In a culture where it often feels like we must have it all figured out by the age of twenty-five, where "30 Under 30" lists are prevalent, and where life seems to end at 40, nurse practitioner Cynthia Stock's story is a breath of fresh air.
Cynthia, the leading medical professional at Vanity Aesthetics, found her way into medicine later in life. She became a nurse in 2005 while in her forties, starting as an LPN. Before that, Cynthia was a stay-at-home mother and even homeschooled her children. But while she was fulfilled in motherhood, her marriage was not a good one.
"I was in a marriage for 27 years that was very degrading and abusive," she says. "I did not hold my head up high. I was the puppy dog that was kicked whenever the owner walked through the door. I got to a point when I got out of that marriage, I said, ‘No more am I going to tuck my tail and hide.’"
Cynthia worked in family medicine for years, rebuilding her life after her divorce. But after
meeting the owner of Vanity Aesthetics, Cyndi Anderson, she felt supported and invested in and was excited to join their team.
Now, Cynthia enjoys empowering her patients with the offerings at Vanity Aesthetics, which include cosmetic procedures such as Botox, Xeomin, Latisse and others.
"I'm 58 — am I going to have a wrinkle here and there? Yes," says Cynthia. "And I'm letting the gray come into my hair. And I am owning it. But I'm going to own it my way."
Though cosmetic fillers have had a bad reputation in the past, the tide seems to be changing
when it comes to things like Botox, which Cynthia feels can give someone their dignity back.
"This helps me be the eagle that I am, and I want to soar above the storms," says Cynthia. "I'm
ready to soar. I want to help other women who have felt beaten down in their lives, even if it just
means taking and softening a wrinkle here and there. I am not looking to freeze someone's face. I want to soften it. I want to make them the best that they can possibly be."
And Cynthia has seen the effects of these services on her patients firsthand. One patient that sticks out to her is a male patient in his 30s. He has been coming in for micro-needling and PRP (platelet-rich plasma, injections of a concentration of the patient's own platelets to accelerate healing) to help severe acne scarring on the back of his neck and on his face.
"Just with 3 treatments, it's amazing," Cynthia says. "He says he catches himself looking in the
mirror and noticing. He said he got some pictures out from the past and he was comparing them
to recent pictures and he can see a difference. He says he'll catch his wife looking at him.
That's a treasure to me. If I can do that for somebody, that is a gift to me. It's amazing."
Cynthia is excited about a lot of the newer science and technology that Vanity Aesthetics is
using, such as BHRT, or Bioidentical Hormone Replacement, a hormone pellet therapy that can assist with hormone imbalances such as menopause.
“I want to be known as the hormone goddess of Kansas City,” says Cynthia, laughing. When it comes to seeking anti-aging treatments, the staff at Vanity Aesthetics is focused on meeting the individualized needs of every patient.
"All we are doing is taking what God gave us and enhancing it,” says Cynthia. “We are all going to age. We can choose to age gracefully, or we can choose to go out kicking and screaming. I choose to age as gracefully as I can and not go out kicking and screaming."
At the age of 58, Cynthia says her fifties have been so good to her. It is refreshing — and after talking to her, unsurprising — to hear that she cannot wait to see what her sixties hold.
