SOLANA MEDSPAS CELEBRATES TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Linda Arroz 818-752-9168
Kyrian Corona 818-753-9444


SOLANA MEDSPAS CELEBRATES
TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY

(IRVINE, Calif.) — Solana MedSpas, an Irvine,
Calif.-based business consulting firm, is pleased to announce its two year
anniversary. Founded in July 2003, Solana
is the nation’s leading medical spa consulting company with a growing
network of uniquely branded facilities all over North America. Targeting
entrepreneurs and physicians who want to develop and operate their own
medical spa facility, Solana provides consulting services including business
plan development, retail site location and design, regulatory compliance,
staffing and training of key personnel, and custom marketing to drive
revenue.
According to Solana CEO John Buckingham, “We created a new market
segment by combining aesthetic healthcare with the spa movement, coming from
the medical rather than the spa side. The medical spa or medspa movement
represents the fastest growing and most lucrative healthcare trend in the
United States today.” Medspas are defined as comfortable, spa-like
facilities that provide consumers with fast and convenient access to top
quality, non-invasive aesthetic medical procedures under the strict
supervision of a board certified plastic surgeon and other licensed
healthcare professionals.
“We believe that Solana’s flexibility is a key selling point against
franchised organizations,” Buckingham notes. “Our client / owners benefit
from Solana’s network strength, commitment to territory protection, and
focus on the success of individual owners as a rallying
point, versus franchise organizations who are more concerned with the
aggregate growth of the entire network,” he continues.
“Every day 12,000 Americans turn 50, amounting to one every eight
seconds,” Buckingham says. “This trend will continue for the next 20 years
with studies showing that the number of Americans over 55 will grow by 60
percent in the next 20 years and their buying power will exceed $2 trillion
by 2007. As this market explodes, we believe that Solana will grow as
well.”
Indeed, key industry sources point to healthy growth in the medspa
sector. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 2004 has seen a
450 percent increase in demand for non-invasive aesthetic medical procedures
over the past 4 years. The International Spa Association 2004 reports that
15 percent of the over 7,000 day spas in the United States now offer
aesthetic medical procedures and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic
Surgery 2004 states that Botox still tops non-invasive procedures with over
2.8 million procedures performed in 2004. The desire for a “stress-free”
environment, as well as access to more non-invasive
alternatives and technology such as laser and other high tech anti-aging
solutions predicts steady
triple figure annual growth for medspas over the next 20 years. Solana
currently has 45 client / owners, of which 11 are open, 13 will open before
Sept. 1 and 30 will be open by Dec. 31, 2005.
Solana prides itself on having a strong corporate management team,
comprised of individuals who are leaders in the healthcare field and have
extensive industry experience at every level. In addition to being CEO of
Solana MedSpas, Buckingham is also a founding board member of the
International Medical Spa Association and serves as their vice president of
corporate affairs. Buckingham is also the co-creator with the University of
California, Irvine of their new Spa and Hospitality Certificate Program.
Prior to joining Solana MedSpas, Buckingham was chancellor and president
of the Brooks College System, headquartered in Long Beach, Calif. Under
Buckingham’s leadership, revenue grew 40 percent and net income tripled, due
in part to the school’s healthcare curriculum expansion. Buckingham holds a
Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy with distinction from Purdue University and
a Master's in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

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