LEGACY MED Simona Chitac

LEGACY MED, innovation and decency in aesthetic medicine

Simona Chitac also promotes aesthetic medicine abroad

In a global pandemic context and with the economies of the countries deeply affected, everyone’s priorities are being redefined. Many economic sectors were affected, and the medical sector, in view of the situation, faltered. However, there is also a small part of medicine that continues its activity accurately and discreetly. Taken to the extreme in recent years globally, Romania is taking timid steps towards innovation and normalcy in aesthetic medicine.

Every year, hundreds of doctors across the country complete their residency and become specialists in various branches of medicine. Some continue in state or private hospitals the activity during the study, others practice on their own, in individual offices. Simona Chițac is not a doctor, but she managed to make her place in aesthetic medicine through her business consulting activity in recent years, but also through the most courageous and explosive evolution of a business in the field of aesthetic medicine, which she named intriguingly LEGACY MED.

We invited her to a discussion about the passion that consumes her all the time, eager to find out what could be the motivation to invest in a medical business, in full economic decline.

➤ Why aesthetic medicine in 2020?
Because of all the areas in which I offered business consulting, it attracted me the most. I have worked for years with large clients in the field of banking, real estate, hospitality, sports or art. I spent the last few years offering business consulting in the field of aesthetic medicine, and this captivated me. In general, you cannot provide consultancy until you understand very well the market in which you operate, until you know the main actors and the dynamic movements of the area of activity, the psychology of those you target. I also have the structure of an analytical person, working for a while in a research institute, and from there I gained dexterity in the correct interpretation of studies and the dynamics of the medical market. Maybe, at first sight, 2020 is not the best time to open a new business, but the moment was not chosen by me, let’s say that rather a special context in my personal life determined me to take this step.

➤ Why Legacy Med?
The word legacy is quite difficult and with multiple meanings. In a first translation, it is about the genetic inheritance that every human being has. It happens that patients want major changes, which not even aesthetic medicine can do. You are 1.50 m tall. No doctor in the world can make you 1.75 m. This is an extreme example. We work on a genetic basis, and sudden, radical and rapid changes are harmful. Therefore, any Legacy Med patient must reconnect with his genetic inheritance (legacy), then, together with the doctor in the office, we establish exactly what can be done and in what stages, so that the result is harmonious and decent. Everything takes place in stages and in a continuous dialogue with our patients.
In another decoding, Legacy Med is a personal legacy, that of knowing how to develop business in the field of aesthetic medicine, this science being the only thing with which I left one stage of my life and started another.

➤ Although it is only 3 months since its launch, the Legacy Med clinic has experienced an explosive development: the headquarters is in a very good area of the capital, but you also managed to open your own authorized offices in 3 cities in the country: Iasi, Suceava and Focsani. What propels you on the line of development, when so many other businesses close?
We are in 2020, and until the outbreak of the pandemic, the keyword was time. Everyone wanted to do things, of any kind, to allocate time for personal development or various transformations, but there was no time. Quarantine, the opportunity to work from home, created the right time for those who wanted surgery, but could not allocate time to the recovery period. Now, time seems to have become an accessible variable, while space seems to be gradually limited. Legacy Med is one of the first aesthetic medicine clinics to come up with an optimistic interpretation, managing to capitalize on pandemic time in a completely unexpected way. Although many borders are closing or international transit is becoming increasingly difficult, I decided to risk and promote both domestic and international aesthetic medical tourism. Romania and Bucharest, respectively, have some of the best doctors in aesthetic and bariatric surgery.
Unfortunately, in the pandemic, many people also had free time, being put in temporary social or lucrative isolation, as I call it. Many people who wanted aesthetic interventions that required a long recovery considered that now was the right time to perform them, and could now devote time to them. Thus, we managed to have patients for both classic cosmetic interventions, such as breast augmentation, buttocks, liposuction or abdominoplasty, but the most important segments were now surgical facelifts and bariatric surgery, because they require the longest time. recovery, and patients have now more easily allowed themselves to retire to their homes after the intervention. This is the full part of the glass, if we allow ourselves to see it. As for the locations open in the country, this is part of the national development plan which, indeed, has a fully accelerated dynamic. According to studies in the field, minimally invasive interventions will gain more and more market share, going to the doctor for a quick wipe of wrinkles or to fade unsightly circles under the eyes will become part of the patient care ritual, a sign of self-esteem. We will work hard to educate and inform patients correctly, so that this stage of transformation and acceptance in the collective mind comes as soon as possible.

➤ Yes, you shared something with us about a new policy of attacking the corporate segment. What exactly do you mean?
Legacy Med Clinic currently manages, 3 months after its launch, 3 of its own plastic surgeons and 3 collaborating plastic surgeons, 2 dermatologists, 1 dentist, 2 nurses, a team of bariatric surgery specialists and we hope to grow our team more and more. First of all, we take care of maintaining our own team of doctors, so as to ensure that the standards of communication and professionalism of our medical team are high and uniform. In addition to this aspect, we are working to educate our target. We are the only aesthetic medicine clinic that has developed corporate partnerships: we have signed contracts and protocols with several companies to offer aesthetic services to their employees, who also benefit from a careful and recognized medical staff, but also from financial advantages and specific promotions. In our turn, some of the companies we work with carry out health and protocol audits at our headquarters, in order to be sure of the quality of the services and products we offer to their employees. Moreover, we make service presentations and direct group meetings, most of them made online, with the help of technology, through which we put company employees in contact with our medical team. In addition to the intensive and continuous training of doctors, we also prefer to develop mentalities, to educate the market in which we operate. We could say that it is an Academy of Decency in Aesthetics.

➤ What are the new services that distinguish the Legacy Med clinic on the market?
We tried to bring together everything related to medical aesthetics: minimally invasive procedures such as hyaluronic acid injections, botox, threads, aesthetic surgery procedures for those who prefer or need a scalpel, dental aesthetics (teeth whitening, dental cosmetics, veneers, etc.), but also bariatric surgery. Basically, our team of doctors does everything related to improving physical appearance through medicine. In the case of patients from abroad or outside Bucharest, they are also attracted by the related services and the full support offered by the clinic. Each patient is assigned a Legacy Host, from landing to takeoff. He has medical knowledge first and foremost and becomes the host of the patient with whom he goes to all pre-intervention tests, organizes outings in the city and makes sure that the patient feels as comfortable and morally supported before the intervention. The connections that are created are fantastic and so all our patients leave the country as friends of Romania and Legacy Med. The prices of the intervention are aligned with European prices, but the comfort and support offered is what attracts a patient the most. We remind people that are important and that every patient matters.

➤ How do you see the future of the Legacy Med clinic?
It is a difficult market, with many competitors that I respect. Perseverance, passion and decency in aesthetics will guide our activity in the future. It is no coincidence that from the beginning we launched the website in 5 languages (Romanian, English, French, German, Spanish) and soon in Russian and Turkish. Although more recently globalization is fading in the face of nationalism, beauty, aesthetics and professionalism eliminate geographical barriers. There are patients who travel thousands of kilometers for a doctor from Brazil, Spain, Russia, Lebanon. We intend to always learn from the best, we will innovate and we will enthusiastically adapt everything that can bring added value to aesthetic medicine in Romania.

Interview with Simona Chitac, founder and owner of the Legacy Med clinic.

Other interviews from our magazine you can read HERE.

About plastic surgery you can read HERE.

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