Corporate hospitals foraying into medical aesthetics

BANGALORE: Searching for that perfectly chiselled nose or trying to grow an enviable head of hair or display a perfect 32 carat smile can now be had under a single umbrella with corporate hospitals foraying into medical aesthetics to attract a growing consumer base.

"There is a huge market opportunity", said Dr Nitish Shetty, Head of Narayana Hrudayalaya Retail Healthcare Division, which recently launched a state-of-the-art medical aesthetic centre called REVIVA (The Appearance Clinic).

Medical aesthetics are being offered by corporate hospitals keen on tapping the growing number of people with disposable incomes and high aspirations and those looking for near perfect bodies, but are very demanding when it comes to quality and safety of procedures.

"It is quality that these consumers demand", he said. "It is very big market, only 20 per cent has been explored. It is still growing", said Dr Vinod Vij - Cosmetic and Reconstructive surgeon, Fortis Hiranandani Hospital.

While spas or beauty clinics address only the beauty aspect of a problem, medical aesthetics help clients cater to the medical side as well as about cosmetology, Dr Shetty said.

A client approaching a cosmetologist for drooping eyelids would perhaps just get expertise of the cosmetologist, but under medical aesthetics, would also be offered services of an ophthalmologist to check for eye problems.

Similarly one coming in for excessive hair growth would receive expert advise of an endocrinololgist to root out any medical problem as also a cosmetologist. "It is a comprehensive and a multi-speciality approach", he said.