My Best Friend, The Doctor - By Leigh Sullivan

My Best Friend       

Females - young, or old - are fickle. We tell each other what we want to hear: “Does my butt look too big in these jeans?” “Do you like my haircut?” The list goes on and on. Some friends just say what we want to hear because it’s easier. My best friend, however, does NOT.

She is brutally honest, and for that I love her even more! My best friend is a “real life doctor.” She is beautiful, smart, and dead-ass honest. I’d like to think I am reasonably attractive (by American standards), I have a nice-ish complexion, and am not wrinkly, but the second I ask my bestie what she’d do to me if given the chance, she spews out a laundry list so extensive that I always feel like burying my head in the sand like an ostrich!

Her diagnosis? “Your complexion is spotty and you need the Ovivo Sol. You have ‘bunnies’ (wrinkles) in your forehead and you need Botox. You could use some Juvederm in your laugh lines and a touch of Sculptra in your cheeks to give your cheek bones that lift you had in high school!” 

Ok, WHOA — All meet my bestie, Dr. Tahl Humes of Vitahl Medical Aesthetics. I’m 39 years old, about to be 40 and after a good hard look—I know she’s right! BITCH!!

I have had two babies, I’m of Irish/Italian/German descent, so the reds and the browns are predominate. I have lived a life in the Colorado sun, and like most, I have sun damage, so Dr. Humes informed me that I have “Melasma,” a tan or dark skin discoloration usually found during pregnancy. Although it can affect anyone, melasma is particularly common in women, especially pregnant women and those who are taking oral or patch contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medications.

I grew up in a family that prided themselves on their looks (not just their faces, people) but how their bodies stacked up next to their peers. And while like I said, I’d like to think that I am average in my looks, I’d also like to point out that I have a theory. Males tend to “appreciate with age” and women (in general) “de-appreciate with age.” So I’m going to do whatever I can to maintain what God gave me, for as long as I can, and I’ll do it with the help of my way too honest best-friend, who just happens to be an MD.

I have now subjected myself to three rounds of Ovivo-Sol (laser treatment that takes care of the browns and the reds) received Botox on my forehead, “bunnies” and the squinty lines around my eyes. I have shot my laugh lines with Juvederm, and gotten my cheek bones shot twice with Sculptra so I can maintain those cheekbones the good lord gave me.

Am I perfect? Oh HELL no! That will never happen. But God bless my bestie for being that brutally honest woman who ALWAYS tells me when my hair color looks like shit, or my dress is actually ugly. Because in my humble opinion, we actually need three things in life: 1. A perfect pair of high-heels 2. A perfect fitting bra and 3. The most brutally honest best friend in the whole world!


Love you doc! – Mean it!  XOXO

Patient Blog - Denver Laser Tattoo Removal at VITAHL - How Leigh Sullivan Got Her Groove Back

They say that divorce is a great way to redefine yourself from start to finish. Six months ago, I wouldn’t have believed them.

The lawyers have names for the various different types of divorce: at-fault, no-fault, collaborative, mediated, uncontested and even “electronic,” whatever that means. But the suits can slap whatever name they want to on the big D, but no matter what, at the end of the countless phone calls and text messages, at the end of the day your left unequivocally separated from the life you used to know.

My life? It was a seven-year marriage that produced a beautiful baby girl and a mini-restaurant empire. We were employers of nearly 120 men and women, owned a home, a couple cars and shared a big, fat slobbering mess of an English bulldog. On the outside we looked like we had things pretty figured out. But on the inside…well that was where the problem was.

My husband and I split in July of 2011. We were officially divorced in December. He got the restaurant, a car and a bunch of other crap not worth mentioning. But what I got from him was a reminder…

I consider myself to be a pretty confident woman. I’m driven, well educated, complex, business savvy and I’d like to think I’m somewhat easy on the eyes. But one morning, two weeks after the split, I woke up wondering who I’d become.

That morning during a workout at Pure Barre in Cherry Creek I realized that I hadn’t been looking at myself in the mirror and when I did, I didn’t even recognize myself. That smart, driven woman I knew seven years ago had vanished. I felt tired all the time. My marriage, my two kids, my businesses…they had consumed me. I had completely stopped taking care of myself. I was too busy. The family needed dinner. The husband had another event to attend. Our restaurants were too successful. I was making excuses.

I call that moment with the mirror my “Ah-Ha!” moment. I took a hard look at myself and realized that it was beyond time that I stopped being a victim to my life and started taking the reigns again. I was awakened. Energized. At that moment I decided to start living my life for myself again.

When we got married I decided to get a tattoo to symbolize our love for one another. I got a Claddagh heart directly on the inside of my left wrist with his signature inside of the heart. On our seventh anniversary I got our anniversary date tattooed on my left shoulder. Those had to go.

I called Dr. Humes. She and I have been great friends for quite some time, and I figured she would be the best person to help me find someone to remove those painful reminders. Tahl told me that she had, in fact, that morning received her latest piece of equipment, the RevLight SI that could handle those tattoos without a problem. “Great,” I told her. “Sign me up.”

During the first treatment I decided not to numb the pain. I figured if I was dumb enough to get someone’s name tattooed on my wrist then that thing better hurt coming off. Dr. Humes asked me if I was sure. I was. Dr. Humes and her staff at Vitahl Medical Aesthetics were just as accommodating and remarkable as they always have been. Tahl talked me through the procedure and answered every one of my crazy questions.

Each zap of the laser felt as if I was removing a piece of the past and becoming the woman I always envisioned myself to be. I thought about my daughters and who I want them growing up to be. I want them to be strong and confident. I want them to take on the world around them and not limit themselves to what they can accomplish. I want them to be proud of the women they’ve become. I want them to see themselves as beautiful.

Did it hurt? Yeah it hurt (I’ve iced each time since). But not as much as it did when I realized I’d forgotten who I was. I left Vitahl that day on the road to recovery. To healing. To redefinition.