Beauty is more than skin-deep
By Paul Erland
"A joyful heart makes a fair face," the saying goes and that could be the motto of an aesthetic and wellness center now embarking on its second decade of helping people celebrate the beauty within them so that the beauty outside can shine.
Dermess Renewal is a 5,000-square-foot aesthetics, wellness and laser center that began as a one-room office in 1997 and has bloomed along with the health and well-being of its countless patients. Terri Hightower, a registered nurse, began the business in the back of her husband's medical practice, and she has grown it through faith in the power of natural healing and people's capacity to renew themselves.
"We have planted the seeds of a ministry here," she says. "Many people come wanting to look better, and discover that it goes much deeper than that." There are so many anti-aging (Dermess prefers the term, optimal aging) products and treatments on the market today. "A few of these are effective, but the vast majority of all this new stuff is not effective, it is a full time job to extract the bogus from the valuable," says Terri.
Dermess, the first medi-spa in Middle Tennessee, has a full staff of physicians, RN's, medical aestheticians and other professionally trained and certified personal, united in a mission to make maximum use of the advanced technology in injectable agents along with the use of lasers to achieve a softer, more refreshed look. The use of natural healers -- sunlight, fresh air, pure water, exercise, proper elimination, rest, faith and hope -- are even more effective than Botox and filler agents to achieve a more restored look.
"We are fortunate to have several tools that enhance our appearance. We use a lot of Botox and fillers (Restylane, Juvederm, Radiesse, Artefill) in our practice. (Dermess is a platinum provider of Botox - only 6% of the nation has attained this level of experience.) In our initial care plan, we look at the whole person instead of just one superficial aspect," says Terri.
"The use of Botox and Restylane and other appearance-related treatments goes hand-in-hand with natural healing," Hightower says. All new lasers are put through two stages of testing groups with post treatment surveying being the last word on if the equipment is added to their menu of services. "I do not want to represent a treatment that just flat out doesn't work. The treatments we have must really work and have a proportional value. The cost and the down-time must equal the result or we will not represent it.
Most times non-surgical intervention is all that is needed to give a more relaxed and refreshed look. On occasion surgical consultation which includes referral to a surgeon -- or more than one -- with a track record of success in that procedure will be given.
This is such a confusing time for people, there are so many places and products offering everything but the kitchen sink. We just want to be real," says Terri.
An RN or medical aesthetician will hand the visitor a mirror and ask her what she sees that she would like to improve. (The majority of clients are women.) "Some clients tell us they have only a certain amount to spend and ask us what they can do for that," Hightower says. "We honor that, whatever the amount."
As the client's immediate needs are addressed, a trust builds, and invariably a relationship develops between patient and staff, Hightower says - which is where the ministry comes in.
Dermess holds two annual juice fasting events, which are always full to capacity. "You can't have beautiful skin and be truly beautiful unless you're fueling your body properly," Hightower says.
"And fueling your spirit also," she adds. As she puts it: "The world is such a crazy and uncertain place that if you don't have hope for something more than this life, there is no way you can be beautiful much less peaceful."
Hightower has spent her life in Nashville, attending nursing school here and working for the drug company Pfizer and as regional director of sales for Southern Health Resources before opening her own business after her children began school. Her husband of 24 years, Dr. Daniel Hightower, is double Board-certified from Vanderbilt (in head and neck surgery and facial plastic surgery); he is the chief physician on staff at Dermess. She says her greatest joy by far has been her kids - daughter Catherine, a senior at Brentwood Academy, and son Daniel, a sophomore at Alabama.
"I will praise Him, who is the health of my countenance," the Psalmist says, and that is the way Terri Hightower has chosen. Monthly prayer sessions are held at her office, during which many of the Dermess clients come for prayers of healing - physical and spiritual - and if some may question mixing medicine with prayer, they might do well to ponder the old adage: Man proposes, God disposes.
"I'm confident God requires me to be bold," she says. "He's blessed me with a busy practice, a sphere of influence and lots of real and wonderful relationships. I'm honored to have been given this opportunity."
Dermess Renewal is at 218 20th Ave. North. in Nashville. Call 615-329-3900. Visit their website at dermessrenewal.com.