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WHAT IS A MEDICAL
SPA?
Remarks by Doctor
Foxx
To the Los Angeles Media at Spa
Day LA
I’m Richard Foxx, and I’m the
founder, medical director, and owner of The Medical and Skin Spa at Agua
Serena. In the next few moments I’m
going to show you why the medical spa has become such a phenomenon using The
Medical and Skin Spa to illustrate the reasons.
Before
I begin, however, I ask that you indulge me for a moment and close your eyes. You are standing in front of a large, one-story
sandstone colored building. The air is quiet; the sky a deep blue. Mountains that seem to have sprung out of the
desert floor yesterday loom close by. You
walk up a stone path lined with indigenous plants. On one side a lagoon glistens. From inside you see a reflecting pool with
cascading fountains. The first thing you smell is sage. The first thing you hear is flute music. Everything is stone, light wood, textured
fabrics.
The receptionist rises to welcome
you as if into her own home, and offers you water or tea. You are taken to a relaxation area where you
are invited to don a soft, cozy robe and wait on a lounge chair. The doctor evaluates you in an unhurried
atmosphere along with the medical esthetician or the nurse. Before every treatment the doctor consults
with you to document your progress, and answer questions.
When you leave it’s as though you
had spent time with friends.
You may open your eyes. You’ve just been to The Medical and Skin Spa
at Agua Serena.
What you heard called the “med-spa
phenomenon” is a subject that is of particular interest to me since The Medical
and Skin Spa is one of the first, if not the first true medical spa in the U.S. After speaking at many medical and spa
conferences over the last two years and experiencing the response of audiences
all over, it has become apparent to me that The Medical and Skin Spa has been in
the forefront of this phenomenon, that has sometimes been referred to as a
revolution in medical care.
Before I go any further, I’d like
to address the term “medi-spa” or “med-spa.”
The term trivializes what I think is the most important element of a
medical spa and what sets a true medical spa apart. A true medical spa is first and foremost a
medical office, where the doctor is on-site and plays an integral part in the
care of each patient.
When The Medical and Skin Spa
opened in 2003, the response it received from the press and from the public was
gratifying. But what was perhaps most
gratifying was the sense that we had not so much created something as
re-created it. There was a sense of
immediate recognition in the patients that came in. It was almost as though this concept had
always been there but had been shunted aside, overlooked and ignored.
To my mind this visceral
recognition of a healing environment is one reason the medical spa concept is becoming
a phenomenon. Patients yearn for this connection to the healer.
The one commodity that cannot be
expanded is time. And we, all of us, are
always looking for ways to maximize experiences, ways to slow down the mad rush
of days.
The other precious commodity is
health. We want to feel good, and almost
more importantly, we want to look
as though we feel good. And in my
experience, that is more
important than looking young.
The medical spa holds out the
promise of the fulfillment of those desires.
The Medical
and Skin Spa is not an office where technicians and nurses carry out a variety
of pseudo-medical treatments while the doctor whose name is on the door is
miles away on the golf course.
We are a
true medical spa, where massage therapy, Yoga, fitness, and state-of-the-art
medical and skin care are blended seamlessly.
We work seamlessly with the spa, sharing knowledge, experiences, and
modalities. It’s the kind of an office where your blood pressure goes down, not
up. It is the kind of office in which
men feel as comfortable as women.
Addressing
the whole person in this kind of environment is one of the oldest methods of
treatment and traces its origins to the healing center founded by Hippocrates
on the Island of Cos.
Patient
care is held to a standard that far exceeds the artificial standards created by
actuaries and accountants.
The skin is
the largest organ in the body. We have
this idea that we can neglect it and suddenly, somewhere in the 40’s or 50’s,
expect it to look pristine with very little effort. The expectation is as unreasonable as
thinking you can run a marathon at age 50 when all you’ve done for 40 years is
look for the channel changer.
At The
Medical and Skin Spa we practice cosmetic dermatology in the context of an
appreciation for the principles of good medicine and general health. Where
are we on the medical continuum? I
like to think of us between the dermatologist and the plastic surgeon.
We offer an
alternative to men and women who wish to push plastic surgery as far away as
possible or to avoid it altogether. And
we offer a resource to those who have had plastic surgery and have discovered
the aging process continues.
The Medical
and Skin Spa merges science and technology with the art of medicine. There is no better indicator of general
health and well-being than the skin. Many
of the techniques we employ to improve skin and skin health were unknown as
recently as seven years ago.
We start by examining the factors
that brought the skin to its present condition.
Then we utilize the very latest in therapeutic and rejuvenating
techniques including laser technology for the removal of brown spots, hair, and
spider veins. We employ an array of medical-grade
exfoliations. We use the
latest in skin tightening technology, the TITAN. BOTOX has achieved a stature of effectiveness
almost unparalleled in medicine and we use that drug extensively. It is always administered by the doctor,
me. We use Restylane, RADIESSE, and the other
dermal fillers using the latest techniques, but always physician-administered.
The last part of the equation
involves educating the patient in the use of effective skin products we call cosmeceuticals for long-term,
ongoing skin care.
The process is like the proverbial three-legged
stool. Only by addressing all of these
issues can we advance skin care far beyond what was ever thought possible.
When I began, I said we were one of
the first true medical spas in the U.S. Truth is there are still not very many.
Success has not spoiled us. On the contrary, we are more committed than
ever to make the second visit and the third even more unforgettable.
Medical
spas have, indeed, become a phenomenon. I
identify three fundamental reasons:
- Medical
spas answer the demands of increasingly frustrated consumers for a basic
level of care that had been lost – individualized, personalized,
unhurried, humanized
- Medical
spas provide a refuge where time and experience can be maximized
- Medical
spas offer meaningful results
I encourage you to experience The
Medical and Skin Spa at Agua Serena for yourself. It is a life-changing experience.
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