EW “Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong.
It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.” —G.D. Anderson
Empowered Woman
Dr. Pina Panchal, MD
& Dr. Linette Rivera, MD
Bella Mia Medical Aesthetics and Laser Institute
By Jen Wead
Our January Empowered
Woman column features two medical
doctors, aestheticians, and entrepreneurs
that are changing the way
their clients view aging. Dr. Pina
Panchal, MD and Dr. Linette Rivera,
MD joined forces to open the type
of business that they wanted to frequent
themselves. Their partnership,
and Bella Mia Medical Aesthetics
and Laser Institute began three
years ago in South Tampa, when
as medical doctors who worked
together, they knew they shared a
common goal: to open their own
practice. Together, they began their
Dr. Linette Rivera, MD
research and ended up attending a conference on aesthetics, falling
in love with the field.
Joining forces meant that both women could continue to practice
medicine while they built and grew
their medical aesthetics practice,
which also covers women’s health,
weight loss and hormones. The result
is a beautiful marriage of experience
and care that is uncommon for
this industry. Dr. Panchal is a Primary
Care Physician and Dr. Rivera is
an Endocrinologist, and while both
maintain those practices, Bella Mia
is never without one of them on duty.
They also employ a full time Medical
Aesthetician and the three women offer
what they call a “concierge style
practice.”
“It’s the one-on-one interaction
we have with all of our patients,”
elaborates Dr. Panchal. “For instance,
if a patient is doing a weight
Dr. Pina Panchal, MD
loss program, they are never just doing it on their own. They have
access to us 24/7. They have access to a number that reaches both
of us after hours, during the day, on the weekends... so they never feel
alone in the process.”
The doctors designed a practice that would be something that they
would want as patients themselves, and it was of high importance to be
fully available to the men and women that they treat.
“A lot of times aesthetics is scary,” said Dr. Panchal. “It could be
something simple like a lip filler that patients do, and if you’re doing it
for the first time, it can be scary. Even though you tell them in the office
that they’re going to wake up with swelling, it’s going to look bruised,
it’s going to look bad the next day, they forget it all because it’s new
to them and they are nervous and excited. So, the next morning they
wake up like, ‘oh my god,’ they have these big lips, you know,” she
chuckles.
“Other facilities you are kind of on your own, or you try and call
the front desk and they say they’ll give the message to the doctor or
whomever, the injector. There’s no follow through. With us they can
text us that night, send us a picture on a secured system and we can
calm them down.”
She went on to describe how grateful a recent patient was over
the Thanksgiving holiday when the doctors were available to answer
her questions and calm her fears after a face peel. That same patient
looks great now and sent Dr. Panchal a thank you outlining in great
detail what it meant to her to have them available to answer her post
procedure questions. The fact that Dr. Panchal was an actual MD went
a long way to helping her feel confident that she was receiving the best
care possible.
Had that patient been to a traditional facility, it would have been
closed over the holidays and she would have dealt with her fears alone.
Surprisingly, it is uncommon to have a resident medical doctor at an
aesthetics facility, which intentionally sets their practice apart. Dr. Rivera
explained, “Most of the time, other facilities have just a Medical
Director, but they are never there. Here, we are always going to have a
physician in-house where we are monitoring the lasers, and answering
patients’ questions. We research a machine and the medical aspect
of it before buying any new machine. We read studies. It’s not only a
before and after reference, we have to make sure the machine works,
we try it on ourselves, making sure it’s safe for the patients.”
Cosmetic procedures, both surgical and aesthetic, are becoming
more and more popular. Social and traditional media, as well as
franchises like The Real Housewives, are showing the world that there
are procedures to slow or prevent aging and everyone wants to know
more. Millennials, in particular, are taking preventative measures to
slow the process and are benefitting from the education and knowledge
that is available to them now, not to mention, most procedures
are relatively affordable.
When asked whether they tend to see more of a millennial set,
or older patients, Dr. Panchal said, “We really deal with two sets of
clients. Our clientele spans both age groups. There are different things
that you are dealing with for each. One is more of the ‘preventative,’
Continued on next page
6 • JANUARY 2020 813.682.9364 FLORIDA WOMEN MAGAZINE