The Opulence Spa and Surface Medical Spa both offer the medical services of their physician owners, but in very different atmospheres.

Smooth and soothe New medical spas offer a variety of age management procedures

By Julie Robinson Staff writer, WV Gazette

The road to age-defying beauty and extravagant pampering leads to two new spas in Charleston these days.

The Opulence Spa and Surface Medical Spa both offer the medical services of their physician owners, but in very different atmospheres. The gentle lighting, quiet music and plush sofas and overstuffed chairs at Opulence soften the prospect of medical procedures offered by the three doctors/owners, aestheticians and therapists. Opulence Spa is in Northgate, off Greenbrier Street. 

In contrast, bright light streams in the floor-to-ceiling windows from the river view at Surface Medical Spa, 1514 Kanawha Blvd. E., and highlights waiting room brochures outlining the nonsurgical face-lift process Pointe Lifts, skin smoothing Thermage technique and intense pulsed light hair removal.

Surface Medical Spa specializes in no-surgery face-lifts. For 20 years, Dr. Alex DeSouza’s plastic-surgery patients had to weigh the benefits of a surgical face-lift with the inconvenience of a recovery time of four to five weeks. “As a plastic surgeon, I realized I couldn’t reach nine out of 10 patients who wanted a face-lift,” De-Souza said. “Who can afford that much down time after surgery?”

Today he offers Pointe Lift, a no-surgery face-lift along with a wide range of other cosmetic treatments at his newly opened Surface Medical Spa. Until last year, the Brazilian native practiced plastic surgery in Spencer, where he and his family still live. He made the leap to open a Charleston clinic after he worked on a project with Dr. Aaron Barson, a physician who founded the Surface Medical Spas in Utah. Barson’s Surface Medical spa package appealed to DeSouza. “We share the same principles,” DeSouza said. “Our practice emphasizes safety, privacy, comfort and science.”

‘Takes 15 to 20 years off’

Convinced that Botox injections, fillers and laser treatments alone are not effective, DeSouza recommends customized combinations based on patient evaluations. He asks each patient which problem is most troubling and tailors a solution. “Aging is a multilayered thing,” DeSouza said. “You can’t fix just the skin. You must fix layer by layer.” He compared the process to a child who makes his bed by pulling up the top cover without straightening the underlying sheets. Technically, the bed is made, but it is still lumpy. Facials, laser hair removal, acne treatments, filler injections, peels, microdermabrasions and fotofacials are effective treatment options, but DeSouza said it is the Pointe Lift and Thermage results that really have his patients talking.

“The women who have the Pointe Lifts are astounded,” said DeSouza’s office manager Rita Mills. “The lift takes 15 to 20 years off.”

DeSouza likens the Pointe Lift to a mini face-lift without the surgery. With a mild surface numbing agent, DeSouza places a small suture under the skin in the hairline behind the ear. He runs a nylon thread under the skin, zigzagging through different layers of tissue to another needle hole in the hairline. He tightens the thread, which pulls the facial skin back toward the hairline. He repeats the procedure behind the other ear, and above the eyes. Pointe Lifts require no incisions or shaving of the hair.

“It’s even adjustable,” DeSouza said. “I can pull it tighter and say, ‘Is this enough?’ then adjust it accordingly.”

Patients walk out the door immediately following the surgery with tighter skin and fewer wrinkles. No hospitalization and no recovery time. Pointe Lift results are not as dramatic as those obtained from surgical face-lifts, but he said many patients consider the subtle results to be an advantage.

“It’s very private,” he said. “It’s good for people who want to have a better look but don’t want anybody to know.” Pointe Lift results last six to eight years, DeSouza said. Pointe Lifts start at about $2,400, but costs vary depending on patient’s needs.

‘It’s like pressing your face’ Age and exposure are the usual culprits of wrinkles and sagging skin. DeSouza recommends a process called Thermage to tighten skin and to encourage the production of new collagen to plump skin. Thermage, featured this month on an episode of “Oprah,” uses radio waves to tighten skin in a process similar to ironing clothes, DeSouza said.

“Clothes that you have just washed are very wrinkled until you press them. Then they look great,” he said. “Basically, it’s like we are pressing your face.” Thermage treatments don’t take long. DeSouza said he even performs them during a patient’s lunch hour. The patient’s skin is a little red when he leaves, but the redness dissipates within several hours. Because the process stimulates collagen production, the results become more dramatic as the collagen grows, usually within two months.

Thermage treatments cost $1,300 per third of the face. DeSouza will treat the forehead and eyes or the lower face or the neck for $1,300 apiece, or the entire face for $2,300 or the face and neck for $3,600.

“I would guess that Thermage results will last about two years,” DeSouza said. “It is still so new that nobody knows for sure how long they will last.”

Whatever treatment his patients choose, DeSouza expects them to do some homework if they expect to be pleased with the results.
Healthy eating and exercise habits are minimal requirements to good health, he said.

“Patients must feel well inside their bodies, as well as out,” DeSouza said.“A patient needs to be a happy, healthy person.” 

To contact Surface Medical Spa, call 345-6772.

Opulence Spa pampers with a purpose. Sure, you can get a massage or a pedicure at Opulence, but the staff also offers medical beauty treatments well beyond a facial. Comparable to spas at top-notch resorts, Opulence blends indulgent care with medical services, said co-owner Dr. Daniel Stickler. “We wanted to give people a destination point,” Stickler said. “This is a resort spa combined with the best of clinical services.” The spa is Sticker’s brainchild. He said he thought it was a natural progression for his surgical bariatric weight-loss practice After attending an age-management conference last year, Stickler decided Charleston needed an upscale spa with serious skin solutions. Stickler asked maxillofacial surgeon Lee Allen and plastic surgeon Andy Stewart about joining him in the venture. The two physicians told him they had already discussed the need for a spa offering medical services and were just looking for a place and partner.

“We had no reservations,” Stickler said. “We looked at the market analysis and the trend was huge.”

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, traditional cosmetic surgery has fallen 8 percent since 2000, compared to a 36 percent increase for nonsurgical treatments such as Botox injections.

Stickler said Opulence has been busy since it opened in mid-December, especially with holiday gift certificates. Upcoming wedding and prom seasons are traditionally busy times for spas, he said.

“Charleston hasn’t seen anything like this. Nobody was doing age management,” Stickler said. “This is certainly not for the average person. It is very expensive.”

If a client comes to Opulence and requests a Botox treatment, Stickler said they will do it, but they encourage clients to take advantage of the medical consultation services. “Our biggest problem is that people come in and think they want a certain service,” Stickler said. “That service may not be appropriate for them.”

Diagnosis for a difference For facial consultations, a Visia machine is the doctor’s diagnostic tool of choice. The machine photographs the client’s face using six different lights. Each one measures a different problem, such as skin evenness, pore size, wrinkles and sun damage. “The pictures guide treatment and are used for follow-up to check results,” he said.

“They give us measurable results.” A Visia analysis costs $99. Based on the results, doctors might recommend Botox, Restylane or collagen injections to remove fine lines, chemical peels, microdermabrasion to smooth skin, or photo rejuvenation to seek out spider veins and age spots. - advertisement - Click Here! There are no quick fixes for long-term age management, Stickler said. Diet and exercise play a key role. For the best results, clients must commit to lifestyle changes and regular skin care. For example, some clients see startling benefits from hormone replacement, but the price is high — $600 a month.

Spas that offer medical procedures are cropping up everywhere, but Stickler said Opulence’s luxury and services are unparalleled.

“Nothing on the East Coast even compares,” he said. “We have had spa consultants from California and Tennessee come in, and they have raved about our medical consultation services.”

Even manly men visit spas There does not seem to be a typical client at Opulence. Consultants cautioned the owners to prepare for an emerging market in spa services — men and teens. The number of men who use the spa surprised Stickler, even though he was sold on the men’s executive facials after he experienced one himself.

“I never thought of getting a facial,” he said. “It was as relaxing as any massage I’ve ever had.”

Men make appointments for facials, hair removal, deep-tissue massage — even manicures and pedicures. The technicians use a subtle matte finish when they buff men’s fingernails and toenails, said massage therapist Kristi Blankenship. Sometimes men seek spa services for reasons other than professional image.

“One man was going on a fishing trip and didn’t want his feet to look bad in sandals,” Blankenship said. No matter what service clients select, Blankenship said she wants the experience to be luxurious and relaxing.

For services beyond manicures and pedicures, clients go into the sauna and changing room with its wood-louvered locker doors and flickering aromatic candles to change into one of the spa’s fluffy robes. Come early, leave late Blankenship said she hopes clients will arrive well ahead of their appointment times so they can unwind on the faux suede sectional sofas in the relaxation room. Staff members escort them into one of eight treatment rooms, all equipped with heated, lamb’s-wool-covered chairs or worktables. In these rooms, doctors and aestheticians perform facials, massages, laser hair removal, peels, cosmetic filler injections, microdermabrasion and vibradermabrasions for deep exfoliation without the sometimes painful crystals used in microdermabrasions. One jarringly futuristic note at Opulence is the body-length white plastic capsule in the hydrotherapy room. In most spas, clients stand naked or nearly naked in front of sprays of water to rinse their newly scrubbed bodies.

“If you are at all self-conscious, that isn’t very comfortable,” Blankenship said. “Our clients lie on this table and we close the lid over their bodies to rinse them.”

The scents of peppermint, bergamot, lavender or rosemary waft through the facility during one of the hydrotherapy sessions because aromatherapy oils can be added to the steamy water. At other times, the place smells like a bakery, Blankenship said, when scrubs named “Apple Butter Polish,” “Blackberry Cobbler” or “Gingerbread Man” are applied. You won’t find any tanning beds in a place dedicated to skin care, but Blankenship said she plans to introduce sunless tanning airbrushing and a product line this spring. An alternative to the sun’s harmful rays, sunless tanning is another weapon in the anti-aging arsenal at Opulence.

“Getting older is inevitable,” Stickler said. “Aging is not.”