Health and Beauty in San Diego

Lynda called me one day and asked if I'd like to go to a free brunch at Hyatt Aviara. Actually, she asked if I had received an invitation from a health company to go to the brunch, and when I told her I hadn't been invited, she asked me to join her. "What is it for?" I asked her, and she didn't really know. "We'll go anyway," I said to myself, and so we did. The brunch was hosted by Health and Beauty Medical Network, which even after listening to the presentation, I'm not sure what they do. This really was a free brunch with no strings attached. There were only eight attendees, and six of them were employees of Health and Beauty Medical Network or in some other way related to the business. Lynda and I were the only real customers. We had a wonderful brunch, met the principals in the company, had our pictures taken, then listened to a short presentation. What I think this company does is visit cities, like San Diego, visit as many plastic surgeons and day spa centers as possible, and sign up doctors to be part of their network. Then people come to Health and Beauty Medical Network for an evaluation of what kind of skin treatment they need or want, and are referred to one of the many doctors in their network. My guess is that Health and Beauty gets paid by the doctors for the referral. It wasn't anything I'd be interested in, but Chris, one of the owners of the company, did talk about a new medical treatment for body contouring, fat loss and skin tightening that sounded interesting. It's called Exilis, and it's a gel that is spread on the part of the body you want to contour, no pain at all. It melts the fat by thermal energy from ultrasonic waves. The fat is heated, then the body rids itself of this fat through the lymphatic system. (It simulates a tummy tuck). 4-6 treatments every two weeks are recommended, and the cost is $2,00-$3,000 per body part. Health and Beauty Medical Network is a liason between patient and doctor, and for some patients that have difficulty deciding on the right doctor, and the right treatment, this might be very helpful. My concern is that since I think they must be paid by the doctors for referrals, they are not objective. Anyway, it was an interesting morning, a delicious brunch, and Lynda and I had a great time. Lynda and I were just the wrong audience.