Forbes: Surgeon expanding to spas/salons

Forbes Small Business

Body Shop
Can a California plastic surgeon find success in the spa business?
By Brian O’Reilly

Brian Eichenberg is a plastic surgeon with a plan. From his practice in Temecula, Calif., the doctor sees exploding national demand for all manner of cosmetic procedures, from Botox treatments to laser hair removal. An entrepreneur could get seriously rich, he reckons, by tapping that market on a mass scale.

Eichenberg is already one of the most popular plastic surgeons between San Diego and San Bernardino. He has a four-month appointment backlog, and annual revenues for his one-doctor practice are already in the low seven figures. “It’s more money than I ever imagined I’d be making,” he says.

Problem: Nurses use varying techniques for laser hair removal (done here at a spa in Temecula) and other procedures.

Solution: For safety and the brand’s sake, train nurses to use standard best practices for all cosmetic work.

Problem: The real money is in breast implants and other plastic surgery, not Botox.

Solution: Use the spa clinics to market and grow the surgical practice.

But Eichenberg wants to be more than just a scalpel for hire. You don’t need a doctor to inject Botox or run a laser machine. So the burly, energetic surgeon wants to place his own nurses and technicians in day spas nationwide. He sees cosmetic surgery as a natural extension of the spa experience: Clients who come in for a day’s pampering can shed unwanted wrinkles and follicles in between the mud bath and the shiatsu massage. And he reckons that any client who wants more elaborate work, such as breast augmentation or a facelift, will naturally call him.