A treatment room inside Nourish Med Spa as seen on July 24, 2024, in Cedar Rapids. CREDIT PARKER JONES.
The med spa industry has taken off across the nation, including within the Corridor. As social media and the beauty industry continue to influence consumers, more and more individuals are looking for non-invasive cosmetic procedures. While a regular spa might offer services like massages, facials, and other relaxing aesthetic treatments, a med spa offers additional […]
The med spa industry has taken off across the nation, including within the Corridor. As social media and the beauty industry continue to influence consumers, more and more individuals are looking for non-invasive cosmetic procedures. While a regular spa might offer services like massages, facials, and other relaxing aesthetic treatments, a med spa offers additional options like injections, laser hair removal, and non-invasive weight loss treatments. Iowa Administrative Code rule 653–13.8 defines the law around med spas, stating that they must be operated by someone with a medical license to provide regulated “medical aesthetic services.” Licensed health care practitioners include physicians, surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, or registered nurses.Currently, there are about 20 practicing med spas in the Corridor alone. Although several of these locations have been open for over a decade, many have opened within the past four years.
The rise of the med spa industry
According to a 2021 Forbes article, a catalyst for the med spa boom came in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. As stated in the article, the emotional impact of the pandemic “brought a lot of new customers into the fold as people tried to invest in themselves through relaxation, beauty treatments and lifestyle advice.”The global med spa industry was valued at $18.6 billion in 2023, and is expected to grow by a rate of 15.13% annually from 2024 to 2030, according to Grand View Research.Glow Hydration Station Aesthetics, owned by advanced registered nurse practitioner (ARNP) Tyeisha Washington, opened in April 2023. Since moving her location from Coralville to Iowa City this May, she said she experienced a 27% increase in business. Ms. Washington said she believes med spas have increased in popularity because consumers want a new, different health experience than what they are used to. “I think it is individuals wanting something different than the traditional route,” Ms. Washington said. “Instead of having a pill prescribed to them, they're more focused on what is the root cause of some illnesses.” Instead of focusing on just one aspect of health, or just on aesthetics, Ms. Washington said she aims to improve her patients’ overall wellness.
Like most med spas, Glow offers a range of medical and aesthetic services like IV hydration, hormone therapy, botox, lip filler, and body contouring. However, Ms. Washington identified one service that has skyrocketed in popularity: medical weight loss. With the Ozempic boom and copycat brands swathing pharmaceutical shelves, obesity medication has become an inescapable recommendation for those looking to lose weight. Ms. Washington said that every week, she sees four or five new patients for weight loss consultations. Her main clientele base are repeat visitors, and usually millennial-aged women. However, she said the cause behind weight gain, and therefore its solutions, are always more complex than a single medication. “We talk about medications that they're taking, how long have they been on this journey of trying to improve their health, what things they have done,” Ms. Washington said. “What I see a trend of a bit with the medical weight loss is individuals not understanding diet and dietary needs … And so I think the lifestyle component, after the end of the consultation, individuals take away from there and realize that is something that they can change immediately to help with their overall wellness as well.”Nourish Med Spa in Cedar Rapids, owned by fellow ARNP Amy Wilson, opened in July 2022. From a business perspective, Ms. Wilson also noted location as a reason why her med spa has flourished. She said most of her clients are also repeats, though she sees both men and women of all ages, and that most patients find her through social media.
“I thought, starting out, I would have to have this big marketing budget and it's not how it is nowadays. It's all social media. That's where people look of all ages,” Ms. Wilson said. “I have an 80-year-old who found me on social media, not the news, so that's been really interesting to me to see.”Ms. Wilson also leases a space within Nourish to a massage therapist, which she said has also increased business. She echoed much of what Ms. Washington described about recent trends with the services Nourish offers, again noting an increased interest in weight loss among her patients.The exterior of Nourish Med Spa as seen on July 24, 2024, in Cedar Rapids. CREDIT PARKER JONESBased on her experience in the private practice side of health care, Ms. Wilson said she wants to increase the accessibility of inexpensive weight loss medication, but provide a medically safe environment to do so. “Like in my practice, we have set protocols, you'd have to see me to reorder, we assess side effects. We have realistic goals, we set goals, I've turned people away for things that I felt was not healthy,” Ms. Wilson said. “And so I think we're starting to see more of that, where people are actually starting to be more medically managed than just given the shots out like candy, which I think places do still. But I've seen a big shift of people leaving those practices and coming here for more of a medically managed program.” The goal, Ms. Wilson said, should never just be to get skinny — but to get healthy.
