The sophisticated atmosphere of Europe is exactly what Euro Med Spa’s husband-and-wife owners Shahid Iqbal, MD, and Lena Iqbal wanted when they opened the facility a little more than a year ago. Providing medical aesthetic services, such as dermal fillers and laser rejuvenation, as well as facials, massage therapy and peels, the spa’s goal is to merge a refined environment with treatments that help clients become the best versions of themselves. “Good self-esteem is necessary to be healthy,” says Dr. Iqbal, who practiced family medicine for 18 years before opening the facility.
At Euro Med Spa, health and skin care join with a European panache. One of the spa’s most enjoyable aspects is its city-themed treatment rooms, which offer tastes of their chic namesake getaways, and each room features city-related related décor. “It was the doctor’s idea to name the rooms after European cities,” says Lena. “We wanted Kiev because it is my native city, and is now our facial room. We have things there we got in Ukrainian villages and a statuette that was in my great-grandmother’s house.
“Athens is our massage room, and it has a lot of natural elements that include stones and the sea,” she continues. “Rome is the medical service room. It is the biggest room, which is good because it’s always busy, and the Paris treatment room is very flowery and romantic with Eiffel Tower images. We like to have décor from the exact countries the rooms are named after, and in fact, our massage therapist is in Italy right now, and we hope she’s bringing something back for the Rome room.”
Deciding which services to offer in these rooms was one of the biggest hurdles the Iqbals faced before launching the spa. Initially in conflict about whether or not to provide more traditional spa offerings, such as facials and massage, at the facility, they finally came to an agreement that these services can also be healing and rejuvenating to people. “We put in a lot of emotional investment when coming up with the menu,” says Dr. Iqbal. “Now we’re glad we went through with offering our wide range of services.”
Finding the right people to help them provide these menu items was incredibly important, as well. According to Lena, “At first, we had some people that didn’t work out, and it was a great learning experience for us. After those first employees, we slowed down and made a list of what we would like in a team member: someone with sensibility, honesty and passion.” Employees such the enthusiastic receptionist Christine Gallo, who helped organize the spa and worked to get it promoted in local TV ads, have made the hunt worthwhile.
However, just because they’ve cultivated a great team doesn’t mean the Iqbals are hands-off when it comes to offering services. Lena is a licensed esthetician who provides facials and skin care services for clients, and Dr. Iqbal is involved with every medical aesthetic treatment, whether it is simply a consultation or a full-body makeover. “I take pride in performing all the medical services myself,” he says. “It’s a source of great comfort for both the clients and for me.”
Always striving to provide clients with just the right services to meet their needs, the Iqbals hope that one of the main ideas clients take away from a visit at Euro Med Spa is that it was time well spent and, to that end, they are always looking to go the extra mile. “We’ve tried to make each treatment unique, adding in something clients won’t expect,” Lena says. “What makes us really unique is that our clients are always surprised in a good way, and we want to give them a little more for their money to make sure they feel appreciated.”