Dr. Diane Wong is a cosmetic physician with over 20 years of experience in the non-surgical cosmetic industry. Known for her “baby-steps” approach which focuses on taking slow steps regarding treatments, she takes a client-first approach with her patients.
She has written articles, appeared on various programs, and has been advising and partnering with spa organizations to bring to the forefront the concerns associated with the Medi Spa industry. Medi Spa is a term that is supposed to refer to a medical clinic that provides medical skin treatment and is supervised and operated by a qualified medical physician. Of course, Medi Spa has now come to mean a wide range of things. This is dangerous, as many clients have become the victims of malpractice and lack of training needed to perform treatments safely.
As such, Dr Wong has spent much of her career advocating for medical training and expertise in cosmetic spa treatments, having seen first-hand the damage caused by botched treatments performed by untrained or unqualified spa employees. Dr Wong has cemented herself as an industry leader, prioritizing patient needs and safety, and customizing and personalizing treatments rather than following trends.
Career Beginnings
Dr Wong studied medicine at McMaster University, receiving her degree in medicine in 1996. After this, she completed her residency, specializing in urology from 1996 to 2000. At the time, there were only two female physicians practicing urology in all of Canada, and Dr Wong found herself hugely outnumbered by her Caucasian male peers.
She has stated that her time in urology gave her thick skin, from being the smallest person in the operating room, needing special accommodations in regard to surgical attire, to presenting at a urology conference where the entire audience was male. While she has said that she fell in love with surgery the first time she did it, it was also not meant to be.
In 2001, she received her certificate to practice family medicine, and opened her own practice, which she ran until 2006.
Glow Medi Spa
While working as a family physician, Dr Wong opened her flagship clinic, Glow Medi Spa in Yorkville, Toronto in 2001. This was a huge shift, saying goodbye to surgery, and instead embracing the beauty industry with its needles and lasers. This is a change that she says was welcome, as she is able to better connect with clientele, many of whom are women, building long-lasting relationships with patients as they trust her with their care.
The name, Glow Medi Spa was inspired by the reviews she received, of clients remarking on their glowing skin after treatments. The clinic became hugely popular and has won several awards, including the Canadian Top Medi Spa award in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Due to the clinic’s popularity, dominated by word-of-mouth referrals by their exclusive clientele, Dr Wong was able to open two more locations, one in Aurora in 2015, and one in Markham in 2017.
During this time, she also worked as an educator, teaching medical professionals on the uses of lasers and injectables such as Botox. She also joined the Leading Spas of Canada to work with spas to ensure that all treatments were being given ethically, with patient safety at the forefront.
Pandemic Changes
Up until 2020, Dr Wong loved her job, but was also swept up by it, she has stated that she had no time for her personal life, pushing off family and friends for another time. However, COVID-19 forced her to stop due to the shutdowns, and this finally made Dr Wong reevaluate her values and priorities.
In 2020, after two months of shutdown, she sold her Markham location, now called Mernov Medi Spa so she could focus more on her other two locations as well as her family. She has written about how unsure and unstable everything seemed, especially as someone who was working so hard towards a certain dream or vision, when the pandemic suddenly threw a wrench in all of it.
Eventually she embraced video consultations and appointments, and once she was given the green light, slowly opened up her practices in person, while following all health and safety measures as outlined by the government and health officials.
Current Happenings
On April 20th, 2023, Dr Wong bid farewell to her flagship clinic in Yorkville. After over 20 years at the clinic, she handed over the reigns to Dr Suzanne Mady, choosing to operate solely out of her Aurora clinic, which has now been renamed G Medi Spa. She also downsized the clinic, moving to a new location in Aurora. She still offers the same treatments as before with the exceptionally high standards that all of her clients have come to expect, just, a little closer to home.
Lily Frances | Staff Writer
