Fountains of youth: Whether by hot spring or medical spa, you can feel and look forever young

Health and wellness go hand-in-hand, yet when it comes to juggling life stressors, it can be difficult to justify setting aside “me time” to relax and pamper your often-neglected self.

From a day soaking in piping hot, natural mineral water to a day spent enhancing your natural beauty with the experts, health and wellness includes an array of rejuvenating treatments.

At Carson Hot Springs Resort, Ana Farr has been welcoming guests to their day of relaxation for the past 16 years.

“It’s all natural hot water from underground that we pump from the well into the pool,” Farr said in an interview with Peak NV. “The hammer drops water onto you from above, if you’re hurting or in pain, it’s like a massage to get underneath the hammer and let the water hit you wherever your body hurts.”

The resort at 1500 Old Hot Springs Road in Carson City boasts the naturally fed hot pool with the water flow hammer that reaches 115 degrees and is drained, scrubbed and refilled each night. Other amenities include two individual Jacuzzis with spring water and chlorine; men’s and women’s dry sauna; and a multi-person water flow room, among others.

“People with arthritis and pain especially enjoy the hot water from the hammer, they’ll come in for an hour or and hour and a half and they say they feel like a new person afterward,” she said.

Louisa Black, a longtime regular at the hot springs who originally hails from New Hampshire, said that she has been bringing her son for the past five years.

“It’s just so relaxing here, you can come in feeling stressed out and when you leave you feel refreshed, like a whole new person, like you can handle the stress of life,” Black said. “It’s like therapy, like a yoga class, just truly relaxing.”

Based on medical research, soaking in a hot spring increases blood circulation, relieves pain and promotes healthy skin through the naturally occurring mineral-rich water, Farr says.

Carson Hot Springs Resort (www.carsonhotsprings.com) water comes from 35,000 feet under the Earth’s surface and includes the following elements: Sodium, Sulfate, Chloride, Silica, Potassium, Calcium, Fluoride, Magnesium and Lithium, as well as trace amounts of Iron, Manganese, Zinc and Arsenic.

The combined minerals help the body relax into a tranquil state, relax muscles and improve muscle function, balance the body’s pH level, and promote smooth, clear skin.

Or … go the medical spa route

For those looking to take a different kind of dip, Millennium Medical Spa & Suites in Gardnerville is among several medical/day spas in the region.

Pam Horton owns the spa and offers a one-stop-shop of treatments including vaginal rejuvenation with FemiLift, skin-resurfacing treatments in Pixel CO2, Hormone Pellet therapy treatments using bio-identical yam pellets, and more.

MaryJo Chadey works as director of medical services at the space, and is also a certified specialist in hormone pellet therapy. Both she and Horton say they’re in the business of building self-confidence and have seen life-changing effects.

“In today’s world we are drained, exhausted and stressed, which increases the aging process and makes us less of our best self,” Horton said. “By going to a medical spa, the treatments are more significant, they last longer and increase appearance and self esteem.”

One of their clients, Laura Rau of Gardnerville, has been to the medical spa for three rounds of skin resurfacing treatments. She says she has been given an undeniable new sense of confidence and a radiant beauty that her husband can’t stop complimenting.

“I was not blessed with porcelain doll skin, I had acne as a teenager, and back in the ‘70s, we didn’t have Accutane, so I had to deal with that,” Rau said. “I think a lot of us want to age gracefully and a lot of people can because they were cognizant of their youth. But some of us lived by the seat of our pants, and it was fun, but wanting to be in the presence of the public eye or the general public, it’s just elating that I’m not self-conscious about anything in my past for what’s on the surface of my skin.”

Rau’s skincare journey included two MCA skin resurfacing treatments and one in CO2, all of which she says were minimally painful, looked worse than they felt, and healed within four days.

“What can I say? The texture of my skin is amazing,” she said happily. “My husband of all people, on two occasions now, will look at me with his eyes glazing over, and I know he’s not listening to me. I ask what he’s thinking about, and he asks if I’m wearing makeup, I say ‘no,’ and he just says, ‘well I’ll be, your face looks amazing, oh my god.’”

Through proper professional guidance and treatments, adults can take pride in their appearance, take time to spend on themselves, and lead their best lives well into retirement and beyond.