Dr. Ben Moosavi and Dr. Amy Vaughan have joined forces to bring the first aesthetic and vitality center to the region.
By Carter Seaton
HQ 119 | AUTUMN 2022
You no longer need to travel to New York or Los Angeles, because big city aesthetic services have finally come to Huntington. The RETREAT Aesthetic and Vitality Center offers a plethora of aesthetic, day spa and wellness services aimed at maintaining a person’s vitality throughout his or her life. Owners Dr. Ben Moosavi, a plastic surgeon, and Dr. Amy Vaughan, a dermatologist, decided to join forces as they each saw the demand for aesthetic medicine rise in their local practices.
“The demand for cosmetic aesthetics in our area has increased tremendously within the last seven years and this project has really been five years in the making, but COVID-19 didn’t help the building process with supply and demand issues,” said Dr. Moosavi. “Nonetheless, we are thankfully finally here.”
The RETREAT, a beautiful, modern medical spa, located at 5340 Rt. 60 East near Barboursville, opened its doors to the public in September. When you walk in, the open space immediately lifts your mood with a breath of fresh air.
“We wanted to offer the Tri-State residents an experience within the building and thoughtful nuances that would resonate as a mini escape from the daily grind,” said Dr. Vaughan. “Our mission is to make people feel good, and we believe that a great guest experience is foundational to that.”
The Retreat offers over 20 different services for men and women alike. From skin rejuvenation with lasers to facial injectables, body contouring treatments and relaxing day spa facials, there is something for everyone. The RETREAT staff guarantees quality and experience from their nurse practitioner, nurse injectors and licensed aestheticians, many of whom have numerous certifications in their niche as a provider with a focus on customizing individual treatments to maximize each patient’s results and well-being.
“Aesthetic services range from a full spectrum of Botox treatments to help soften fine lines and wrinkles to fillers, which restore lost volume and help contour areas of the face to help enhance an individual’s natural beauty,” Dr. Vaughan said.
She explained that there is also a full array of laser treatments — from the superficial light maintenance to the more aggressive, deeper skin tightening. And, of course, there’s a full line of day spa services, including advanced medical-grade facials.
“Our clients love the advanced medical facials, the Hydrafacial and especially the microneedling with platelet-rich plasma. It allows the skin to heal and produce more collagen more quickly,” said Dr. Vaughan.
Body treatments include CoolSculpting and CoolTone. CoolSculpting eliminates stubborn body fat, like “love handles,” using the only FDA-cleared treatment to freeze unwanted bulges with no downtime. CoolTone targets muscles to tone, tighten and strengthen the abdominals, glutes and thighs.
According to Dr. Moosavi, one of the benefits of the center is that it combines services that a client used to receive in different facilities.
“For instance, if someone is not happy with their abdomen, now we can use our services to treat the muscle layer, use CoolSculpting to treat the fat layer and then use other laser-type interventions or microneedling to treat the skin,” he explained. “Now you’re getting a much more comprehensive treatment with better results than you would using one treatment at a time.”
The RETREAT is not called a spa because it’s so much more than that, he said. It’s an aesthetic and vitality center designed to treat your mind, body and spirit. Both doctors stress that the services are for everyone — from the teen with acne to the grandmother who wants to touch up her skin.
“The facility supports, by the way it is designed, each of those separate service lines to let clients make the most of their time,” Dr. Moosavi said. “The building actually makes the business work in a certain flow that should make the experience as enjoyable as possible.”
To encourage tailored skincare regimens to maximize a client’s results, The RETREAT offers monthly memberships. The membership savings program offers discounts on popular rejuvenation treatments such as injectables, advanced medical facials, skincare products and more. Members also get exclusive access to events and offers throughout the year. In addition, The RETREAT hopes to partner with local businesses to create a unique experience for their clients that helps heal the mind, body and soul.
The center is not just the passion of its owners, but of their spouses as well.
“It’s a passion of the most significant people in our lives. My wife Ginger is a certified registered nurse anesthetist, so she’s with me in surgery. We do everything together,” said Dr. Moosavi. “So, she’s intimately involved in the facility and what we do here.”
Dr. Vaughan’s husband Chris Keaton is an attorney and has used his expertise to get the venture up and running.
“Chris has been an integral part of this whole project, from taking our idea and making it legal on paper to creating our contracts and steering us forward with each new stage of the project,” said Dr. Vaughan. “He helped us do everything to get to this point.”
Both doctors, and their partners, agree that the journey has been worth it. Being able to bring something that is well outside the norm to our region is something the entire community can be excited about.
