Eudaimonia Medical Spa helps people feel good in their own skin

MOSES LAKE — Merriam-Webster defines “Eudaimonia” as well-being or happiness. That’s what Dr. Hollie Matthews said she had in mind when she opened Eudaimonia Medical Spa in Moses Lake.

Eudaimonia Medical Spa, which held a ribbon-cutting Thursday, offers treatments to improve patients’ self-confidence in their appearance, Matthews explained. 

“A lot of people will say that's just vanity,” Matthews said. “I don't think so. This is about helping you feel your best in your own skin. It's living your best life; it's that internal feeling of being happy, prosperous, flourishing, living your best life, and that has value. Because when you feel good in your own skin, you project that out onto the world. It makes you a happier person. It makes you want to help your neighbor. It makes you want to be out of the house.”

For some people, that means looking younger through the use of neurotoxin, sometimes called Botox. The neurotoxin relaxes the muscles in the skin that cause wrinkles, Matthews said.

“I call it Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser, the more you freeze those muscles, so you're not scrunching your face all the time. The more that those muscles get smaller, so then the wrinkles get smaller, so then the wrinkles go away,” she said.

Hair loss can also depress a person’s self-image, Matthews said, particularly in women. She applies a serum derived from 27 different plants to bald or thinning spots and then drives it in with a warm ultrasound, she said. 

“It doesn't hurt; it actually feels really relaxing, and it takes about an hour,” she said. “Then you have a take-home serum you use morning and night that you put in the same areas and within 28 days you will have thicker, fuller hair.”

Restoring hair is kind of a holy grail for aesthetic medicine, Matthews said.

“(Almost) every woman I’ve talked to, even if I've known them for the 20 years, says, ‘I've never mentioned this to you, but I dislike my hair. My hair is thinning, I have bald spots,’” Matthews said.

Other treatments Matthews offers use what’s called plasma-rich protein, or PRP, to restore structure to the patient’s face by adding volume to their skin, she said. PRP uses the patient’s own blood, treating a small amount of it and then injecting it as filler, Matthews said. 

“It gives (the body) a network for your immunological cells … to stimulate you to create more of your own collagen and elastin,” she said. 

PRP treatment is useful for anyone who’s using weight-loss medication, she said, because the medicine doesn’t allow you to decide where the weight is lost. PRP can be used to fight circles under the eyes and diminishing cheekbones, things that often result when a person loses fat cells in their face. It can also sometimes be used in place of steroid injections for joint problems, Matthews said. Because it uses the patient’s own blood, it can be safer for people with autoimmune conditions than treatments that involve synthetic substances, she said.

Matthews has been practicing medicine since 1997, she said. She graduated from the University of Washington Medical School and practiced family medicine at Confluence Health, Samaritan Healthcare and Columbia Basin Hospital. An injury in 2022 made it very painful for her to look at a screen for very long, she said, and because so much of a doctor’s day is spent working on a computer, she pivoted to a practice that lets her spend most of her time with the patients instead.

The computer work, as well as just about everything non-medical, is done by her office administrator Deanna Fountain.

“I do the billing,” Fountain said. “I’ve rebranded her cards, brochures, logo, the whole company.”

Eudaimonia has been open for a year, Fountain said, and just recently hired her to run the office, so she’s working at creating order out of chaos.

In the process of joining Matthews at the spa is Brenna Eldred, a registered nurse who had known Matthews for a long time before she opened Eudaimonia. 

“(Hollie) was my doctor, she was also my neighbor, and we used to take yoga together,” Eldred said. “I'm really intrigued by aesthetic nursing, and she said, 'So am I,’ and I said, ‘Well, okay, let's talk.’”

One of the first things Eldred is doing is planning Eudaimonia’s one-year anniversary party, which will be held Thursday. Matthews and Fountain were having difficulty fitting party planning into their time, Matthews said.

“We were foundering; we didn’t know where to start,” Matthews said. “Brenna was a godsend and broke the brain-block that Deanna and I were having.”

Besides celebrating Eudaimonia’s first birthday, the party will be a chance for Matthews to unveil some new product lines, she said.

“The best treatment for depression I’ve ever found is people feeling good in their own skin.” Matthews said. “I want you to go to your 30-year class reunion and (people) think, ‘Dang, look at her, she looks so good. Do you think she's had work done?’ ‘I don't know, she just looks so natural.’ That's what we're going for, very natural aging.”

Eudaimonia Medical Spa

124 E. Third Ave., Ste 212

Moses Lake

509-793-5046

eudaimoniamedicalspa.com

Launch Party

5-8 p.m. Thursday, June 25

Assured Home Health

1350 S. Pioneer Way

Moses Lake

    Dr. Hollie Matthews cuts the ceremonial ribbon at Eudaimonia Medical Spa, located in the Desert Plaza Building at 124 E. Third Ave. in Moses Lake.