A growing demand for plastic surgery across the north and north-east is to see Inverness gets its first clinic.
Leah and plastic surgeon Thanassi Athanassopoulos opened Alpha Clinic in Aberdeen in 2019.
Since then the husband and wife team have continued to see their business grow and demand for their services increase.
They are now just months away from opening in Inverness in what will become the city’s first private plastic surgery clinic.
After buying the property in Drummond Street two years ago Alpha Clinic was granted planning permission earlier this year.
After-care ‘closer to home’
It will offer non-surgical procedures such as anti-wrinkle treatments and fillers as well as provide after-care services for patients who have undergone surgery in Aberdeen such as breast augmentation or reduction.
Ms Athanassopoulos said: “The plan was always to expand but not in the same way as we have done in Aberdeen.
“One of the things we have noticed is that so many of our clients come from all over, including Inverness.
“Patients obviously have to come for a consultation for whatever procedure they are having done and depending on how far you are coming that can be a three hour drive for some people.
“Then obviously you get your procedure on the day but after that there’s the follow up care.
“Depending on what you’ve had done you might come for a follow-up two days after and then maybe a week after that.
“We have friends who live in Inverness and it was the idea it would be nice to offer the after care closer to home so that is what we are going to do.”
It’s expected to create four to five jobs which will be a mixture of both part-time and full-time.
Surgery can be ‘life-changing’
The demand for plastic surgery continues to be on the rise in Aberdeen with a number of people choosing to go under the knife.
Some of the most popular surgical procedures includes breast reductions, facelifts, tummy tucks and rhinoplasty or “nose jobs” as they are most commonly known.
Ms Athanassopoulos, mum to six-year-old Alexander and five-year-old Aidan, said: “Our most requested is breast reductions which I think surprises people as there’s always the impression it would be augmentation.
“We also do a lot of facelifts, rhinoplasty, tummy tucks.
“It’s interesting because when you think of plastic surgery I think most people think of like California and plastic but actually most of the surgery is requested for lifestyle improvement.
“Breast reduction is life-changing for people and it’s the same with tummy tucks.”
Hospital environment
Alpha Clinic, which is registered with Health Improvement Scotland, holds three clinic rooms, minor surgery procedure room, surgical theatre and a hospital wing for day case patients.
It has 25 staff members including nurses and a full-time pharmacist.
Ms Athanassopoulos said: “The model of day case is becoming much more popular.
“It’s definitely something you see in the states a lot and throughout mainland Europe.
We are more pitched at lifestyle improvement.”
Leah Athanassopoulos
“You have the procedure and go home. Patients prefer that. They don’t want to stay overnight in a hospital.
“As long as it’s obviously safe.”
The average age of patient at Alpha Clinic tends to be between 40 and 70-years-old.
Ms Athanassopoulos said: “It’s interesting because you see various things on the news about social media and young people wanting treatment sooner and we’ve not experienced that.
“I think that is possibly because of how we market ourselves. We don’t market to a younger generation.
“We are more pitched at lifestyle improvement.
“Our patients here don’t tend to be the ones who come here following trends.
“I have wondered since Covid if there’s been an increase in patients and people wanting to have surgery.
“A lot of our new patients are recommendations or family of people who have been before which is always a good sign.”
Looking towards expanding services
Looking to the future Ms Athanassopoulos, who also teaches masters in counselling and psychotherapy at Aberdeen University, aims to keep building on the success.
She said: “I want to continue to do what we are doing but in terms of staff, I’ll probably hire more nurses and am toying with the idea of bringing in other surgeons.
“Patients are asking for things and one of those is general surgeries such as hernia repairs, varicose veins and various bowel related things.
“In terms of hiring nurses we haven’t struggled to find really experienced professional individuals in the north-east. That’s not been hard.
“I think it’ll be exactly the same with Inverness.”