Eye on Small Business: Chill Factor Cryo Studio, Mahopac

The days are getting decidedly cooler – especially at the recently-opened Chill Factor Cryo Studio in Mahopac.

If you’re unfamiliar with cryotherapy, you may find this story chilling. Sometimes known as cold therapy, cryotherapy is the use of low temperatures to treat a variety of tissue lesions with minimal discomfort, as in cryosurgery or cryoablation. Cryo, however, has become big in noninvasive cosmetic procedures – which brings us back to Mahopac, where Melissa Paleo has set up her studio in the Canvas Hair & Beauty Salon.

“I do all treatments on my own at this time but am surrounded by wonderful hair stylists in a beautiful salon,” Paleo told the Westfair Business Journal, describing how Chill Factor Cryo Studio uses cutting-edge subzero technology to meet her clients’ health, wellness and beauty needs.

The device she uses provides a “safe, natural and noninvasive alternative to aesthetic services like Botox or cool-sculpting, which can have negative side effects, such as swelling and burning of the skin,” said Paleo, who has a 14-year background running multiple, hospital-based, physical therapy locations. Additional benefits, she added, include improved sleep and moods, increased energy and metabolism and stress relief.

Among the many treatments she performs, “frotox” facials are extremely popular, as “clients can see significant smoothing and tightening results after a single session.” She also oversees cryo-slimming, a therapy with more of a cumulative effect, depending on the client’s body type and target area, but with results that will nevertheless be seen “by the five-session mark.”

The frozen technology can also be applied to orthopedic treatments and even to revitalizing tattoos. “The possibilities are endless,” said Paleo, who became interested in and later involved with cryotherapy after she had bought a cryo-slim package for herself and was bowled over by the results. “I knew I needed to make this more available to more people,” she added.

Paleo currently relies on word of mouth to publicize the studio, while working to improve her website. She is also devoting time to increasing her Facebook and Instagram presence.  She said there was “definitely room to grow in this and surrounding communities, as this therapy is unique in the area.”

While her typical client base is women looking for safe, natural beauty and rejuvenation, she has also treated men for a variety of conditions, including muscle spasm – yet another use for cryotherapy.

One of the treatments she is most proud of? “I gave my 78-year-old father a facial and he was blown away by the results.”