Parkbench Interview with Dr. DePasquale

Meet Dr. Kalpana S. DePasquale, DO at Avanti Medical Spa

Are you looking to combat the aging process of Mother Nature? If so, then you are at the right place. Avanti Medical Spa can help you reverse the hands of time and enhance your natural beauty. To revitalize your appearance, we offer the following cosmetic procedures:
Botox
Fraxel
Facials & Peels
Dermal Fillers
Visia Skin Analysis
Facial Waxing
To learn more about our spa services, contact us at 904.461.6797, or better yet come see us:
In St. Augustine, Monday thru Friday between 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM (NOTE: Office is closed for lunch from 12 PM – 1:15 PM). Avanti Medical Spa St. Augustine is located on Anastasia Island, 1.5 miles east of Flagler Hospital at 1301 Plantation Island Dr, Suite 401A, St. Augustine, FL.

What do you love most about the neighborhood?

There are so many different people constantly moving into this area so I feel like we’re in a small, big town. I meet people from Europe, people who are on vacation who come to me with a specific problem sometimes, or people who’ve recently moved from the North or West Coast. I just love the melting pot of all kinds of people from diverse backgrounds–I think that’s my favorite thing!

Why Do Celebrities Look So Strange?

Celebrities set the standard of beauty in magazines, television, and on the runway. The general public expects celebrities to set this standard.
But what happens when we see celebrities look like caricatures of themselves with excessively plumped cheeks and lips. Celebrities can afford the best, but is this what all that money buys you?
My suspicion is that this overdone, unnatural look is created by the mindset of the client and the physician performing the procedure.
The client wants perfection and doesn’t understand that our imperfections are what make our faces unique and interesting. The physician does not want to disappoint the client and does exactly what the client asks for, instead of suggesting that injecting too much filler will actually make them appear less attractive. Unfortunately, this confuses the general public into thinking that all cosmetic procedures look unnatural.

In my medical spa, I take a different approach with my clients. First and foremost, my patients choose me to perform their procedures because they want to look refreshed and rejuvenated.  They do not want to look as if they had a procedure done.
When filler is injected properly, keeping the client’s unique facial balance in mind, no one can tell  a procedure was performed.  Friends and family will assume that you look younger because you went on vacation, or that you did something different with your hair or makeup. You look younger and more vibrant, but they just can’t pinpoint why.
On the contrary, when filler is overdone, it changes your face by changing the unique facial characteristics that make you special.  It looks “fake” or “overdone”.  This phenomenon can be easily avoided by speaking with the Physician, Physician Assistant, or Nurse Practitioner performing the procedure.
Make sure their ideas about your final result are congruent with yours.  Also, conduct a thorough visual survey of the person injecting you. Do they appear to practice self care? Do they look older or younger than they are? How well do they take care of their skin? Do they look natural or overdone?
These two things will likely tell you everything you need to know about how your final result will look.

Three Questions I Wish Patients Would Ask

Every time I step into a room with a patient, they will tell me what bothers them the most about their appearance. And, they immediately want to know how to fix it. Although I understand this completely, I find myself wishing they would ask me about so many other things. I like to take a thorough approach in my medical and aesthetic practices and I enjoy discussing prevention just as much as I enjoy giving people cures.
Here are the top three questions I wish my patients would ask . . .
What can I do to take better care of my skin?
Almost every patient I see in my medical spa is focused on Botox, fillers, and laser treatments. For some reason, they continue to use products on their skin that are ineffective in correcting skin tone and texture irregularities that occur with age. These patients may be worsening the appearance of their skin with harsh ingredients. Plus, their skin care methods may be the equivalent of washing delicate lingerie in Ajax. Not the best idea.
If I seek cosmetic interventions before the problem gets much worse, will I have a better outcome?
The answer to this question is a resounding YES! If you have small wrinkles, they can be erased much easier than large creases in your face. Volume loss is easier to correct before the skin starts to lose too much elasticity and before the skin folds over itself. You get the point – early intervention is key.
Does my health and nutrition impact my appearance?
In a medical spa environment, people tend to open up. They discuss their lifestyles and tell me they are too busy with life to eat right and exercise. Many of them take better care of their cars and pets than they do with their own bodies. I had one patient tell me she put the best gasoline in her high-end luxury car and bought the best gourmet cat food for her cat. However, she ate at McDonald’s at least once a day. To care for your pet or automobile than your own health is shocking to me.
What are you afraid to ask your doctor about your health? Leave your questions in the comments, and I’ll answer you openly and honestly!