Patients aim for 'magical things' at local clinic

Hormones are a major part of the anti-aging solution at the Nonâge Longevity Medical Clinic. So are diet, exercise and lifestyle. "You need to do it all. Everything you leave out is going to decrease your results," says clinic owner Dr. Jerry Mixon.

Many patients learn about Mixon through his chatty "ask the doctor" talk shows on three Seattle radio stations, a chance to plug the clinic at a cost of $2,500 a week.

Interest in his methods is so high, he claims, that he's looking for another doctor to join the practice and hopes to open more clinics in California.

Mixon learned of anti-aging medicine at medical conferences. He opened the Kirkland clinic in 1999 after leaving a traditional family practice in Shelton, Mason County.

Why not bring treatments enjoyed in Hollywood to Washington at lower costs? He chose his fancy Carillon Point location because "there were 15,000 millionaires within a three-mile radius."

"I love what I'm doing. I work for the patient again," says Mixon, who earned a bachelor's degree in micro-

biology and a medical degree from the University of Utah.

The doctor has had some recent legal problems that appear unrelated to his anti-aging specialty.

Last year, the state's health professions quality-assurance commission fined Mixon $5,000 for treating a woman — with whom he'd already established a social and sexual relationship — as a patient.

"I gave my girlfriend estrogen. I did not abuse a patient. These are very different things," Mixon explains.

This year, a King County Superior Court issued an approximately $42,000 default judgment against Mixon after a man charged that Mixon had violated state security laws in offering an investment.

Mixon failed to produce certain documents for the court. Mixon says the documents were held by the Canadian broker who sold the stock and that his attorney has volunteered to satisfy the judgment.

Those difficulties seem to have little impact on his anti-aging practice.

At a recent Nonâge seminar, two dozen middle-age adults sat crowded in the clinic's plum-colored lobby.

Mixon gave his standard disclaimer: "Anything strong enough to do you good is strong enough to do you harm."

Then he detailed how hormones, as part of a customized, comprehensive program, could return them to a vigor and potency they hadn't felt in years.

As part of the pitch, Carolyn and Bill Crow, longtime patients and now paid employees, gave personal testimony. The Crows' faces glowed and their bodies looked buff. They take a variety of hormones, eat right and lift weights.

"Magical things have happened to us. Skin. Strength. Energy. Libido. I love the way my husband looks. I love the way he feels," cooed 67-year-old Carolyn. "And he acts like a man."

"It works both ways," said 66-year-old Bill, breaking into a grin.