When 30-somethings are worried about aging skin, there's bound to be a business opportunity.

Unfortunately, women in their 30s now think they need to look younger,'' said Sona MedSpa's chief operating officer, Heather Rose.

 Men are looking to remove hair permanently from their backs and chests. Teenagers want something more than cream to take care of embarrassing acne.

Sona MedSpa, a franchising business with its headquarters in Franklin, has ambitious plans to become an international business and define this emerging market segment — the medical spa.

It's a place where noninvasive cosmetic procedures are performed by some medical staff, such as a nurse, but not a plastic surgeon. Without going under a knife, people are getting techniques such as microdermabrasion, Botox injections and intense pulsed lights for everything from aging skin to spider veins.

In Cool Springs, they are spending anywhere from $500 to $2,500 for a series of light or laser treatments that promise to make them look younger, smoother, better.

There are some risks to such a business, even with surging demand, but Sona MedSpa's owners have a plan to deal with the bumps in the road.

The company's Chief Executive Jim Amos and his daughter, Heather Rose, moved to Franklin last year from San Diego, where Amos had built the franchise Mail Boxes Etc. into a $1.6 billion business, then sold it to UPS.

Last year, with funding from private equity firm Carousel Capital, they bought a growing laser hair removal business based in Virginia with 14 locations.

Now, Sona MedSpa has 35 locations and franchise deals that will open an additional 120 locations. They expect to put 500 total med spas in the United States and hope for even more internationally.

"The growth in this industry as a whole is just unbelievable,'' said Amber Barton, who co-owns Sona MedSpa's franchise in Cool Springs and has seen women as young as their early 20s wanting skin treatments.

Rose reports some parents buying whole body hair removal packages for their sons going off to college.

But not surprisingly, the real target demographic is women between the ages of 31 and 50, and Rose expects growth to happen primarily in the skin rejuvenation business. The company also sells a line of skin creams, some of which apparently are adjusted to your body type using DNA tested with a cotton swab in the client's mouth.

Such noninvasive cosmetic procedures are growing faster than surgical ones, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. That group estimates that cosmetic surgery procedures have fallen about 8% since 2000, compared with a 36% climb for "minimally invasive" techniques, an increase mostly attributable to the number of people flocking to Botox injections for youthful good looks.

Rose said she struggled with the concept at first, wondering if she was building a business based on vanity. But she came to a different conclusion.

"This is based on emotional need,'' she said. "When you feel you're the best you can be, you have confidence."

Amos, with his experience at Mail Boxes Etc. and as past chairman of the International Franchise Association, isn't humble about Sona MedSpa's place in the market.

"The idea was to define the entire segment,'' he said.

Most competitors are small, regional operations, and Sona MedSpa wants to create a national franchise brand.

While Amos expects more competitors to enter the market, he and Rose plan to keep standards high to maintain their reputation.

Franchisees often are doctors, and doctors must supervise each clinic's operations. The procedures generally are performed by nurses.

Minimum franchisee net worth is $750,000, with $250,000 of it liquid. The estimated cost to open a Sona MedSpa is $400,000 to $820,000.

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By NAOMI SNYDER
Staff Writer