Dr. Richard Kitaeff
Dr. Richard Kitaeff

An Interview With Dr. Kitaeff

 By Jeremy Baker Of Best Seattle Spas

Jeremy Baker: My guest today is Dr. Richard Kitaeff. He is the owner of New Health
Medical Center in Edmonds, Washington. Welcome Richard.

Dr. Kitaeff: Thank you.

Jeremy Baker: My first question for you today is, what inspired you to open New
Health Medical Center?

Dr. Kitaeff: At the time the center started, natural medicine, complementary
medicine, was not very widespread or well known in North America and
I believed that it was fulfilling a need. A lot of people are not getting
helped by conventional medicine and there were effective methods
available in the tradition of natural medicine that could help a lot of
problems that conventional medicine couldn’t help.

Jeremy Baker: When you say, “Conventional medicine couldn’t help,” can you give us
an idea more specifically what you were able to help?

Dr. Kitaeff: Sure. All of the chronic conditions like chronic pain and chronic fatigue
and certainly also the most difficult and most dangerous health
conditions like cancer, heart disease, diabetes. These are being treated
with drug medication and some cases with surgery but these methods
are more heroic kind of medicine, last resort kind of medicine that often
has harmful side-effects and if there is a natural method of treatment
using natural remedies or physical treatment without side effects, then
always that’s a preferable option I think for anyone.

Jeremy Baker: I noticed you are offering some medical aesthetic treatments. Can you
tell our readers and listeners more about those treatments that you are
offering?

Dr. Kitaeff: Yes. In our clinic we have a program of cosmetic, non-surgical face lift
which involves treating the face and skin with acupuncture and
microcurrent electrical therapy, which are of course non-invasive
methods. Very safe methods that activate the natural vitality, natural
healing response in the body. Acupuncture is done along wrinkle lines
and at major acupuncture points in the face and these very small, thin
needles that are barely noticed. They don’t really cause pain.
Acupuncture is known to increase circulation and nerve conduction and
have definite healing effects on the skin and we supplement that,
amplify that effect of acupuncture with microcurrent electrical therapy
which is a type of electrical stimulation different from the electrical
stimulation used by physical therapists. It’s a healing type of current.
Very low level current matching the level of amperage of currents found
in the cells of the body so in this way helps to repair or regenerate
damaged cells.
We use that in combination with some collagen cream, applied through
the microcurrent probes so the current actually drives in the collagen
cream to strengthen the tissue, tone the tissue in the face and sometimes
people will use the collagen cream at home as part of the program as well.
At a certain stage after getting a series of treatments people can continue
to get some good effects for themselves, maintaining the face lift effect
through using a small microcurrent electrical stimulator at home. I can
always prescribe that and that can be used along with the collagen cream.

Jeremy Baker: Combining acupuncture with microcurrent. That’s a unique approach.

Dr. Kitaeff: I believe it’s a good alternative to surgery. It’s shown very good results
both here and in Europe and in Asia, it’s been used.

Jeremy Baker: What’s the most popular aesthetic procedure right now that you offer?

Dr. Kitaeff: The one I described, the cosmetic face lift certainly is the main reason
that people seek aesthetic treatment in our clinic, but we also offer
European style medical detoxification which is certainly also a way to
affect the general health and the skin in particular. You could say that
just about everyone is toxic to some extent and this can be measured,
tested, but a lot of common symptoms like fatigue and digestive
symptoms, skin eruptions, all relate to an internal toxic accumulation so
rather than just treat this externally, you can treat the underlying cause
which is through internal cleansing or detoxification and these are
methods used in European medical spas and clinics, such as colon
hydrotherapy, constitutional hydrotherapy, lymphatic drainage massage,
infrared sauna and of course acupuncture used not just in the facial
area but throughout the body.
Also we often do injections of vitamin B12, B complex, Vitamin C,
magnesium, so natural factors found in the body but usually deficient
because we don’t absorb basic nutrients enough from our food.

Jeremy Baker: Sounds very comprehensive.

Dr. Kitaeff: Yeah, we do a lot of things in our clinic.

Jeremy Baker: To what do you attribute your success?

Dr. Kitaeff: Well, I would say, looking for the best methods of treatment from
eastern and western natural medicine traditions, to what has worked
over time, over hundreds or even thousands of years in the case of say
traditional Chinese medicine or the Ayurvedic medical tradition of India.
Also utilizing methods that are verified by modern research and you
know a lot of say, botanical medications, herbal medications and
vitamin and mineral nutritional factors have been really extensively
researched and the research has been published in mainstream medical
journals so we certainly pay attention to that. We have a full dispensary
of natural products and I’d say they’re all based on very good research.

Jeremy Baker: What’s your biggest challenge right now?

Dr. Kitaeff: I would say trying to fit into the medical community where our type of
medicine is not the predominant establishment’s type of medicine so
that means that we have to deal with challenges from insurance
coverage and just gaining acceptance more and more, although the
situation in Washington State where I practice is far better than the rest
of the country in terms of insurance coverage and acceptance by the
medical community as well as knowledge among the public and
acceptance by the public.

Jeremy Baker: How often do you communicate with your clients via social media
channels, text message, email, etc.

Dr. Kitaeff: We get a lot of inquiries by email and I always answer those in detail.
We also get many telephone inquiries and I do answer those personally
and it’s not an office person who answers those questions. We do have
a Facebook page and we have had presence on Twitter and a website
which has very complete information on our services.

Jeremy Baker: What are some of the mistakes that you see, either your clients or new
clients coming in on the medical aesthetic side of things that they’re
making when they’re going to other providers and coming to you?

Dr. Kitaeff: I’d say when it comes to aesthetics, if people first choose surgical
approach cosmetic surgery, there can certainly be unintended
consequences from surgery that are long term in their effects and not
reversible. I think in the case of any health problem, any area of
medicine is supposed start at the least invasive level and to move to
surgery and strong drug medications as a last resort, because of the
harmful side-effects of course.

Jeremy Baker: What technique or treatment are you using or that you have available
that you wish more clients knew about and took advantage of?

Dr. Kitaeff: I would say using acupuncture for pain control is certainly something
that most people have heard about but perhaps they don’t realize how
strongly effective it is. According to research, the effects of acupuncture
for chronic pain are comparable to morphine, about the same level of
effectiveness without the side-effects. With acupuncture for either an
acute pain problem or chronic pain the effects are immediate usually.
People can see a chronic neck or back pain or headache or joint pain
just going away on the spot. It still requires some followup, some
repetition of treatment to establish the response and make sure it does
stay long term but it doesn’t require a long indefinite series of
treatments. Just usually a few or several but people do see immediate
effects with this treatment.

Jeremy Baker: How would describe an ideal client in terms of what their situation is
and what they’re looking to accomplish and how you can accomplish
that for them?

Dr. Kitaeff: Nowadays, there’s so much information available on the internet and
through other information channels that people can be very well
informed about the conditions they have before they seek treatment.
Although information on the internet is very often inaccurate and
misleading, I think it is good that people try to research on their
condition, try to find out something about treatment options before they
come to see me. I believe it’s valuable for them to look at the
information available about various practitioners comparing my
background, my experience and training with other practitioners. That is
certainly more possible now, more accessible now through the internet
than it used to be. I appreciate patients who have prepared themselves
that way for the treatment and for the programs available in our clinic.

Jeremy Baker: Well, believe it or not, that’s really it for my questions for you. Before we
end the call, is there anything else that you’d like our listeners or
readers to know about New Health Medical Center?

Dr. Kitaeff: Just that it is certainly one of the oldest and largest natural medicine
centers anywhere that combines all forms of natural medicine, both
eastern and western traditions of natural medicine. We have special
programs in areas that we’ve discussed today, such as the non-surgical
cosmetic face lift and internal cleansing or detoxification, pain
management but we also have immune support program say for cancer
support and hormone balancing strategies and using various methods
of natural medicine that have a long tradition and basis in modern
research as well.

Jeremy Baker: Wonderful.

Dr. Kitaeff, it has been a pleasure speaking with you and
thank you so much for your time and with that, that will conclude our
interview and I hope you have a wonderful day.

Dr. Kitaeff: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Jeremy Baker: You’re welcome. Goodbye.

Dr. Kitaeff: Bye bye.