Helping You Age With Confidence

Walking into Medical Aesthetics is like entering a professional clinic with a compassionate vibe. The warm greeting from Christina or Kate makes you feel right at home, the environment is inviting, and the front room features a tasteful display of professional skincare products. Brenda Cumming and her team have made very intentional choices to create a welcoming space for their clients. They are also quite serious about their practice and maintaining high standards.

“We are fully licensed and extensively trained to provide the services we offer.”

“A lot of people have a different version of what they want their practice to look like,” said owner Cumming, a registered nurse and aesthetic nurse specialist who moved to Evergreen from Texas in the early 1990s. “We are named Medical Aesthetics because we practice aesthetic medicine. We are fully licensed and extensively trained to provide the services we offer.”

Trained Professionals Inspire Trust

With more than 35 years of experience as a registered nurse in emergency room, urgent care and family practice settings, Brenda makes patient safety a priority and works to dispel the misconception that procedures like Botox injections and microneedling are akin to spa services.

“Most people do not understand the need to have a skilled professional performing these treatments,” said Cumming. “While the risks are low, they still exist when someone is delivering injections. Being in the hands of a trained practitioner has instilled confidence in our patients and is one of the reasons we’ve been in business for 24 years.” Brenda’s team includes Holly Vali, a family nurse practitioner and doctorate of nursing who teaches at Regis University; Gwen Howard a 15-year member of the practice who is a licensed esthetician specializing in laser treatments; Kate Brockman, patient coordinator who has experience managing healthcare offices; and Dr. Jonathan Gallen, anesthesiologist, medical director, and the practice’s collaborating physician.

A Customized Plan for Each Client

When patients schedule an initial consultation, they provide their medical history first before they are handed a mirror and asked what it is that concerns them. “What is the first thing you see when you gaze into the mirror each morning?” is the key question. As Brenda explains, once a patient lists their issues, she suggests treatment options while recommending a care plan approach to aesthetic enhancements.

“We try to find the best solution for our patients,” said Cumming. “We understand that it’s difficult to see the signs of aging. Especially as many of us get older and are not ready to retire—we want to remain competitive and look and feel our best at any age. Our team wants to help you feel good about yourself. Our biggest compliment is when someone tells our patients, ‘You look so refreshed!’ ‘Your skin looks absolutely gorgeous!’ ‘Wow! You are aging in reverse!’”

Taking Care of Your Palette

From the viewpoint of Brenda, once an aspiring artist who passed up formal training in Paris to enter the nursing profession, “your skin is your palette.” She advocates for a solid skincare regimen and protection from the harsh impacts of Colorado’s intense sun and dry climate. “Practicing skincare is the place to start. Botox and fillers are icing on the cake,” she says. Brenda explains that there is often confusion about anti-aging treatments. “Botox slows the development of lines that come with age, injected fillers create volume, whereas lasers and microneedling rejuvenate the skin as they create micro-wounds that stimulate collagen production.”

From Stigma to Spotlight

It may be difficult to believe, but Botox treatments, now the number one requested procedure nationwide, were once shunned by the mountain community. “When I first opened my practice in 2002, nobody would get Botox,” Brenda laughs. “Everyone in the mountains wanted to ‘be natural,’ so I would travel down the hill as far south as Pueblo or west to Summit County to give Botox injections. People in Evergreen who sought treatment did it ‘through the back door’ and asked me to keep it secret. Now everybody talks about it and it’s a lot more accepted. Social media has helped remove the stigma.”

Social media has also been the source of misinformation as influencers sometimes give bad advice. “I always encourage my patients to do their own research,” says Brenda. “If you’re younger and you get overtreated, you look older. If you are older and you get overtreated, you begin to look weird. We want to help our clients make informed decisions.”

Cosmeceuticals Are the Real Deal

When Cumming was ready to pivot her career away from traditional nursing toward the emerging enterprise of medical aesthetics, she went to California for training and certification in Botox injections and chemical peels. She ended up falling in love with her instruction in skincare products. Brenda’s passion led her to becoming a national representative for a well-known cosmeceutical company where she built a multi-million dollar portfolio in Colorado.

As she explains, cosmeceuticals are differentiators when it comes to skincare. “Cosmeceuticals actually penetrate the skin to effect change, and you must be licensed to sell these products,” said Cumming. “Over-the-counter skincare products, many distributed by larger pharmaceutical companies, have lots of water added to them and are defined as ‘promoting beauty and attractiveness’ without impacting skin.”

Brenda’s success in creating markets for cosmeceuticals propelled her into a partnership with three other women who together developed a new skincare line which she named Lira. “All of us founders are first generation Americans,” explained Cumming, a dual U.S. and Irish citizen. “In Gaelic, Lira carries a connotation of ‘beauty’ and, of course, ‘Lira’ also denotes currency. The distribution of Lira began in Europe, then took hold in the United States and is now available all over the world. At Medical Aesthetics, we have a full line of Lira skincare products available for sale, whether or not you are one of our patients.”

On the Horizon

Medical Aesthetics has experienced a growing demand for hormone replacement therapies and body contouring services. Anti-aging injectables including B12, glutathione and more are popular among patients. The clinic has begun offering weight loss options as people become more aware of the necessity of lowering their A1-C levels, which lead to diabetes.

Promoting Education and Mentoring

“Brenda has been a mentor to a lot of women,” said Practice Manager Kate Brockman, whose sister credits Cumming with launching her nursing career. “She sees the potential in people and then she helps. She is the person who pushed me to get my certifications, and I am grateful.”

Brenda is also very involved in her local community. She’s a former board member of Leadership Evergreen and current board member of Evergreen Legacy Fund. She says, “I love our community!” But Brenda’s desire to share her expertise extends far beyond her Evergreen community. “I am an instructor, and I teach doctors, nurses and dentists about ‘injectables.’ I’ve had the pleasure of training doctors from all over the U.S. and many others from across the country who travel to shadow me. In the end, I want people to succeed!”

“I never saw myself as an entrepreneur when I was working as an emergency room nurse,” Brenda reflects. “There weren’t many resources for learning about aesthetics back then, but now I am happy to share my knowledge, especially with other women.”