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Shop for shoes, see a movie, get a shot of Botox

DALLAS - Amy Andrade had been thinking about Botox for a while. So when she spotted a spa-like “cosmedical” clinic in the upscale Dallas mall she visits about once a month, she was immediately interested.When she learned the clinic was connected with one of Texas’ leading medical institutions, she was sold.

She had Botox injected into her 32-year-old forehead and near her eyes to smooth out infinitesimal wrinkles.

“It was great. I felt like I was getting a facial,” said the furniture showroom manager.

She was hoping to look younger and knew about Botox because several of her friends have had the injections.

Medical spas like the one at Dallas’ NorthPark Center are booming. The number in the United States has jumped from 50 in 2002, when Botox injections won federal approval, to about 2,500 this year, according to the International Medical Spa Association. Malls and other retail sites are the hot spot locations as companies and medical institutions move closer to their customers.

Such spas offer minimally invasive cosmetic procedures like injections of Botox, which relaxes facial muscles to make lines fade, and fillers like Restylane, which add volume.

Not all medical spas have ties with a major medical institution like the Klinger Advanced Aesthetics Cosmedical Center, Spa and Salon at NorthPark, which has teamed up with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Some “cosmedical” clinics don’t even require their practitioners to be plastic surgeons or dermatologists.

Those who specialize in the field say involvement by a plastic surgeon or dermatologist ensures consumer safety.

Dr. Rod Rohrich, professor and chairman of the department of plastic surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, is one of two plastic surgeons who help oversee cosmetics procedures at the NorthPark operation.

“When you peel back 'Botox in the mall,’ you have a top-notch medical facility in a mall setting,” he said. “What you’re doing is you’re getting the best of the best in a place where people shop and you’re doing it safely.”

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