Instead of having to drive down island to Campbell River, you can now get botox and dermal filler treatments locally right here in the North Island.
Dr. Molly Marin and Registered Nurse Jessica Hawley-MacLeod have started a business called North Island Medica to offer these two cosmetic services out of the Port Hardy Medical Clinic.
If you don’t know what botox and dermal fillers are, here’s a quick breakdown.
Botox uses botulinum toxin to temporarily paralyze or relax muscle activity. It is injected into your skin to help reduce and prevent dynamic wrinkles.
Dermal fillers are a form of hyaluronic acid injected below the skin at different depths to help fill in facial wrinkles, provide facial volume, and augment facial features.
Both procedures are considered non-surgical, says Marin, adding the results generally last about three to four months for botox, whereas dermal fillers last six to 18 months depending on the location of the injection, so you will need to continue to have ongoing treatment.
When asked why they were interested in offering this service locally, Hawley-MacLeod said they both independently had the same idea to start up the business as they realized there was a need for it here in the North Island.
Marin added they started researching the idea more from that point on, and then after making the decision to go ahead with it, they travelled to Vancouver for a weekend to receive intensive training via practicing on models.
“We did a basics course, and then I also stayed an extra day to learn something called ‘the vampire facial,’ which is a little more intensive,” laughed Hawley-MacLeod. “You draw blood, remove the plasma rich platelets, and then lay it on their face and do some needle work to get it into the skin.”
The vampire facial isn’t available right now in Port Hardy, but Hawley-MacLeod said they currently offer upper face botox and dermal fillers concentrating on the lip and cheek areas.
“It’s really fun to make people feel good about themselves, when they look in the mirror we want them to feel really confident and feel they’ve enhanced their own beauty,” says Marin.
“We want to enhance our clients natural beauty through a treatment plan,” confirmed Hawley-MacLeod. “We ensure we talk to all of our clients about what it is, hear their safety concerns, and tell them what the end result will be over a time period… We’re very patient centered and the first step is educating people about what we do.”
Marin added the healing from the procedures is very fast. “With botox you will usually see some bruising and swelling for about a day, and with dermal fillers you will see some bruising and swelling for about 2-5 days.”
They have done around 20+ procedures so far after only being open for five weeks, with client ages ranging from their 20s all the way to their 80s.
As for any personal experience with the procedures, Hawley-MacLeod said she has tried botox before, and she was really thrilled by the results.
She added she felt it was important to know what it felt like before servicing and injecting other people.
“What I tell clients that haven’t had botox before, the best way to describe how it feels is like a burnt forehead from the sun, that’s what it feels like.”
“Our true goal is just to help people feel good about themselves,” added Marin.
North Island Medica is currently offering medical aesthetics that include botox and dermal fillers. Marin and Hawley-MacLeod are hoping to expand with more services eventually, as they are planning to do more training for medical botox, which can be used for issues such as migraines and excessive sweating.
Call North Island Medica at 613-229-7524 or email them at bookings@northislandmedica.ca for more information.
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