A trio of Bronx health-care professionals pondering ways to beautify storefronts along City Island Avenue instead thought, “Let’s make the people of the Bronx more beautiful!”
The three women who shared that thought are Mary Jo Byrne, Patrice Cashen and Joanne Rooney, co-owners of Complexions of City Island Laser Skin Spa, 403 City Island Avenue, which opened Saturday, September 9.
“The concept was to provide this type of service to City Island and surrounding communities,” Byrne said. “There’s no other business in the area like it.”
Complexion’s two aestheticians, Emerald Hansen and Kristen Ramos, licensed by the NYS Department of Education, are “highly qualified and certified aestheticians who provide clients with a specialized treatment plan for concerns of hair removal, acne, age spots, rosacea, fungal nails and facial veins,” Byrne said.
And all five women are trained and certified to use the medical grade devices — Formatk laser and Viora — in the spa. The equipment used is FDA-approved and state-of-the art, according to Byrne.
“This is not a medical spa, so we are under the beauty enhancement license, but we’re offering medical-grade quality treatments,” Byrne said.
“While Byrne, a physician assistant, cannot independently practice medicine without a physician, Rooney as a nurse practitioner can practice independently. And Cashen is a registered nurse.
Byrne said that clients may come in for just one treatment, but the most effective results are derived from three to five treatments.
For example, regarding hair treatment, Byrne noted that hair grows in three cycles over a one-month period. So this requires one treatment a month for three months in order to see an effective reduction in hair growth in the underarms, bikini area, lips, chin, back, or legs.
Men may have ear hair removed, but no one may have hairs removed from within their nostrils, Byrne stressed, because hair cannot be removed from areas with mucous membranes.
As far as microdermabrasion, clients experience an exfoliation treatment of the face and body utilizing Pristine, a medical grade device, according to Byrne.
It can reduce fine lines and result in a polished skin tone after even one treatment.
Body contouring and skin tightening is achieved by Reaction, which utilizes radio frequency waves that warm the deep tissue, along with vacuum suction that enhances the face, necklines, arms, abdomen, buttocks and saddle bags, according to Byrne.
“While you’re lying there on the table, you’ll feel a warm, massaging sensation,” Byrne said. “Then, when you actually stand up after one treatment, you’re going to see a reduction in the circumference and you’re going to feel tighter almost as if you went to the gym and did situps. We’ll measure you before and after.”
Byrne said they also weigh clients, not wanting them to think they can be treated and then can go out and eat excessive calories. They are also moving patients toward healthier diets to go along with their treatments.
The message that Complexions wants to get out to the community is that it wants to offer this level of treatment to City Island as well as Throggs Neck, Country Club and Co-op City.
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