In keeping with the tony environs of Indiranagar, is Heler - a skin, hair and lifestyle clinic by their description. The ambience of the clinic is chic and welcoming; as were the people in the clinic headed by Centre Head Dr Swati Ramachandran, and Dr Charu Sharma, Assistant Director, both Clinical Dermatologists.
Heler’s came into being as a result of the initiative of Dr Asif Shaikh, a graduate from Hyderabad and an MRCP from the UK with significant work experience in Saudi Arabia. According to the clinic, Dr Shaikh is a specialist in Internal Medicine Medicine.
What Heler explained to Explocity, during a walk through their facilities, is that it can offer the public a knowledge-based service and not just be yet another hair and skin clinic. They took pains to explain that their treatment is administered by doctors. To quote their website, “...Dermatologists, Internal Medicine Specialists, Gynaecologists, Urologist, Nurses and trained Aestheticians -each with at least 5 years of experience. We start with detailed analysis of your condition...”
They told us that the world of cosmetology is increasingly (read, unfortunately) run by people who are “non-doctors”. Heler’s position is that cosmetology is something best ministrated in the domain of doctors. Their website describes it well, “...In this world of “thrilling” and “captivating” marketing strategies the cosmetic industry is moving away from the medicine’s traditional principle of ‘a treatment for each patient’ to a confusing mess of a la carte services. These services are offered...essentially are non-doctors. More and more patients are being led to believe that they can pick and choose procedures on their own, with no understanding of the science behind these indications.”
The clinic features a wide range of equipment and other facilities to administer the services offered by Heler that range from facials, botox injections and tattoo removal to medical dermatology such as problems of fungal infections, actinic keratosis, melasma among other medical conditions.
But of particular note among the offerings of the clinic is a treatment “...that addresses vaginal health related conditions by promoting the remodeling of vaginal mucous layer.” It’s called Vulvo Vaginal Laser Rejuvenation and it involves laser treatment along the vaginal wall. This and other vaginal treatments address “...conditions such as vaginal atrophy and urinary incontinence are concerning a large population of post-menopausal women and women after childbirth”, such as post menopausal dryness. (The clinic says this treatment is good to “revivify intimacy” - charming phraseology.)
The range of services is quite vast and spans the range of personal treatments from the purely cosmetic to the necessarily clinical.
While we thought it is meaningful that Heler is staffed by qualified medical professionals, we found that the attitude of the clinic is people-friendly - even market friendly - as they look to their patients’ convenience of time and location - “this is a lunchtime procedure” - unlike the “you do what we tell you when we tell you” manner of standard hospitals. Their “web consultation” is another example of a convenience-minded approach.
Speaking of web, however, the blot on an otherwise good presentation is their testimonial section on their homepage, which, at the time of this writing, features testimonials with dummy text, no doubt left there by a lazy tech admin. Maybe it’s for the better that the doctors keep their eye on their patients, rather than on their website.
Rs 950 gets you in the door for a consultation and treatments range from Rs 2,000 to Rs 50,000 according to Dr Sharma.
Heler Skin, Hair & Lifestyle Clinic is located at Shaukar’s Building, 1st Floor, 72 Binnamangala, CMH Road, Indiranagar,Bangalore - 560046

image source: Website