of conversations that you have with patients obviously require a lot of trust. Patients come in looking for a treatment, but on end up having a much broader discussion about health and aging. What tends to be the breakthrough moment when patients begin thinking differently about all of this?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 21:47

If they're in a rush, the financial position as well. Financial position is a bit of uh uh bit uh is not a no no. I think you know when we're starting to promote uh skin health in uh in a clinic, we're starting to s uh to plant the seeds. So every time someone was coming for bottom toxin or filler, we always used to I always used to say to them, you know, is a quick fix. Maybe think about investing into your skin a different way. So you plant the seed and it starts to grow. And when they come back and said, Oh Philippe, you didn't mention something about um mesotherapy or something else. Can we talk about the deeper? So you know it's it's no point. Someone, you know, when a patient comes for a proper idea about the treatment, so it's very difficult, but you just plant the seed and inform them. And when they come back, they make their mind, they're starting to look at it at the treatment, and they ask you, oh, can you send me on WhatsApp or what it's about? And they start to read, to look, and it's interesting. They said, Oh, it's really what I want, actually. And then they come when they come back, they said, Oh, can you can you give me some more information? How does it work? What is the cost, obviously? Uh, how can you help me? So, this is how it works: planting the seeds.

Dr Andrew Greenland 23:17

Thank you.

One Foot In Ethics And Business

Dr Andrew Greenland 23:18

Now, during our earlier conversation, you shared a really valuable piece of advice from one of your mentors. One foot in ethics, one foot in business. I think that was a really incredibly powerful um phrase. What does that mean to you? Could you just talk to our listeners about what that means to you and how you embody that?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 23:35

At the end of the day, we uh we are a clinic, okay? We are a clinic, uh, we have some overhead, I have some stuff, I have to pay them. So I have some charges, I have, you know, we're a business, okay? We're a clinic, we're we're a private business, we're not NHS. So we have some overhead. So we but we have we need to have an ethic because this is medicines, so we shouldn't uh uh uh this is uh a medical act we're doing, first of all. But uh we uh so it's why we have a bit of ethic. I did mention to you about exosome, it's a very good example. We need to know where the products are coming from. For us, the sources is very important, and you know, uh being CQC uh accredited, we need to keep a source of where we're getting our products from. So it's very important because we have to be honest towards our patients. I cannot uh I cannot uh inject an exosome, a human exosome, and telling my patient, you know what, this is uh this is um uh synthetic exosome is a trust. So business and ethic. And every time I open a new boxes, I open in front of my patients, it's where the ethic is. At least they know that it's fresh, it's new, hasn't been used. It was in the fridge, so I've opened everything is done accordingly, so nothing can come back to me and say, Oh, yes, but I didn't see Dr. Philip opening in front of me, so maybe some it was uh out-of-date products, so and we record the batch number, the expired, everything is ethical. It's a medic, it's a medical act.

Dr Andrew Greenland 25:24

Got it, and frivolo a little bit further onto the the business side of things because you just brought that one up. Um, and you are running a business at the end of the day. What from a business perspective is working particularly well for you at the moment? Um what is uh doing from the point of view of your clinic being a business, what are you particularly proud of? What's working really well from a business angle?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 25:50

I'm not going to answer to your question directly. It's I'm going to say to you to you, I love my job. And because I love my job, I transmit this love to my patient, and they can feel that because I love it, uh, they appreciate the the fact that I'm not here just to make profit, I'm here to help them. So I didn't answer to the question directly, but indirectly is an answer.

Dr Andrew Greenland 26:20

Okay, no, thank you. And on the other side of the coin, what are some of the challenges and the bottlenecks of running the business that you mentioned? And you know, patient-facing work is not always straightforward, and then the mere act of running a business, a clinic, having staff all present challenges in their own way. What are the things which are most impactful to you?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 26:38

Um the legislative legislation in the UK, the this legislation is a bit of um um is a shame because I remember many years ago UK was the reference who could not could any uh do any static uh treatment. Howadays is a bit, but it seems that the legislation is changing. So but today is a bit of anybody can do everything. The regulation is a bit of a uh a bit of a nightmare. So really it's um it's uh this is a challenge we've we're facing. The challenge because I'm I'm talking about this because uh when we have uh we have to deal with the treatment who's been done by a non-uh medical qualified practitioner, we have really we have a duty to treat, but you know as much as me, is the last one to touch a patient who is responsible. So where do we where do we fit? We treat, we correct, sorry, or we don't. So should we we refer? So it's a very you know, the challenges are more about uh this is not about uh uh competition because the competition is always healthy, uh but unlawful competition about beautician, yes, is uh is not great in this country. Uh and also regarding um that what I didn't mention before.

Dr Andrew Greenland 28:16

And I guess as a business owner, you wear lots of hats, most business owners do. What are the time drains for you as a business owner? What are the things that pull you away from the things that you love doing more than others?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 28:35

I like to I like to train, to teach, sorry. I like to train and teach. This is my my um my favorite. Uh so I like to share my knowledge. When I go abroad, uh I go to different countries to to train doctors in different aesthetic treatments. So for me is a passion. Uh so obviously when I'm in the when I'm abroad teaching, I miss my patient because I've been knowing some patients for 17 years. So it's a bit of you know, uh sort of family. Um uh what I miss, uh my family and my friends, they're always around. I go quite often to France. Uh it's a bit of um, I don't miss anything because um this is for me going to work is not all I have to go to work, it's more about a uh, I said to you, a passion, uh a passion. Um, but uh yes, we would like to have more to to uh to more time to sometimes to speak to patient and so on, but there is a bit sometimes a bit of um a backlog, and uh we're always behind and so on. Sometimes we're behind. So it's a the time is it's not elastic. This is a the problem. But otherwise, no. I don't there is no regret in uh in my in my life, work and uh and um hobbies. I don't miss anything really.

Dr Andrew Greenland 30:06

Thank

The Next Wave Of Aesthetic Medicine

Dr Andrew Greenland 30:07

you. So looking ahead to the next five or ten years, where do you think aesthetic medicine is heading from what you can see in the space?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 30:17

So in the next five, ten years, I think even five years really is all about going to be uh regenerative medicines because it's all going to be just filling the line, it's just going to be more about understanding the aging process and how we can uh uh reduce or diminish the aging sign. So this is, I think the future, amendment, that is going to be the future, is going to be the clinic who catches the train at the right times and not clinic said, you know what, I'm just going to do Botox fillers, I'm happy. Well, you're happy today, but uh next year is going to be a different story. So regenerative medicines, definitely. There is you knew a few years ago we always we always used to, everyone used to like everywhere, in even in Europe, Middle East, uh, South America, big, big lips, big cheek, uh, big, big, big everywhere. And the the trend is going back to uh backwards. So now is everything is natural. Well, today the trend, well, today the request is not a trend, the today the request is all about skin quality, and I think uh patients are more aware about the importance of the skin. Listen, what is the point to give big lips or big cheek to someone who's got a skin full of acne? There is no logical in that. There is no logical in that. So obviously, there is a sort of body dysmophia somewhere because you try to fill to fill the lines, to stop, you know, to fill the gap, because you see your face with uh acne, which doesn't please you, so in a way you replace by putting some more volume, and in fact, is the the the five-10 years is all going to be regenerative medicines, but real regenerative medicines.

Dr Andrew Greenland 32:10

Do you have any sense?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 32:11

Sorry, sorry, slowing the aging process.

Dr Andrew Greenland 32:16

Do you have any sense of what happened might happen to life expectancy?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 32:20

Um life expectancy is going to it only can rise if lifestyle is changing, you know, exercise, food habits, uh stopping sugar intake, because we know that sugar is an addiction. I'm a sweet tooth, so I love sugar, but I try to refrain. So lifestyle is only going to increase if someone wants to help themselves. You cannot spoon feed someone who doesn't want to eat.

Dr Andrew Greenland 32:55

And what about you personally? What's um what's on the cards to you in the next six to twelve months? Do you have any plans or goals for the practice over the next year or so?

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 33:04

So uh the 12 months is going to be opening another clinic abroad, and uh I have the I have the hope that uh the wish that the two clinic would one is going to go soon ahead and the other one is going to be uh is on the pipeline. It will be I will be focused on the second one as well. PHP branded.

Dr Andrew Greenland 33:33

Got it. With that,

Growth Plans And Closing Thoughts

Dr Andrew Greenland 33:35

Philippe, I'd love to thank you so much for joining me today. It's been a really fascinating conversation. Thank you. I think one of the biggest takeaways for me is being this you know, this whole thing that the future of aesthetics is far less about treating visible symptoms, far more about understanding the biology of aging itself, which is something I really embody in my work in functional medicine. So thank you for sharing your insights, your experience and your perspective on redemptive medicine, longevity, and the future of healthcare. It's been a habit, pleasure having you on the show. Thank you so much.

Dr Philippe Hamida-Pisal 34:00

Thank you, Andrew. Thank you very much for the invitation.