Medspa sector grows with doctors such as Anne Hermann at The Grand | laser back hair removal

Tampa Bay Business Journal - by Margie Manning Senior Staff Writer

TAMPA — The physician is in at The Grand Beauty Spa.

Dr. Anne Hermann, double board certified in internal medicine and nutrition, has set up her practice in the spa, which opened last year in a 91-year-old home once owned by Dizzy Dean at 2717 W. Kennedy Blvd.

Carmen Lee Sargeant, founder and owner of The Grand and also of Posh Your Personal Salon in south Tampa, invested $3 million in The Grand, outfitting it with health and wellness in mind.

The pedicure room has stainless steel sinks with pipeless plumbing so bacteria won’t get caught in the bowls. There’s an infrared sauna for muscle relaxation without the heat of a steam sauna. Some of the treatment rooms are equipped with ozone therapy baths and a specialized laser that Hermann uses for skin tightening.

“Doctors were putting spas in their offices. We felt we had to keep clients in house,” Sargeant said.

Hermann is medical director and has partnered with Sargeant on the aesthetics businesses, such as Botox injections and laser treatments. Sargeant runs salon services, and Hermann provides acupuncture and nutrition counseling in her private practice on site.
Focus on education

The Grand is one of a growing number of medical spas, loosely defined as medical practices devoted to cosmetic procedures and anti-aging therapies. The International Medical Spa Association estimates there are nearly 2,500 such facilities in the United States, up 65 percent since 2004, with estimated annual medspa revenue in the United States reaching $1 billion.

AnuYou Institute, which opened in May on the ground floor of the Bayfront Heart Center at 625 Sixth Ave. S., St. Petersburg, is among the newest entrants in the field, providing services such as facials, chemical peels, laser treatments and hair removal. Owner Linda Hirsch said the facility differs from other medical spas because its focus its on educating patients. Her husband, Dr. Kevin Hirsch, is training to be a specialist in anti-aging management medicine and will provide treatments at AnuYou.

Doctors like medical spas because they are not reliant on reimbursement from insurance companies. Customers generally pay cash, although Hirsch said AnuYou plans to work with insurance carriers for patients who have lost weight and are no longer diabetics. Hermann takes insurance reimbursement for some of the medical services she provides.
Reluctant to give up looking good

The medspa industry has not been immune from the economic downturn, although it is doing somewhat better than day spas because medspa clients are more affluent and less reluctant to give up their aesthetic enhancement regimes, said Hannelore Leavy, executive director of the Union City, N.J.-based International Medical Spa Association.

“Whereas the day spa industry lost approximately one-third of their volume over the past six months, we would estimate the medical spas are down no more than 15 percent,” Leavy said.

A day package, including a facial, massage, hair services, pedicure and lunch, runs about $300 at The Grand. “People aren’t traveling as much or staying in hotels, but they won’t give up looking good,” Sargeant said.

This place in interesting.

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