For natural looking hair replacement or to get rid of that youthful tattoo, Drs. Gregory and Nancy Shannon provide those services locally, as well as regular medical and anti-aging treatments, at Advanced Health and Image in Haslett.

“I have an internal medicine practice, and I am also board certified in anti-aging medicine, which helps people to live longer and happier lives,” Nancy Shannon, M.D., Ph.D., explained. “[My husband, Greg,] is board certified to do hair replacement surgery for both men and women. What we do together is other aesthetically oriented things like Botox, skin fillers, and laser procedures like laser hair removal, photofacials, and tattoo removal."

The couple opened Advanced Health and Image in 2003.

“We had been involved in various aspects of medicine before this, working in emergency medicine, and had our own practice with that,” said Shannon. “That’s when we decided we wanted to have a practice in our own building, close to home, and that’s what we did.”

Shannon said the biggest change she’s seen in the field has been in the acceptance of cosmetic services.

“People are feeling fairly comfortable with having this sort of thing done,” she stated. “Even just a couple of years ago, I think people seemed to feel the need to be more discreet about having things done. But now it’s more acceptable, and people don’t feel embarrassed about doing something to enhance themselves, and they’re happy about it. In the hair replacement surgery, there are more and more women having this procedure.”

Hair replacement has become much more natural looking since its inception.

“Hair replacement has been around for a long time,” Shannon stated. “It used to be people were getting hair transplants that looked like Barbie dolls. They were patchy little things. But over the last several years, it’s evolved to where they can actually go back and fix the old pluggy look. What they do currently is microsurgery where individual little hair follicles are transplanted, and people can’t tell you’ve had anything done. Over the years, it’s been more women realizing that they can be helped for the problems that they’ve got. It’s more acceptable for a man to have hair loss, but women feel very uncomfortable about it.”

Shannon said her husband is one of few physicians in the country who is certified to do the hair replacement surgery. “He gets some international clients, as well as local,” she noted.

As part of her internal medicine practice, Shannon focuses on women’s health care and anti-aging medications.

“There are more bioidentical hormones and growth hormone replacement,” she stated. “We’re finding that growth hormones are important to our bodies throughout life. There are minor changes in the body’s hormonal system which can make a big impact on the way we feel. By just checking these and correcting them, as well as helping with nutrition and exercise, it adds a sense of vitality to life.

“I work with people with weight loss, primarily through some concepts of diet and nutrition,” she continued. “Sometimes people have trouble with weight loss because of some disease states in their body, thyroid being a great example, or around the time of menopause. So I make sure that other underlying physiology is optimized, and that helps. There have been a number of studies in the last 15 years or so showing the huge impact that hormone replacement has had on people’s health and well being. It can do things like improve cholesterol and reduce the amount of fat that’s accumulated around the mid-section. It’s basically improved the lifespan overall.”

Shannon also does routine cosmetic procedures. “I do the injecting of Botox and fillers. We don’t really use collagen anymore. There are more products like Hylaformâ and Radiesseâ, which are longer acting and less apt to have side effects. Radiesseâ is essentially the substance of bones that’s ground into a very fine powder. It’s suspended in a gel and is used to inject underneath the surface of the skin to fill in the furrows. We use that on the grooves and lines on people’s faces, and it pumps up the collagen. Hylaformâ has the same use. It doesn’t last as long, but it’s less expensive.

“The other thing we do is the photofacials with the lasers that help rebuild the collagen and minimize wrinkles and things like brown and red spots that occur with aging,” she said. “Tattoo removal with the lasers has been very popular.”

Shannon noted that as we age, we start to lose collagen. “That’s primarily why, as we grow older, our skin starts to sag and wrinkles develop,” she said. “So the body either regenerates it’s own collagen with the lasers, or we actually go in and inject substances. It just gives the skin a more wonderful appearance.”

The Shannons are content with their current niche, intending to keep the practice as it is. As an internist, Shannon sees patients for everything from annual physicals to complex health concerns. Former Michigan legislator Dr. Paul DeWeese also practices internal medicine and anti-aging at Advanced Health and Image.

“We the only ones in town doing the hair replacement surgery and the tattoo removal,” noted Shannon. “What’s unique about us for the anti-aging is that we’re working both underneath and the skin as well as the surface. It’s comprehensive care.”