BY Nancy Dillon
WEST COAST BUREAU CHIEF
Wednesday, August 18th 2010, 4:00 AM
LOS ANGELES - A plastic surgeon to the stars died in a harrowing car crash down a coastal cliff - minutes after he boasted about the view in Twitter postings.
"After 25 years of driving by, I finally hiked to the top of the giant sand dune on the [Pacific Coast Highway] west of Malibu. Much harder than it looks! Whew!" he wrote shortly before the tragic accident.
A photo of his dog looking out at the Pacific Ocean was followed by the Twitter caption "Border collie jill surveying the view from atop the sand dune."
Frank Ryan, famous for nipping and tucking the likes of Heidi Montag and Gene Simmons, veered off the Pacific Coast Highway shortly before 4:35 p.m. Monday and tumbled down a rocky slope in an open-topped Jeep Wrangler, officials said.
"He suffered severe trauma," Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Bill Nash said. "Lifeguards got the patient out of the vehicle, placed him on a backboard and started medical work. [But] our medical squad pronounced him dead at the scene, so no helicopter rescue was attempted.
"The dog was ejected from the vehicle and was swimming to shore when rescuers arrived," Nash added.
An autopsy was underway Tuesday to see if there was a medical reason for the crash.
Ryan's loyal clients were quick to express their shock and condolences.
"I am devastated," Montag, 23, wrote on her Twitter page. "He was the most amazing person I have ever known. He was an angel and changed my life and the lives of everyone he met."
Last November, the "Hills" star went to Ryan for 10 cosmetic procedures in a single day.
"He is in a better place," she wrote.
Source: NY Daily News