“In December 2020 they legalized the resolution for aesthetic biology, and it was my chance to start working with injectables, so in January I was already enrolling in the postgraduate program.”
The Biology council (CFBio), Brazil's professional council for the field, was the last to recognize aesthetic qualification for its professionals, but with that recognition many professionals were able to change careers. That is the case of Dr. Vanessa Tavares, who earned her degree in Biology from the Faculdade Integrada Regional de Avaré – FIRA.
The student, who is currently finishing the Postgraduate Program in Aesthetic Biology, talks about how she decided to move into this field.
“I started my biology degree at 17. I wanted to work in a lab, but I ended up taking a public exam to teach, and until then I had never imagined getting into aesthetics. It was after going through a divorce that my sister and I decided to buy an intense pulsed light device”.
The new business came from identifying a need in Areiópolis-SP, her hometown, where she still lives. “We started seeing clients in my city because there was nothing like it, so I taught part-time and in the afternoon I worked with pulsed light,”explains Dr. Vanessa.
A teacher for 17 years in the municipal school system in inland São Paulo state, and working in aesthetics for 8 years alongside it, she says she kept going deeper into the field.
“We had a technical manager, and in the meantime I decided to take the aesthetics technical course because my clients were already asking for other procedures, I was enjoying working in this area a lot, and I kept going deeper.”.
That is how Derme Depilwas born, where Dr. Vanessa still works today, partnering with clinics in 6 other cities in the region. “Aesthetics was a hobby and became a passion; today I couldn't work in anything other than aesthetics.”
According to Dr. Vanessa, she believes biology and aesthetics have a lot in common.
“You study anatomy, physiology, the body's reactions, so this biochemical part that we find with drugs, in the mixtures of injectables and in the whole body-reaction side, is very connected,” she says.
Where aesthetics and biology meet
Even with her own business expanding, she continues teaching biology, and says that some of the mothers or even the students themselves get in touch to book procedures.
“I find it very rewarding because both of my jobs are tied to improving quality of life. At school it's the child's social and educational improvement, and at the clinic I work on aesthetic improvement, which often makes a person happier.”
In addition to holding two jobs, Dr. Vanessa also has a two-year-old son, and says the hybrid model made her dream possible.
“For me, hybrid learning was the best thing that ever happened, and not having to leave my city to attend the theory classes allowed me to plan my son's care, so I only had to travel for the hands-on classes, which I thought was excellent. Maybe if it weren't hybrid I wouldn't have been able to make my dream come true,” she emphasizes.
The aesthetic biologist says she intends to specialize in orofacial and body harmonization and keep expanding her clinic by including injectable procedures. “I want to dedicate myself to this field and do procedures I never even dreamed of doing, such as applying botox, fillers, biostimulators, all of that, which I will now be able to do at my clinic and throughout the region I already serve.”
Sarah
NEPUGA content team — Núcleo de Especializações Ana Carolina Puga.
