About Us

Meet Dr. Assassa

Most people considering a non-surgical procedure have already made one decision, which is that they do not want an operation. What they have not decided is who they trust to hold the syringe, the cannula, or the laser. That second decision matters more than the first, because in aesthetic medicine the outcome is shaped almost entirely by judgment, and judgment is built from volume, from training, and from decades of watching how real faces and real bodies change over time.

Sam Assassa, MD is board certified in Internal Medicine. He received his medical degree with honors from Damascus University, completed his internship at Loyola University affiliated hospitals in Chicago and his internal medicine residency at Case Western Reserve University affiliated hospitals in Cleveland, and founded Beverly Hills Aesthetics in 1995. He has practiced aesthetic medicine exclusively for thirty years and has performed more than 25,000 procedures.

“Anatomy does not care about trends. My job is to restore the structure a face has lost, not to install something it never had.” — Sam Assassa, MD

From Internal Medicine to Aesthetic Medicine

Dr. Assassa did not begin his career in cosmetics. He trained and practiced as an internist and built a general practice in Huntington Beach, California, which meant years of full physical examinations, of managing patients with several conditions at once, and of learning to read a body as a connected system rather than a set of isolated parts.

In 1995 he closed that chapter and moved into aesthetic medicine full time.

That background still shapes how he works, and it is a genuinely different starting point from a purely cosmetic training path. Facial aging is not a skin problem. It is a volume problem, a muscle problem, and a bone problem happening at the same time, and a physician trained to think in systems tends to treat it differently than a practitioner trained on a single device. It is also why his consultations begin with the whole face rather than the line a patient came in pointing at, and why conditions like hyperhidrosis, migraine, and the facial changes that follow rapid weight loss are treated here as medical concerns rather than cosmetic ones.

Procedures Dr. Assassa Developed

Two of the procedures offered here were developed by him.

SmileLift™ is a thirty minute in-office procedure performed under local anesthesia that addresses the position of a downturned mouth corner directly, rather than supporting it with volume. It grew out of a simple observation, which is that patients complaining about lines around the mouth were frequently more bothered by being misread as unhappy than by the lines themselves.

SweatZap™ is a laser treatment for excessive underarm sweating that targets the sweat glands themselves through a small incision under local anesthesia, rather than interrupting the nerve signal to them as injections do.

He has also been an early adopter throughout his career, among the first physicians on the West Coast to introduce the CosmoFaceLift™, Smart Liposculpt™, and EZ Lipo™, and he has continued refining his own protocols for laser assisted body contouring since introducing it.

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Teaching and International Recognition

Dr. Assassa has spent much of his career teaching the techniques he uses in his own treatment rooms, and he is invited to do so by the professional bodies in his field rather than lecturing on his own behalf.

He has served as faculty at the AMWC World Congress in Paris and the AMWC Latin America World Congress in Bogotá, the largest meetings in aesthetic and anti-aging medicine. He has directed the AAAMS Basic and Advanced Aesthetics Training in Taipei continuously since 2013, and has lectured at the Congress for Dermatologists in Bratislava, the Interdisciplinary Congress on Aesthetics in Istanbul, the F.A.C.E. Congress in Marrakech, and the Varna Congress of Beauty Surgery and Anti-Aging in Bulgaria.

Across three continents he has taught more than 5,000 physicians and nurses, and he presented on Volumetric Facial Rejuvenation at the International Academy of Cosmetic Surgery congress.

He is a contributor to PRIME Journal: Plastic and Reconstructive Aesthetic Medicine.

“When I teach this technique to other physicians, the hardest thing to teach is restraint. The injecting is the easy part.” — Sam Assassa, MD

Professional Leadership and Affiliations

Dr. Assassa founded the American Association of Aesthetic Medicine and Surgery, where he serves as CEO and Program Director and has been President since 2006. He is also CEO and Medical Director of Pacific Lipo, with locations in Beverly Hills, Newport Beach, and San Diego.

His professional memberships include:

• American College of Physicians: Associate member of the internal medicine society.
• American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery: Affiliate member.
• American Society of Liposuction Surgery: Full member.
• American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery: Full member.
• American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine: Full member.
• American Mesotherapy Association: Full member.
• American Society of Aesthetics and Mesotherapy: Full member.
• International Academy of Aesthetics: Certified educator.
• American Aesthetic Medicine Association: Advisory committee member.

Media Recognition

Dr. Assassa’s work in non-surgical aesthetics has been featured on Good Morning America, NBC, KTLA, and Univision, and in Star Magazine, Angeleno Magazine, Beverly Hills 213, Beauty Cosmetica Magazine, The New Zealand Herald, BeautySurgery.com, and CosmeticDesign.com.

Non-Surgical Face, Body, and Skin Procedures Dr. Assassa Performs

The practice is built around non-surgical and minimally invasive correction, with treatment planned around what a patient’s anatomy actually needs rather than around a menu of packages.

• Face procedures: Non-surgical facelift, brow lift, cheek and lip contouring, jaw definition, and non-surgical rhinoplasty.
• Body procedures: Laser assisted liposuction performed in the office under local anesthesia, without general anesthesia or a surgical facility stay, along with arm lifting, cellulite treatment, and correction of previous liposuction results.
• Skin procedures: Laser resurfacing, microneedling, skin tightening, chemical peels, and acne scar treatment.
• Injectables: Botox® and dermal fillers for wrinkles, volume loss, and facial contouring.

What to Expect at Your Consultation

Dr. Assassa personally evaluates every patient before treatment is planned. A consultation begins with what is bothering you, then moves to a full assessment of the face or treatment area, because the visible complaint and the underlying cause are frequently in different places. Hollowing under the eyes, for example, often originates in cheek volume loss rather than in the eyelid itself.

From there you receive a plan, an honest assessment of what non-surgical treatment can and cannot achieve in your case, and a clear picture of timing and recovery. If a concern would be better addressed surgically, you will be told that directly.

“The best result is the one nobody can name. People should notice that you look rested, not that you look treated.” — Sam Assassa, MD

Why Patients Choose Beverly Hills Aesthetics

• Board Certified Physician: Treatment performed by a physician board certified in Internal Medicine, not delegated.
• Thirty Years Of Focus: Aesthetic medicine practiced exclusively since 1995, with more than 25,000 procedures performed.
• Procedures Developed Here: SmileLift™ and SweatZap™ were both developed by Dr. Assassa.
• Teaching Level Technique: The same methods taught to physicians at AMWC and at congresses across three continents.
• Anatomy First Assessment: Every plan begins with the cause of the concern rather than the surface complaint.

Schedule a Consultation in Beverly Hills

If you have been researching non-surgical options and want a straight answer about what is realistic for your face or body, a consultation with Dr. Assassa is the place to start. Beverly Hills Aesthetics serves patients across Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, and Century City, and you will leave with a clear understanding of what treatment can accomplish, what it will require of you, and what it will cost. Request a consultation or schedule your appointment online.

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