Dr. Daniel Milkovich and Dr. Kent Banks met for the first time as young doctors fresh out of medical school, while they spent most waking hours of the week at Victoria General or Royal Jubilee Hospital in their internship year. Milkovich is a Vancouver native who earned his MD at UBC, while Banks is from Calgary and attended University of Calgary medical school.
That was two decades ago. Since then, they’ve opened Colwood Medical Treatment Centre, a walk-in clinic, and they added some cosmetic procedures starting in 2004.
They still have the clinic at Colwood Corners, but two years ago, the physicians opened MD Esthetics in a new space upstairs to focus on this growing area of practice. It covers a range of treatments, from botox and dermal filler injections to laser treatment of blemishes and varicose veins.
Colwood may not be the first place you’d think of for up-to-the-minute cosmetic procedures, but Milkovich says the location has been a positive.
“It’s been an advantage for us because we know the community so well.”
The opening of Bear Mountain golf course resort, hotel, and residential subdivision “changed the dynamic out here.” The new developments in Langford have attracted a broad range of people, he adds. Some of their clients come from Victoria.
Regardless of the reasons, people are coming — clinic business manager Andrea Ting-Letts says business in January was 56 per cent ahead of 2009. The main age group tends to be women aged 30 to 55, but men are starting to try different treatments. Younger people want acne scars treated, or hair removed. Even at 80 — the occasional octogenarian has come to MD — “there are things we can do, we can add polish,” says Milkovich.
The clinic has benefited from a wider awareness of cosmetic procedures. “As treatments become available, it gives more of a green light for people to come in,” he says.
“One of the most interesting things about our business is the way we branded it,” says Ting-Letts. MD Esthetics built an informative website and runs television commercials on CHEK, but the big attention-getter has been its “look amazing” contest.
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The woman who won the first one in 2009 blogged about the experience, which involved a series of treatments, from teeth whitening to botox injections, hair and makeup, and a photo shoot. “I am a puddle of happy tears,” she wrote after seeing the photographer’s “after” shots.
Check out some of our other 2010 10 to Watch winners:
AdrenaLINE | Vibes Fitness | Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre | AJ’s Organic Catering | Base Lounge | Victoria Executive Centre | Lúz Gallery | MD Esthetics | BONE | FOO
