Decades ago, Dr.

Ruth Markovic, owner of Tecumsehs Cygnus Cellulite and Skin Rejuvenation Clinic, was drawn to the musicality of word cygnet - a Latinate word referring to a young swan - upon encountering it in the verse of Shakespeare. Cygnus (pronounced sig-nuss), the adult term, was a natural fit for her eventual business. Without intending to call on any unfortunate ugly duckling allusions, Dr. Markovic favours an interpretation of the swan as an enduring symbol of beauty and rejuvenation. At present, she and her staff work towards this end by offering and expertly rendering a number of facial and other cosmetic services, including the careful injection of popular, effective fillers such as Botox, and Restylane; peels, microdermabrasion, and laser treatments; Endermologie cell stimulation for cellulite; and a number of hair restoration and removal options. A full list of services is conveniently available in your phonebook. Dr. Markovic speaks elegantly and expansively, her softly High-Germanic accent occasionally making way for serendipitous inflections that betray a youth spent in Australia. When she was a young child, the Markovic family emigrated to that country from its native Czechoslovakia in pursuance of a more prosperous future. After graduating medical school at the University of Melbourne in 1966, Dr. Markovic became attracted to the comparatively liberal opportunities then offered to women physicians in Canada. At present, Dr. Markovics practice remains strongly informed by a global influence; she and her husband, the General Practitioner Dr. Peter Kuhlmann, frequent the European medical conference circuit, finding time to attend several professional development seminars in the Old World each year, including stops in countries such as France and Spain. To supplement this education, Dr. Markovic will attend between eight and ten such conferences in North America. During her previous career as a general practitioner, Dr. Markovic cites her proclivity for picking up emergency room shifts on weekends as evidence of her passion for medicine. Although her second and current career in cosmetics has occupied most of her professional time for more than fifteen years now, Dr. Markovic images that she could still step into a more conventional medical practice at any time. Quite honestly, she pledges, I just love medicine. Although Cygnus has a literal connection to the stars, in the form of the swan constellation bearing an identical name, Dr. Markovic is hesitant to endorse the radical superficial cosmetic procedures broadcast on the faces of our cultures stars of a different nature. In fact, Dr. Markovic very cautiously uses the term cosmetic, itself, only employing it when strictly, descriptively necessary. Influenced by a robust, polymathic education in several medical fields, Dr. Markovic adheres to a romantic conception of Medicine, one that allows her to couch the work she does in a larger context of interrelated approaches to mental and physical health. At the end of the day, she insists, Im still a physician. Dr. Markovic charts a growth over time in the cultural understanding and practice of a number of surgeries meant to extend and improve the quality of

ones life - that is, to help us live longer and better. In traditional medicine, the adoption and endorsement of previously impossible procedures has been a nobrainer. After all, in her words, were not in the middle ages! Dr. Markovic yearns for a general understanding of her work as mental as much as physical rejuvenation. Your mind is very powerful if you feel good about yourself, Dr. Markovic philosophizes. It is only logical, then, that if your mental health emboldens, youll be able to overcome your problems more easily. Cygnus does not bill for one-on-one consultations, which are generally a full hour in length and involve the fulsome, open-minded assessment of patient-initiated goals, occasionally including referrals to mental health professionals. Dr. Markovic, who understands that a doctor is always also a counsellor, has not problem justifying this generous behaviour, relating that its what ive been doing for thirty years. Dr. Markovic despairs somewhat at the increasingly conspicuous competition that bedevils all medical fields in the current climate. Contrary to popular wisdom, she conceptualizes her practice as a complement to surgical and dermatological procedures that ostensibly work towards similar ends. Although several of the specific procedures offered at Cygnus can be rendered by cosmetic surgeons or medical professionals in other areas, Dr. Markovic promises that, in this case, the hyper-specialization of contemporary medicine can work to her patients benefit. In simple terms, as her practice is dedicated full-time to fillers and facials procedures, the results and technical quality of her work are unmatchable by those who perform such services only occasionally. Conveniently, every procedure Dr. Markovic performs is outpatient in nature; patients leave the clinic with no prospect of downtime or physical pain, beyond perhaps some light bruising. Although her body of patients is still predominantly consistent of women, Dr. Markovics estimates that men now comprise up to 25% of her practice. In particular, patients of both genders are frequently drawn from professional fields that privilege physical appearance, including law and politics. Although the bulk of Dr. Markovics patients are between 35 and 65 years of age, she also frequently treats acne and related skin conditions in teenagers. Both in-office and via external referrals (often to her husband) Dr. Markovic is qualified to and comfortable with ensuring that patients also have access to a number of skin-related procedures not covered by OHIP, including small biopsies and excisions, and the removal of warts and skin tags. Currently, the Cygnus facility, centrally located on Tecumseh Ave, is nearing the end of an exhaustive course of impressive renovations, as if a physical manifestation of its proprietors ever-evolving commitment to beauty and rejuvenation. The one constant at Cygnus, which demonstrates always a commitment to progressive, innovative procedures, is Dr. Markovic herself. Suggests the doctor, her Australian youth still hiding in the corners of her effervescent lilt, Im going to be carted out of here in a coffin!