In the News...

Beth Hamilton, above, president and CEO of The Spa at Colfax, demonstrates a hair removal technique on Front Desk Service Coordinator Nicolette Deal, using the Palomar Pulsed Light Systems machine in the company's new Colfax Laser Center. The center, which offers cosmetic procedures such as microdermabrasion and Botox injections, is located above the Spa in downtown South Bend.

Anti-aging center opens at Spa at Colfax

Beth Hamilton has recently opened the Colfax Laser Center above her Spa at Colfax in an historic downtown South Bend building, offering popular treatments that many have driven to Chicago or Indianapolis to receive.

"We call it the anti-aging center, the stage before the knife," says Hamilton, a master esthetician and make-up artist. "It's huge. The baby boomers are wanting something to grab on to another piece of their youth, to lift their spirits, look younger and feel younger."

The center offers the treatments in a soothing, elegant setting similar to the spa downstairs - soft colors, chandeliers, paintings, upholstered furniture. Even the treatment room with its shiny, high-tech equipment has pale green walls, floor-to-ceiling draperies and artwork.

"People want to come to a place they feel very comfortable with," says Hamilton, who plans a roof garden for the view out the window. "The facility is absolutely gorgeous. It still has the feel of the historic landmark, the building, and what we have downstairs."

Dermatologist Cynthia Mayfield and plastic surgeon Tim Gillum, the medical director of the team, schedule appointments for consultations and some treatments at the center.

"Permanent hair removal is the most popular laser treatment," Hamilton says. A pulsed light, a class of laser, is used to remove unwanted hair from small areas such as the upper lip to large areas such as the entire back.

"We're taking men and women," she says. "A lot of men are coming in and getting their backs done." Weight-lifters and swimmers, amoung others, prefer hairless results.

Other treatments include pulsed light photofacials that clear sun damage, sunspots, rosacea and spider veins; DiamondTome, for skin resurfacing, that removes and vacuums away dead or damaged skin, age spots and acne scarring; and Oxy-Mist that restores oxygen to skin that, as it ages, loses the ability to hold oxygen.

"The noninvasive services offer the instant results that baby boomers want," Hamilton says.

"We did focus groups," she says, adding that she was preparing the project for about 18 months before it opened last month. "We've done a lot to get the feel of 'If we had this, what would you say about it?'"

"They're procedures a lot of people, the baby boomers, are going to want to have before the knife."

For more information, call 574-288-5223.

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