Avenue Magazine

Face Time at Sante Spa

• A Registred Nurse at Sante Spa performs a chemical peel.

Sante Spa has long been one of the top spa destinations in the city and in fact was Canada's first registered medical spa. But, not content to rest on its laurels, Sante has undergone a makeover itself — one very much in line with its own ethos of facial care. In other words it has spruced itself up, tidied itself up, gone with a bit of newer technology but not left its roots behind.

The new Sante offers the same calming space and dedication to quality as ever but now it has upgraded many of its treatments. The spa has added a photo skin consultation, which allows for diagnosis of problems invisible to the naked eye including below-the-surface sun damage, fine lines and the presence of bacteria.

This kind of consultation is especially reassuring if you plan on undergoing a series of treatments as it allows you to really get an objective view of the change in your skin's health and appearance.

In addition to laser and injectible (Botox, Restylane and Juvederme) treatments, which Sante offered before, the spa has added to their lineup of non-invasive procedures with IPL and the Accent radio frequency treatment.

IPL is used primarily for targeting and removing red and brown discolourations in the skin from age spots to blood vessels and more. It's often used to help remove the signs of sun damage. Sante's new machines allow for the use of either IPL or laser in one machine, depending on the strobe used.

Fractional non-ablative laser treatments, which provide skin resurfacing procedures were also added in this renovation.

But perhaps the newest treatment on the block is with radio frequency. These treatments actually tighten the skin and can also reduce fat pockets by shrinking fat cells. While Dr. Wendy Smeltzer, Sante's medical director, emphasizes that this is not a weight loss solution - if not paired with a weight loss program of diet and exercise those fat pockets will just fatten right back up - it can be helpful for body contouring or to kick-start your resolve to eat better.

In addition to new treatments, Sante added four new manicure and pedicure stations in its recent upgrade. The pedicure chairs include pipeless foot baths (meaning you don't risk soaking your feet in someone else's foot water) and accoustic resonance massage.

And to show that it's not all about razzle-dazzle with this update, Sante also announced earlier this year that it had become one of only 16 spas in the country (along with its sister spas The Spa Ritual and Sante Spa Victoria) to achieve the Canadian Quality Assurance Approval designation from Leading Spas of Canada.

Sante Spa is located on the 2nd floor of 508 24th Avenue S.W. Calgary. www.santespa.com