Dr. Yvette Suarez Of Bella MedSpa Can Make You Look & Feel More Beautiful, Too!

Dr. Yvette Suarez is the owner and medical director at Bella MedSpa, located in the same plaza as Nutrition S’Mart on Bruce B. Downs Blvd., just south of S.R. 56.

When a patient walks out of Bella MedSpa, one of owner Yvette Suarez, M.D.’s hopes is that no one can tell that the patient just walked out of a medspa.

She’d rather hear that her clients were complimented for having better skin, fewer wrinkles and a fresher look, maybe even mistaken for changing their hair color or benefiting from an extra few hours of sleep.

“It’s not, I know what you had done,’’ says Dr. Suarez, “because if they say that, it probably wasn’t a good job.”

Dr. Suarez says that everyone at Bella MedSpa (which is located next to Nutrition S’Mart on Bruce B. Downs Blvd., just south of S.R. 56 and the Shops at Wiregrass mall), takes great pride in being part of making their patients not only look better, but feel better, without using techniques that create harsh or jolting transformations.

While a plethora of services for one’s face and body, inside and out, are offered for men and women at Bella MedSpa, Suarez says her most popular services are non-surgical procedures performed with BOTOX and cosmetic dermal fillers, which help reduce lines and wrinkles. Dr. Suarez says it’s all about incremental improvements, via carefully prescribed programs designed to reverse many of the effects of aging.

“Who says now at the age of 40, you have to feel 80, when we have something to make us feel better?,” Dr. Suarez says. “Would you not want to feel like you were 30 again, when you’re 50? Most of us would.”

New Tampa’s Karen Mohn has been a Bella MedSpa client for more than five years, and has indulged in a number of services. She says she always appreciates the experience, starting with a staff she describes as warm and friendly, to the gentle touch of Dr. Suarez, who has produced a number of subtle changes that Mohn approves of, and — just as important — that no one else is struck by.

“I’m in a few ladies’ groups that meet monthly, and those who know I had something done always compliment me,’’ Mohn said. “But in general, those who don’t know will comment of how beautiful my skin looks, and ask how I keep it so nice.”

It’s simple, she says — “I take advantage of technology.”

Dr. Suarez and a staff of 13 help administer that technology at Bella MedSpa, which has roughly 11,000 clients, which speaks to the growing popularity of nonsurgical cosmetic enhancements. She began her practice in 2005, in the Summergate Professional Park behind Sam’s Club, before relocating Bella to its current location in 2011, because she needed more space.

As a child, Dr. Suarez says she always knew she’d be a doctor, because every time someone got hurt in the family, she was one doing the fixing up.

“I think I told my mother when I was in eighth grade that I was going to be a doctor when I grew up. That, or a pilot,’’ she says, laughing.

Either way, Dr. Suarez says she knew she wanted to do something to help people. She attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ,  and earned her M.D. degree in 2000 from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark.

She completed a residency program at the Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando. Since her residency, she worked for seven years as a Pediatric Emergency Physician in Tampa, four years as an Urgent Care Physician and six years as a Cosmetic Physician.

“I always loved orthodontics, I loved putting joints back in, loved putting in chest tubes, things that can make people feel better immediately,’’ Suarez said. “Fixing someone is the best thing.”

But, Suarez also says she was interested in a field that allowed her to spend more time with her patients, as well as more time with her husband, Bella MedSpa CEO David Singletary, and their children.

“Before, it was get them stable, get them treated, get them out,’’ Dr. Suarez says. “Here, you get to know them, they talk to you about all their problems. I find it very touching that you really have the time you don’t in most insurance-based practices. I’m blessed to have that luxury.”

Dr. Suarez says she never stopped learning, and is certified to provide all of the services available at Bella MedSpa. She is the regional instructor for a number of companies that make the products she uses, and also teaches other physicians the skills for Lipo Body Sculpting.

Dr. Suarez says that about 50 percent of her patients are men, who try everything from liposculpting (above) to hormone replacement therapy in order to look and feel better.

She says she has been training the past two years for Allergan, which lists BOTOX, Juvederm and Kybella among its many products, to train other physicians and practitioners so they can get certified, too.

Most common at Bella MedSpa are the injectables, such as BOTOX and dermal fillers. Because there are many varieties — for example, there are five different kinds of Juvederm — Dr. Suarez says it’s important to keep clients educated on which filler, and how much of it, is best for them.

“I’ve been to a place that used two syringes, or two vials, one on each side,’’ Mohn says. “All they cared about was selling the product.”

At Bella MedSpa, Mohn says one vial of the product was used, and it was carefully administered over a wider area. “Her staff is concerned and interested in you, and that’s more important to them than selling product.’’

It also helps patients avoid looking like Hollywood caricatures. While someone like Kylie Kardashian can drive in customers — “When she had her lips done, I think we had every young girl coming in wanting their lips done,” Dr. Suarez says — many clients want the exact opposite effect.

“I start slowly and work our way up instead of injecting tons of stuff right away, because I like a natural flow,’’ Dr. Suarez says. “They really like it as opposed to all at one time.”

Suarez says that Florida is one of the top states for injectables.

Vampire Facials?

Another recent trend, given a second life by the Kardashians, is a Vampire Facial, or facelift. It involves drawing a client’s blood and using a centrifuge to isolate the Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP), which is then infused back into the skin to stimulate collagen production. Suarez says Bella MedSpa probably administers at least one Vampire Facial a day. “It’s been going on for a long time, but obviously once you hear that one of the movie stars or a famous person does it, you’ll notice it,’’ she says.

She adds that the second most popular procedure at Bella MedSpa is liposculpting, which thanks to technology is not only better, but is no longer performed under general anesthesia; conscious sedation is used instead.

“We get to change the shape of someone, not just remove the fat,’’ Dr. Suarez says.

Facial treatments also are popular, she says. Bella MedSpa’s licensed aestheticians perform facials, chemical peels, eyelash extensions, eyebrow microblading, dermaplaning, microneedling and more.

Bella MedSpa also offers Liquivida IV Therapy which, in just 30-45 minutes, delivers vitamins, minerals and amino acids directly into the body’s bloodstream via an intravenous drip. A variety of vitamin drip combinations that serve specific purposes are available, as are medical weight loss programs.

The Fountain Of Youth?

Hormone Replacement Therapy is another treatment growing in popularity. For women, Dr. Suarez says that estrogen and progesterone deficiencies brought on by menopause can be controlled with Bio-Indentical replacements.

For younger men, Suarez says that testosterone levels should be around 800, but by the time men turn 40 or 50, that number can be closer to 400. Low testosterone can lead to decreased libido (sex drive), disturbed sleep, moodiness, loss of muscle mass and fatigue. Testosterone replacement with bio-identical Hormones can help reverse all those effects and Dr. Suarez says many of her male clients come in weekly for injections, while others have pellets surgically inserted in the buttocks area.

“We have a tremendous amount of male patients here,’’ says Dr. Suarez, who estimates that nearly 50 percent of her clients are men. She says most are fighting what she calls the “Couch Potato Syndrome”: once they get home and sit on the couch, they can’t get back up. She says that testosterone treatments can fix that.

“When I ask them if they have problems with focus, with memory, with energy and fatigue, or if they’re not getting the same results when going to the gym, they can relate,’’ she says. “That’s when you know. They think testosterone is just libido. Well, that’s a great thing to fix, but it’s not the only issue it can correct.”

Another popular choice of her male clientele is Kybella, an injectable that reduces the fat below a chin, or “double chin.” Dr. Suarez says that men are first bothered by that second chin because many wear shirts and ties that amplify it. At least half the clients receiving Kybella injections at Bella MedSpa are men, filling the waiting room many mornings.

“I had a woman walk in and look around and saw all these guys, and she looks at me, and I just said, “Yep, times are changing,’’’ Dr. Suarez says.

She adds that virtually all of her clients share common goals when they come to Bella MedSpa — to look better, and feel better. Dr. Suarez says she and her staff are always looking for ways to oblige them.

“My best day is when I treat a patient, and they get up and they hug me and say, ‘Thank you, I love coming to see you,’” she says. “That feeling that you really made a change is so much fun.”

Bella MedSpa is located at 1821 BBD Blvd. (between S.R. 56 and County Line Rd.) and is open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday.

For free consultations and more information, call (813) 929-1500 or visit BellaTampa.com.

Benito 7th Grader Aubrey Raile Scores A Flag Football TD With Her Persistence

Gabby Allen (left) and Aubrey Raile after the first day of boys flag football tryouts at Benito Middle School on March 21. (Photo courtesy of Christy Raile)

For the first time ever this school year, middle school girls in Hillsborough County can play flag football, and middle school boys can play volleyball.

Both sports have been added to the calendar, and Benito Middle School seventh grader Aubrey Raile played a big role in making it happen.

It was Aubrey’s carefully researched crusade that led county administrators to take a closer look at the middle school sports calendar. While the Hillsborough County School District couldn’t legally stop Aubrey, or any of her friends,  from trying out for the boys flag football team, concern about letting girls play a physical contact sport with much bigger boys led to the addition of two new middle school sports.

Aubrey started playing flag football in the sixth grade last year during PE class. She had never played before, but found that her speed made her an excellent pass rusher and that she enjoyed the other aspects of flag football – passing, catching, dodging tacklers, and pulling flags.

Flag football is 7-on-7, with all of the players wearing a belt with three flags on them (one in the back, one on each side). Everyone on the field is a receiver, and the game is played on an 80-yard field with first downs for teams every time they advance the ball 20 yards.

“As soon as I played, I found an enjoyment in the sport and wanted to play for my school,’’ Aubrey says.

When the middle school flag football season rolled around last March, however, she was told she couldn’t try out for the Jaguars’ team. Boys only, they said. Aubrey didn’t think that was fair.

She marched right to the library, and starting reading about the rules, and specifically, Title IX, a federal law that ensures that no one can be excluded from participation in any school program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. Basically, if a school offers a program just for boys, it needs to offer an equal opportunity for girls.

“When the coaches told her she couldn’t play, she went to the school library and found some books that explained the law,’’ said Christy Raile, Aubrey’s mother. “She put sticky notes all over the pages and gave it to me. She found the law, and highlighted it.

“Mom, is this right?,” Aubrey asked Christy. “Am I right?”

“I’m not an attorney, but I think this is right,’’ Christy replied. “I think they have to let you play.”

Emboldened by the support of friends like fellow sixth-graders Alexa Evans, Suhani Rana, Sannvi Prasad and Gabby Allen, the Railes continued to fight.

The people she talked to at the school district, Christy said, tried to dissuade Aubrey from trying out. She said she was told their rules overrode the state rules, although the county athletic office denies ever having said that.

Both sides continued to talk, but Aubrey was determined to show up to tryouts with a stack of books to argue her case.

An hour before the tryouts began at 3 p.m. on March 21, Christy says she was told Aubrey could trade those books for cleats and try out for the boys team.

While the school district does not consider it ideal for boys and girls to participate in contact sports like flag football, “We were directed by our attorney and our compliance officer that we needed to let that individual tryout,’’ said Jennifer Burchill, the county’s assistant director of athletics. “And, girls in general.”

Aubrey competed that day with roughly 75 boys, many of whom came up to her at tryouts and offered encouragement. Emery Floyd, one of the boys, was especially supportive, says Christy, picking Aubrey for his team and making sure she got as many opportunities to impress the coaches as everyone else.

Aubrey scored a touchdown during tryouts, produced several first downs and pulled four flags. Christy gets choked up when recalling that day, and how the other boys started chanting Aubrey’s name as she walked off the field.

“She played her heart out,’’ Christy said. “Maybe she wasn’t good enough to keep up with those eighth grade giants, only 5-feet tall and 95 pounds, but her heart was. And they knew it.”

Benito decided to create a sixth grade team for those who didn’t make it, and Aubrey played on it. The team had three practices, and played one game, against a sixth grade team from Turner/Bartells. Some of the opponents laughed at her, she says. “I expected it,’’ Aubrey says. “But, it only made me more determined to show I had as much right to be out there as they did.”

So, What About This Year?

The district, however, still had a problem to solve for the upcoming 2017-18 school year.

“It was felt in our department, amongst our district and upper administration, that we really did not want to combine boys and girls (on a flag football team),’’ said Burchill. “It really was not to our advantage for boys and girls to play together in flag football. We needed to find a solution.”

One principal from each of the county’s eight areas came together to form a committee. Instead of cutting sports to meet Title IX compliance, they came to the decision in May to reduce the track and field season, making room to add a boys team to volleyball, which previously only had a girls team, and a girls team to flag football, which only had a boys team.

It was the perfect compromise. The two sports are both low cost and open up a number of athletic opportunities that didn’t otherwise exist. It also keeps the county Title IX complaint.

“A win, win, win, all the way around,’’ says Christy, proudly.

While very few high schools have boys volleyball teams — Berkeley Prep and Brooks Debartolo are two of them — girls flag football has taken off at the high school level.

Last year, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA), which has offered a high school state championship since 2003 when it had 70 teams playing, expanded its playoffs from one classification to two.

There are now more than 200 girls flag football teams playing statewide, and Tampa Bay is one of the hot spots. Last season, Tampa’s Robinson High captured the Class A flag football title, while Plant High in downtown Tampa took home the Class 2A title.

For the first time, the teams at Wharton and Freedom high schools will now have feeder programs.

And, they can thank Aubrey, who saw something she thought was wrong and fought to make it right.

“I think this has been a great experience,’’ she says. “It opened up a lot of new opportunities and new possibilities. I think its great to know that kids and people like me can make a difference. That’s pretty amazing.”

Planned ‘Sensory Park’ Close To Viera’s Heart

Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera hosted a town hall meeting at the New Tampa Recreation Center in Tampa Palms that attracted roughly 75 local residents who came to discuss a number of issues., especially those related to the traffic in our area.

District 7 Tampa City Council member  and Hunter’s Green resident Luis Viera has championed many causes since being elected last December, from starting a veteran’s council to creating a New Tampa Council to taking a hands-on approach to tackling issues at the New Tampa Recreation Center.

But, Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s proposed Fiscal 2018 Tampa city budget has now given him another one. With $90,000 in the proposed budget earmarked for the design and study, it appears that a new “sensory-friendly” park could be in New Tampa’s future, to be located behind the BJ’s Wholesale Club on Commerce Palms Dr. in Tampa Palms.

For Viera, whose older brother Juan has autism, creating parks for special needs children and adults is an issue that hits close to home.

“It’s a big issue for me,’’ Viera says. “This park will be the first of its kind in Tampa. Frankly, this is the kind of stuff, that helps people, that you run for City Council for.”

A number of sensory-friendly attractions are being added across the country as more and more children and adults are identified as having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 3.5 million Americans live with ASD. Roughly one in every 68 children has been identified with ASD, and it is 4.5 times more common in boys (1 in 42) than girls (1 in 189). The prevalence of autism in U.S. children has increased by nearly 120 percent since the year 2000.

Those on the autism spectrum take in information from their five senses just like everyone else, but cannot process it the same way and become overwhelmed. Being overwhelmed leads to those within the spectrum being unable to communicate and interact, leading to anxiety and, in parental parlance, meltdowns.

A sensory-friendly park, then, would stress serenity. Sometimes, it is subtle and barely noticeable changes — like the addition of gardens and artwork, different walking surfaces, more comfortable swings — that can distinguish these parks from others but still keep them accessible to everyone.

“I think it would have a huge impact for many families who can’t participate in a typical park,’’ says Mindy Stevens, M.S., the program director for USF’s Center for Autism & Related Disabilities (CARD). “It will definitely lead to (these affected) families being able to access their community more.”

Because so many don’t understand what those on the autism spectrum go through, it often leads to bullying. Viera said his family still has painful memories of middle and high school, when Juan, who is now 46, was bullied.

“It’s something I grew up with, it was part of my life,’’ says Viera. “We have a lot of work to do. I’ve certainly seen changes. You still see lots of bullying out there, but it is getting better.”

Stevens said her staff has already met with Mayor Buckhorn about the park, as well as many within the city’s Parks & Recreation department. CARD will help train the proposed park’s staff and volunteers, while also providing technical support.

While the groundbreaking for the park is a ways off, Viera says he hopes the see it open within two years, adding that it will be one of his big priorities over the next 12 months.“The first sensory-friendly park in Tampa, to have it here, that’s a big deal,’’ he says.

Niche.com Study Says Easton Park Is No. 1

If you’re looking for  the best place to buy a home, Niche.com says you should look no further than Easton Park.

According to the website, Easton Park, which is part of K-Bar Ranch and located just north of Cross Creek Blvd. off Morris Bridge Rd., is the best place to buy a house in America.

Easton Park is No. 1 on the Niche.com list, but not the only New Tampa neighborhood to be highly ranked, as Grand Hampton came in at No. 4.

Niche.com is a Pittsburgh-based website that highlights the best places to live and go to school. It claims to combine “rigorous analysis with authentic reviews” in determining its rankings. A team of data scientists, it says, evaluate countless data sets to produce its results.

To determine the best places to live, 12 data sources — crime reports, community surveys, zip code business patterns and the American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau, to name a few — are listed with links.

Easton Park was given a B- grade for public schools, but A-plusses for housing and being good for families. It also received As for nightlife and diversity.

According to Niche.com, the median price for a home is $224,659, while the median household income in Easton Park is $109,293. The community is highly educated, according to the study — 25 percent of adult residents have a Master’s degree or more, compared with the national average of 11 percent, while 37 percent have Bachelor’s degrees, compared with the national average of 19 percent.

Grand Hampton, which is located west of Bruce B. Downs Blvd. on County Line Rd., received the same grades as Easton Park, with one exception — instead of an A for nightlife, it received an A-.

The median price for a home in Grand Hampton is $261,662, while the median household income is $121,245.

To check out more rankings or to search for your neighborhood or school, check out Niche.com.

School’s In: Things To Know

After a somewhat tumultuous spring, with several changes being implemented or announced — including new attendance boundaries for many New Tampa schools, busing and bell schedules — things are seeming to calm down as students and parents adjust to new routines.

Here’s what’s new for the 2017-18 school year in New Tampa, with more changes on the horizon for the following school year, including the rezoning of Clark, Heritage, Hunter’s Green and Pride elementary schools.

New Principals At Two Schools

While their official start dates were late last spring, two principals are looking forward to starting off the school year with new schools in our area.

Cindy Land is the new principal at Turner/Bartels K-8 School.

At Turner/Bartels K-8 School, principal Cindy Land replaced Jonathan Grantham, who left to become a deputy superintendent of schools in Marion County. Land had been principal at Pride Elementary since 2009 and prior to that, worked at Chiles.

“It’s definitely a blessing to be promoted to this position,” says Land, who lives in Live Oak Preserve and whose three sons will all attend Turner/Bartels this school year. “This is the neighborhood school for my children.”

She says that while her new school includes middle school grades six through eight, she sees a lot of similarities between  Turner/Bartels and Pride.

“We have a diverse population,” she says. “Parents are very interested in their children’s education, they participate and volunteer and are supportive. I also see that the community seems to really embrace the school. I’m excited to be here and to bring the school and community together,” she says.

Land’s departure from Pride left a vacancy there that has been filled by Amy Zilbar.

For the last four years, Zilbar was a principal coach for the school district, working with new principals and supporting them and others in leadership development. She says her position at Pride is a homecoming, of sorts.

Amy Zilbar replaces Cindy Land as principal at Pride Elementary.

“Early in my career, I worked at Hunter’s Green teaching first grade and as an administrative resource teacher,” she says. “Back then, the only schools in the area were Hunter’s Green, Clark and Tampa Palms.”

While Zilbar says she loved working as a principal coach, she’s happy to be back at a school site, “to put into practice all the things we have been working on,” she says.

“This school has been absolutely wonderful,” Zilbar adds. “Everyone has been so welcoming, from the teachers, to the PTA, to the community, and especially the students have been amazing.”

She says she looks forward to continuing the level of academic excellence already in place at Pride — a consistently A-rated school by the State Department of Education — and to building even more partnerships and traditions there.

Courtesy Busing Ends For Some

As school is getting under way, more New Tampa students will be walking and biking to area middle and high schools.

Many middle and high school students who have received courtesy busing (a bus to a school that is less than two miles from a student’s home) in the past will no longer have bus transportation provided by the Hillsborough County School District.

The responsibility of transportation is now on the parents, so expect further crowding of the roads, as parents who don’t want their children walking or biking will be driving to and from school, too.

However, for Wharton High students who live across Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. from the school, bus transportation will still be available for this school year.

Jamie Warrington, transportation and safety manager for Hillsborough County Public Schools, says that now that BBD is under construction to go to eight lanes in front of the school, it is considered a hazard for students to cross. Once that construction has been completed, BBD’s eight lanes will still be considered a hazard, so the bus transportation for those students will continue.

At our press time, the affected students had not yet been notified of the change, and the school district’s website has not been updated to reflect it, but Warrington says parents will be notified by email before school starts.

To find out if your child will be provided bus transportation to their school for this school year, visit http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/doc/445/transportation/resources/busroutes/.

It also is expected that the School Board will end courtesy busing for elementary school students for the 2018-19 school year.

New Bell Schedule For Turner/Bartels K-8 School

All of the schools in our area will have the same school hours as last year, except for Turner/Bartels K-8, where the school day will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. this school year.

Back in the spring, school officials proposed changing the bell schedules countywide to allow more time for buses to get students to school on time, but were met with such backlash that they put off the change for all schools countywide until next school year, 2018-19.

Through Friday, August 25, the school district is again accepting feedback on adjusting the school schedule ahead of the School Board’s final vote on the matter, which is expected to be held on Tuesday, October 17.

The District is asking parents, students, employees and members of the community to download and use an Excel spreadsheet “simulator” to “try out” different school start and dismissal times (using formulas in the spreadsheet that ensure each scenario meets appropriate number of minutes in the school day, along with not starting too early or late).

Then, people can submit their suggestions for start and end times by emailing their completed spreadsheet back to district staff.

To check out the start time simulator, click the link on the school district’s home page at SDHC.k12.fl.us or go directly to SDHC.k12.fl.us/doc/1985/administration/resources/bellsimulator/.