Dr. Avneet Parmar and Dr. Amit Upadhyay partnered to open Skintology Health and Wellness Centre in Newmarket in In 2019 — a passion project for both of them as they continue to also operate as family physicians.
“We recognized that we have unique approaches and we wanted to unite and service a population outside of Toronto,” said Parmar. “A lot of what we do isn’t accessible outside of downtown Toronto.”
Esthetic medicine is Parmar’s area of expertise, while Upadhyay focuses on hormonal health, and they both do regenerative medicine, as well.
Combining their skill sets allowed them to open a facility that focuses on those areas, said Parmar. Their specific belief is that when we feel happy, healthy and positive about our appearance, we communicate a positive energy to the people in our lives.
As a former OB-GYN in India before moving to North America to work in family and emergency medicine, Upadhyay has always retained his interest in women’s health.
“His entire career has been focused that way and this is an opportunity for him to do it in his own way on his own terms,” said Parmar. “For me, skin health is an area of passion because I don’t have great skin, I suffer from acne.”
Parmar says she took the opportunity to educate herself further than the average family doctor for her own benefit.
“I realized I could help a lot of people who are like me,” she said. “That’s where my motivation grew to become more educated on skin health.”
The anti-aging and esthetic medicine piece of the business came from a growing frustration with seeing the industry moving away from health care and toward beauty, Parmar said.
“That didn’t sit well with me at all,” she said. “With each passing year through my career, I’ve seen it become more prevalent. I got to the point where I realized I want to open my own place and focus on patient education.”
Skintology offers treatments in the areas of esthetic medicine, regenerative medicine and hormonal health and has a team of allied health care professionals offering other health-related services. But to Parmar and Upadhyay, education is the most important aspect.
“I want it to be a place where people are coming for health-care procedures done by health-care professionals while being comprehensively educated,” she said. “Sadly, the majority of clinics out there put the focus on it being a beauty treatment. That’s not at all what it is.”
Parmar said that having patients understand that the motivation behind Skintology is to provide education is the key to their success.
“What they do with the information is entirely up to them, it’s no different than how we behave in our family doctor’s office,” she said. “It’s the same thing here as at the doctor's office. The patient is in the driver’s seat.”
Last week, the clinic held its grand re-opening after moving to a larger space and Parmar says it’s been so rewarding to operate Skintology in the Newmarket community.
“Truthfully, this has been amazing,” she said. “We both have family practices, our jobs that pay the bills, but this is our baby, it’s our passion. To see it working in the way we wanted is amazing and people recognize we genuinely care.”
Skintology Health and Wellness Centre is located at 535 Mulock Dr.
