Delicate work

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- Even when he’s talking about his charitable work,

Michael Niccole doesn’t waste any time.

On Tuesday morning, the 55-year-old plastic surgeon has just traded

his black operating clothes for a pristine white shirt that he wears

under a black suit. At 11:30 a.m., he’s already performed surgery on

three different people. After a short lunch break, he’ll see patients for

follow-ups all afternoon.

He was pretty much trained to be this busy. One of his professors once

told Niccole that he should get by on two to three hours of sleep a day.

But at four to five hours every night, he’s not quite achieved that goal.

It isn’t just his profitable work that keeps Niccole so busy. While

running a “huge practice,” as he puts it, in Newport Beach, Niccole has

donated his services to the disenfranchised at home and abroad for the

last 20 years. He regularly flies to South American countries and

operates on children with cleft palates and other deformities.

A father of four and husband of 26 years, Niccole has also helped

abused women. And for that reason, Sojourn Services, a Santa Monica-based

organization for battered women and their children, will honor him as

Humanitarian of the Year on Saturday.

Restoring women’s faces after they have been physically abused is “a

really important piece in the healing process,” said Holly Bassuk, who

works for Sojourn Services.

The agency has helped battered women for 23 years and has honored

supporters in entertainment, politics and the volunteer field for 19

years with awards.

Along with Niccole, actress Sandra Bullock will be honored as

Inspiration of the Year and Judge Mablean Ephriam will receive an award

for his support of women and children who face violence at home.

A few months ago, Tosha McClintock found herself in that situation.

“She meets this guy and falls in love and the guy becomes violent,”

Niccole said, recounting his patient’s story. “He locks her in the home,

shaves her hair and beats her up so much that she gets a boxer nose and

ears.”

After enduring her boyfriend’s torture for some time, one day the man

told McClintock to “get out of here as fast as you can,” Niccole said.

After McClintock fled the house, the batterer killed himself and left

his girlfriend behind with a horribly deformed face.

Holding before and after photos of McClintock in his hand, Niccole

said that he rebuilt her nose and worked on her ears.

“I also did some liposuction and a chin implant,” he said. “A few

cosmetic procedures to make it look a little better.”

He produces a letter from another patient, whose husband had verbally

abused her after she’d been left with stretch marks on her stomach after

the birth of her child.

Niccole flattened her stomach and tightened the muscles. Now he

regularly receives letters of thanks from her.

“I feel I was very fortunate in life,” he said. “God gave me something

and in return I want to give something back. ... We’re too tunnel vision

with monetary things. When you go to a third-world country, a chicken, a

thank you and a smile on their face is all they can give.”

Pausing for a moment, Niccole shifts gears without slowing down.

“Look at this woman,” he says, pointing to a large “before” photograph

of an older patient hanging on the wall. “She looks like 150 [years old.] Now look at that.”

In the “after” photo of the same patient, the woman has lost most of

the wrinkles and extra skin on her face.

“That’s a great feeling. And I got a lot of money for that,” Niccole

says. “Some of it is probably selfish. But regardless, the

self-satisfaction in doing cosmetic surgery is amazing. I’ll probably see

20 patients this afternoon and I’ll hear ‘thanks, thanks, thanks,

thanks.’ That’s a great feeling.”

And with that, Niccole returns to his work.