YOUR FACE is your own permanent first impression. “Best foot forward” can be so passe; we all know it’s all about putting your best face forward now.
A laser skincare clinic in UP Town Center — Cara Laser Skincare — has seven machines in its stable capable of giving a client not a new face per se, but their old face back, before stress and pollution feasted on it. One machine employs lasers for hair removal, while another uses ultrasound to give one’s face a noninvasive lift. Another uses monopolar radio frequencies (according to Cara Operations Manager Kaycie Cadivida, one of the most powerful in the market) face and body contouring by inducing fat cell death.
One infuses the face with serums, while another does the same to a lesser extent, but also performs tasks like microdermabrasion, cleaning, and lifting.
The treatments can range from P3,000 to P60,000.
One of its advantages of non-invasive tratments such as these is the shortened downtime. According to Ms. Cadivida, a client can pop in during their lunch break, then return to work as if nothing had happened.
Cara has registered nurses as its skincare technicians, plus a supervising dermatologist ready to assist during a treatment.
Irene Cara Gatus, the owner, has a line-free face. Granted, she’s only a year shy of 32, but she already has 10 businesses under her belt, and two kids to boot. Her portfolio includes an HMO service, a diagnostics clinic, and a dialysis clinic.
“I really love going to [skin] clinics,” she said, and also has her own skincare equipment at home. She said, “Ang pangit naman kasi na makikipagusap ka sa tao tapos you look stressed (It doesn’t look nice when you talk to people and you look stressed).”
She opened a skincare clinic because she says that everybody’s into wellness these days, and perhaps as a way to tap into a desire to immediately fix what can be seen: never mind your internal organs, you need smaller pores.
This is not just conjecture: she talked about a client who was buying a dialysis machine from one of her companies who told her, “Ang mga pasyente sa dialysis, namamahalan magbayad ng P3,000, pero sa facials nila, okay lang (Dialysis patients balk at paying P3,000, but they’re fine paying that for a facial).”
Ms. Gatus added, “Whatever your status, it’s important for us to maintain good skin and good health.” — Joseph L. Garcia

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