By Beth Landman
K-beauty has been leading cosmetic trends for a while, with everything from sheet masks to “glass skin” serums, but it’s the clinical Korean approach that is having a moment right now, and the Hamptons is about to get its own center.
Airem, which is derived from the Korean word for beauty and had a soft opening on August 1, is the creation of Dr. Eunice Park, a facial plastic surgeon who opened her flagship in Syosset in 2020, unveiled a second site in Midtown, and has one underway in Chelsea. “The new Water Mill location is inspired by the female freedivers of Jeju Island; they embody strength, beauty, wisdom and female empowerment,” she says.
Park was born in Korea and saw firsthand the evolution of the aesthetic scene there. “I have been traveling back and forth my whole life, and witnessed how Korea has become a beauty epicenter,” she says. “Early on I identified certain protocols, and there is quite a difference between medical-grade beauty and peel-off collagen masks.’’
Among the clinical breakthroughs are new devices that Park will be bringing to her outpost in Water Mill, including Everesse, a monopolar radio frequency skin tightener. It is not a laser, doesn’t require needles and is not painful, the way Thermage and other past machines were.
“I have been waiting a long time for this type of device to be cleared by the FDA,” she says. “The Everesse is less painful because of the way energy is delivered, and the way in which it is cooled down on the skin with a water system.”
One advantage of many of the newer machines, including lasers, is that they can treat darker skin. “For a long time, lasers were only safe to treat very fair skin,” says Park. “Asian skin has been challenging, and there can be side effects like pigmentation issues, but these devices treat a diverse range of skin tones, including those of Latinos and African Americans.”
Park gives a la carte treatments, but she is also offering memberships. These will be by invitation only, determined not by social strata, like many other enrollments, but by whether the patient is a good fit.
“It’s a two-way relationship,” she explains. “In Asia, many people go every week, or at least every month. We have to get to know the patient and their skin. They have to be medically cleared, and it has to be determined that they will get optimal results.”
Park is set on making good skin accessible. “I want to make it affordable for people here to come regularly,” she says. “I think that’s the key to skin longevity.” airem.co