DECATUR - Days at the spa or salon are long known as a bonding time between women needing to get out of the house or a break from a busy life. However, spas today are taking on another concept: healing.

TH… Medical Spa has recently opened on the campus of Decatur Memorial Hospital in the East Plaza, taking take over the space DMH's pharmacy previously occupied. With the spa rooms almost completed and the staff in place, the spa opened the first week in October to patients needing more than just the average neck massage or manicure.

"It's really a spa-like setting, but the treatment is of a medical grade," said Dr. Jordan Youngerman, the spa's director. "The goal is to provide a top-notch service, and that takes a lot of research. We don't do anything that isn't tried-and-true tested."

The spa includes three treatment rooms, a steam shower room and a lounge area where patients can relax and have a healthy snack between treatments, said Colleen Morgeson, para-medical aesthetician and coordinator of the spa. Soothing scents and quiet music greet clients as they walk through the doors, and the black and metallic fixtures combine with lavender walls to offer a trendy and calming environment in each room.

Services ranging from rejuvenating hand and foot treatments to pigmentation peels for skin discoloration to ultrasound enhanced facials are offered. The treatments or therapies are all natural and medically directed so they are not only making the patients feel better, they also improve the focused body area.

Many people are uncertain about what treatment they actually need, Youngerman said. Usually the first appointment at the spa will be a complimentary consultation, which also informs each client about the difference in services available at TH… Medical Spa versus a traditional spa.

"There's a lot more to this than just going to a salon and getting a facial," Youngerman said.

When clients first come to the spa, they are able to take a break in the "relaxation room" and kick back on one of the stuffed red furniture pieces there. Whether a facial peel, massage or body treatment, low lighting and relaxing music accompanies the services in each treatment room to incorporate the spa-like quality, said Morgeson. The aftermath of treatments also includes relaxation.

"They can use the hot shower with steam after a body treatment," Morgeson said. "After a scalp treatment, we fix their hair; after a facial treatment, we apply their makeup so they don't have to leave our office without makeup."

As a 25-year veteran to skin treatments like facials and massages, Lynn Merritt said she was thrilled with the opening of TH… Medical Spa.

"There was really a need in Decatur," she said. "It's a beautiful facility. Colleen does such a nice job, and the staff is so friendly."

And the new spa located across the hall from Youngerman's aesthetic and reconstructive surgery practice also has its benefits, said Merritt, who had received treatments at Youngerman's before the spa opened.

"I like the one stop; with my schedule being as busy as it is, I like to go one place," she said. "I think skin care is very important. Your makeup goes on smoother, and you look so fresh and more rested. I would recommend to anyone if you have the time to go and get a restful, relaxing treatment, it's really worth it. It makes such a difference in your skin."

For the wide variety of skin treatments offered, the client's skin is analyzed digitally to deliver a custom-designed care based on the make-up of the skin, using a machine called the Visia Complexion Analysis.

"It gives us a magnified photograph, so we can determine the level of sun damage, scarring or wrinkles," Morgeson said. "The clients can then come back six months later to see the difference in their photographs."

Unlike the stereotypical salon, TH… Medical Spa is gender-neutral, Youngerman said. And services such as the "gentleman's facial" focus solely on the specific needs of a man.

"It's finally catching on that more and more men are taking better care of themselves and of their skin and wanting to look better," Youngerman said.

Morgeson said she has high hopes for the spa as a provider of relaxation in addition to medical treatment.

"It was kind of a vision Dr. Youngerman had, and I think it will be very successful," Morgeson said. "TH… Medical Spa offers more correctional and clinical treatments that won't be available anywhere else."

Courtney Klemm can be reached at cklemm@herald-review.com or 421-6968.