What are Medical Spas?
A med spa, also known as medical spa, is a facility whose medical program is run under the strict supervision of a licensed health care professional, according to The International Medical Spa Association. Med spas offer different ways of combining the holistic approach and comfort of a day spa with the conventional and complementary medical modalities. Some med spas focus on aesthetics, offering day spa services alongside medically supervised cosmetic procedures. Med spas utilize lasers and intense pulsed light technology as well as medical mocrodermabrasions, photo-facials, Botox and Restylane injections, medical peels and other medical beauty procedures. The benefit is that these new technologies permit these anti-aging procedures to be performed without surgery or recovery time. You can also get traditional spa services like facials, massages, and body treatments. Others feature treatments formulated according to complementary and alternative healing principles. Still others work with clients to prevent illness and address chronic ailments such as diabetes and obesity.
According to industry insiders, the reason for the rise of the med spa is that those individuals that wish to maintain their looks or look younger are bypassing the older technologies of plastic surgery in favor of newer, non-invasive techniques that give real results, give more natural results and all with less recuperation time.
According to the International SPA Association: Med Spa - A facility that operates under the full-time on-site supervision of a licensed health care professional whose primary purpose is to provide comprehensive medical and wellness care in an environment that integrates spa services, as well as traditional, complimentary and/or alternative therapies and treatments. The facility operates within the scope of practice of its staff, which can include both Aesthetic/Cosmetic and Prevention/wellness procedures and services.
Origin
The term "Day Spa" was coined back in the 1980's by Catherine Atzen, upon her entry from France to the US. There is some challenge, from Burke Williams of San Francisco, who also claims to have coined the term. Massage and skin care fanatics await official designation from the Day Spa of the World consortium, who are expected to rule on this contentious item in 2007.
