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BEVERLY HILLS ACUPUNCTURE!
BEVERLY HILLS PREMIER ACUPUNCTURE
Charles Yarborough, Licensed Acupuncturist
ACUPUNCTURE BEVERLY HILLS! Charles Yarborough, L.Ac. has been featured in the "New York Times," on the KTLA Morning News, in "US NEWS & WORLD REPORT. He has been voted best
ACUPUNCTURE BEVERLY HILLS. VOTED BEST ACUPUNCTURIST BY
The Spa of the Future
REPRINTED FROM "LES NOUVELLES ESTHETIQUES" NOV. 2006
BY CHARLES YARBOROUGH, L.AC.
he spa of the future and the clinic of the future will soon be one and the same. That’s what industry professionals will tell you, anyway. But how accurate is this prediction? Will the spas and clinics of the future envelop and absorb each other, or will some clinics simply continue to develop spa-oriented features while some spas will offer a wider array of medical services? Will patients seek out a “sinfully indulgent urban retreat” for their critical medical problems? Would you? As long as indulgence and renewal are associated with spas, and life-saving medical interventions--including treatment of disease--are associated with clinics, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to predict a degree of mutual independence. But that prediction may be wrong.
One of the distinguishing aspects of the modern spa is the creative image it disseminates through self promotion. Descriptors such as “ultimate” are often used and great emphasis is placed on sensory enticements: ocean views, décor, cuisine and amenities such as golf and horseback riding. Medical facilities are normally quite the opposite. Nowhere in the Mayo Clinic’s brochure are you urged to “experience the ultimate appendectomy,” nor are you invited to “enjoy a minty sangria with your colorectalsigmoidoscopy.” Spa proprietors show great imagination and originality in refining and reinterpreting traditional ethnic therapies and packaging them as signature “ceremonies.” How, then, will exotic enticements blend with services that are ordinarily offered in a community clinic?
A NEW WAY OF THINKING
There is widespread belief among industry professionals that clients who patronize spas of the future will get medical services while they’re at it. Can this be true? Will the client of the future say to her or himself, “While I’m here for a pedicure, I might as well get that liver cancer taken care of; I hear the chemolatte is delicious!”? The answer, surprisingly, may be…yes.
While many medical services resist exotic repackaging and must, at best, exist alongside spa therapies, there is a whole field of medicine that could conceivably blend into the pampering process. This is the science of life extension.
LIFE EXTENSION
Imagine a hundred fifty year-old woman walking into your spa and purchasing a facial. You ask her, “What kind would you like?” She looks at the menu and decides, “I’ll have the Cerebral Stemcell Facial. I had a stroke last week and it’s affecting my tennis swing.” You send her to a room with a bubbling fountain and soothing music, where a technician administers a luxuriant facial, complete with lotions infused with cryogenically preserved stem cells. Upon absorption, the organ-targeted stem cells go to work, generating cell growth in the woman’s brain, gradually restoring her coordination and strength. Unlike current FDA-approved therapy, this substance won’t need to be administered within three days of the stroke to be effective. Sound outlandish? Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia recently conducted experiments on animals that suffered strokes and, by introducing stem cells, were able to partially restore independent cell growth in the subjects’ brains.
While implantation is currently the standard means of stem cell delivery, it isn’t inconceivable that stem cells engineered for site-specific delivery could be administered transdermally…that is to say, in a fragrant, soothing lotion. And what about other injuries? The April 2006 issue of the “Journal of Clinical Investigation” describes implantation of stem cells into the damaged Achilles tendons of animals. These cells, like the brain cells, performed the function of repair and--in this case--changed their appearance to resemble local tissue. In a recent Singapore study, stem cell therapy grew fresh skin for burn victims and, in an Austrian study, successfully restored urethral function for a number of patients.
If you don’t think biopharmaceutical companies are paying close attention to--and subsidizing--life enhancement and life extension research, consider this alarming fact: stroke is the leading cause of disability in the United States. What’s more, the U.S. Census Bureau tells us that by the year 2020, the population aged 55-64 will become greater than 42.7 million and those 65 and older will number 54.6 million. Can you smell financial incentive in that fragrant, soothing lotion?
FINANCIAL INCENTIVE
Profit is a powerful force in the advancement of longevity. According to a recent study by economists Kevin Murphy and Robert Topel of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, a mere one per cent reduction in mortality would create 500 billion dollars in social value. That’s a lot of seniors spending their money on medical and life extension services. Diabetes, cancer and organic disease make the field of life extension an endless challenge for scientists and an endlessly interesting investment opportunity for biopharmaceutical companies. What is currently considered “extending lives” may soon be known for what it really is: saving lives. What kind of opportunity will this pose for you, the spa owner?
While many spas will undoubtedly continue successfully in their current incarnation, others may extend beyond pampering and medical skin treatments, reaching into the science of organ repair and rejuvenation. How, then, will spas forge relationships with biopharmaceutical companies and researchers? Will the spa of the future become a function of scientific research? Will biopharmaceutical companies make their products and procedures available to spas, and if so, what training and contractual obligations will be required for implementation? Controversy related to insurance coverage may also arise: how will insurers differentiate life extension from life saving?
COMPETITION
How would spas of the future be impacted if biopharmaceutical companies opened their own trademarked venues, offering not only traditional ethnic therapies but dispensing drugs and procedures they’ve developed? It isn’t difficult to imagine any of the current health gurus lending their image to such a sprawling venture, urging consumers to indulge in the best of both worlds. Conceivably, these ventures might merge with other corporate-owned multi-location spas that are now cropping up. Corporate mergers and cross-labeling are already commonplace. How would the independent spa owner survive this? For one, you might keep in mind that going to such a spa could be equated with dining at an Italian restaurant owned by a mega-chain: the mural of Venice on the wall might be lovely but you know a hundred other stores have one exactly like it. You’d appreciate the cleanliness and uniformity of the corporate venue but you’d also miss the eccentricities and personal touches, for better or worse, of your neighborhood joint. Another way independent spa owners (not associated with hotels or resorts) would prosper may be to get clients involved in ongoing exercise and calorie restriction programs. The science of longevity acknowledges the necessity of calorie restriction, yet the number of obese Americans continues to increase. The explosion in childhood obesity with its inevitable medical complications will create an enormous healthcare imperative.
For the independent spa, involvement in clients’ lives, finely tuned niche marketing and immersion in the local community may become increasingly important elements in its evolution. Creativity and originality have kept the industry flourishing; wise planning will keep it eternally young.
Charles Yarborough, L.Ac.
Yarborough Acupuncture
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