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Business & Tech

Refresh Aesthetic Center Finds Inner Beauty in New Silver Spring Building

The non-surgical cosmetic treatment center is already busy with clients on the second floor of 130 W. Silver Spring Dr., which they will share with PNC Bank when construction is complete.

The two-story building at 130 W. Silver Spring Dr. is still under construction, but you wouldn’t know it when you walk into Refresh, a new business providing non-surgical cosmetic treatments that has already made a home of the second floor.

As soon as they were able to move in three weeks ago, the Refresh team made haste to stylize the place, hanging chandeliers, collecting magazines and throw pillows, and setting up temporary iPod speakers until they install their sound system.  

“We’ve been busy from the starting gate,” Clinical Director and Aesthetic Nurse Specialist Dawn Sagrillo said. “There have been clients every day.”

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It helps that Sagrillo and other professionals on the Refresh team have been in the field for years and built a loyal client base, but Sagrillo said they’ve also seen new clients from the area who want to see what it’s about.

According to The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the annual number of cosmetic procedures has increased by 155 percent since 1997.

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Sagrillo and Dr. Mark Blake, medical director of Refresh, decided to start the business due to increasing demand for cosmetic procedures and their vision of offering a highly customized experience with a full array of services.

Although Refresh only provides nonsurgical procedures, Blake offers free surgical consultations. He refers clients seeking cosmetic surgery to the Clinic of Cosmetic Surgery in Glendale, where he is also the medical director.

From the moment the elevator slides open, the Refresh team does everything they can to make a client feel comfortable. The receptionist offers ice tea and dried fruit for the wait. When preparing for a cosmetic procedure, a client can wait in the “relaxation room,” a dark circular room with a soothing fountain.

The team encourages new clients to start with a free consultation to make a long-term treatment plan based on their goals and budget.

Refresh’s services include injections to shape facial structure, fill wrinkles, and remove veins; skin care products and peels; waxing, and laser hair removal. See their website for a full list.

Sagrillo said they chose the Whitefish Bay space, which they will share with PNC Bank, because of its central location in the Milwaukee area and proximity to Bayshore. They were also able to give input on the architecture because of their early involvement.

A few members of the team, including Blake, are from the village.

"We like the neighborhood feel, and we look forward to being involved in it," Sagrillo said.

Defining beautiful

In a profession with the task of helping people improve their appearances, it’s hard not to develop ideas about what is and isn’t beautiful.

But while an aesthetic eye is important, Sagrillo, who has more than twenty years of experience in the filed, said during consultations she tries to read what result her clients wish to attain, rather than imposing her own standards.

“I’m not always looking at people through my aesthetic glasses,” she said. “When they’re in the consultation room I’m critiquing things that they’re bothered about in themselves. I’ll ask them to look in the mirror and tell me what bothers them.”

Sagrillo came up with the name Refresh because she says the goal in their cosmetic procedures is to bring out an exterior beauty that reflects how a client feels inside, maybe a characteristic the client feels has been lost with age.

“When you get to a point when you look in the mirror and see a woman different than the way you feel on the inside, you just want to look the way you feel,” Sagrillo said. “You want that more natural you.”

During her ten years working as a nurse for the Medical College of Wisconsin Department of Plastic Surgery, Sagrillo helped with post-traumatic reconstructive surgeries and mastectomies for patients with breast cancer. While her moral imperative there was always easy to see, she said she sees one at Refresh, too.

“I have a spiritual and moral compass that drives my life,” she said. “I think I am helping people feel their best. Our society drives us toward perfection. Really our goal is not perfection. You can be beautiful on the outside and unhappy on the inside. It’s how you feel that gives you that confidence.”

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