Acupuncture Facelifts Promote Prevention
Aug 01, 2023 08:29AM ● By Linda Sechrist
In the early 1990s while studying acu- puncture to earn her degree at the Acupunc- ture Center of Naples, Doctor of Oriental Medicine Terri Evans chose to focus her attention on treating the side effects of chemotherapy. A challenging direction for her career, it wasn’t exactly what she had planned, but otherwise Evans would never have turned her focus to prevention. “Acu- puncture schooling that lasts for four years, along with continuing education courses and special workshops, is all about balancing the body. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, all disease starts with an imbalance somewhere in the body. While that wasn’t recognized when I first started school, it is today. We know that an imbalance, the root of all disease, can be created by eating processed foods, lack of exercise and poor lifestyle choices,” says Evans.
To get the news out about the power of prevention, she began to speak publicly throughout the U.S. While people attended her talks and although articles appeared locally in Gulf Shore Life, people didn’t understand the concept of prevention as a system of optimal body functions to avoid chronic diseases. “It felt as though I had backed myself into the corner of not want- ing to deal with disease. I wanted to help keep people healthy,” advises Evans.
When a man came to her office in 1997 to be treated for Bell’s palsy, a neurological disorder that causes paralysis or weakness on one side of the face, she gave him a series of treatments. Months later, he returned, along with his wife. “He had a different request, ‘The side of my face that you worked on appears younger than the other side. Can you treat it so that it looks the same? My wife says she thinks the difference is like father and son.’ That was the beginning of my including a treatment that balances the whole body, allowing me to treat whatever health issue is showing up on their face. I remembered from my train- ing that what we see in the face reflects what’s going on in the body,” she says.
The first part of the treatment is a Japanese style of meridian balancing, followed by a facial that includes exfoliation, cleans- ing and hydrating. “I follow it with needling the face, and then taking out the body needles. I was a licensed esthetician before I became an acupuncturist,” says Evans, who recommends a series of 10 treatments.
Evans must observe her clients at least once a month to see patterns on the face that hint at early problems. “The clients that have been coming to me since 1997 for this treatment are on few, if any, pharmaceuticals, and they’re not on massive quantities of supplements. They are very active people, playing tennis, doing yoga and riding their bikes,” she enthuses.
Looking at a client’s face, taking their pulses and examining their tongue provides all the clues she needs. In practice for 32 years, Evans is so skilled that she can detect someone’s health issues before they tell her about them. “No one’s health issues ‘just started’, which is what many clients tell me. They sometimes tease me and say that they can’t get away with anything because I see everything. I can tell if they’ve not been eating a good diet, not drinking enough water, not exercising and not sleeping. I can also tell if they’ve started something that’s good for them, like meditation. I’m also trained in functional medicine. The combination gives me lots of tools to catch imbalances early and correct them,” notes Evans.
“Americans still don’t get the concept of self-care. With all the stress in our lives today, self-care is a necessity. Stress in the body can be compared to a woven thread in a knitted fabric. Constantly pulled tight, it frays and unravels. On a monthly basis, it’s wise to choose something to unravel it with before it breaks, whether it’s massage, acupuncture, yoga or facials,” says Evans.
Tae Healthy Aging Center is located at 11983 Tamiami Tr. N., Ste. 100A, in Naples. For more information, call 239-430-6800 or visit TaeHealthyAging.com.
