As an emergency room physician at Cook Children’s Medical Center, Dr. Catherine Moore has a very important job. “I love taking care of kids,” she says. And though her enthusiasm for caring for children makes her medical career appear linear, her journey to pediatrics was anything but. “When I started college, I thought I was going to be a politician,” she says.
However, a great professor and a love of chemistry drew her in a different direction…though it wasn’t pediatrics. “I actually got a PhD before I went to medical school because I thought I wanted to be a researcher and an astronaut. Then I decided maybe not. Maybe I should go to med school and be a doctor.”
Along with her medical degree, Dr. Moore’s PhD in molecular physiology and biophysics gives her a very unique perspective when providing care and aesthetic treatments for patients at Defying Time, a med spa located in the Parker County community of Willow Park. “The advantage we have in that industry is that I am not just trained in aesthetics. I understand a lot of physiology that plays into what we do in aesthetics… So, when we need to wiggle and we need to adjust our pathway to get to what we want to do, we’re able to do it.”
Whether she’s caring for children in the ER or turning back the clock with med spa treatments, for Dr. Moore, it’s all about helping people feel and look their best.
But she did leave a lasting legacy that helped change the lives of strangers across the world in a small village in West Bengal.
While aesthetics wasn’t always part of Dr. Moore’s plan, she found inspiration to open her practice from the improved medical techniques in the aesthetics industry. Witnessing facelift surgeries in medical school, Dr. Moore was struck by the “brutal” bruising and recovery period. “You looked like you had been in a car wreck for, like, a month. It was horrible.”
Fortunately, there has been much progress in the aesthetics industry, on both the surgical and non-surgical sides. “This branch of medicine has gone from zero to huge because of the innovations,” says Dr. Moore, going on to say the technology and treatments available to patients today are amazing. Patients now have access to facelifts and other procedures with improved techniques and recovery periods. And these days, many aesthetic concerns can be addressed with minimally invasive treatment options. “And the thing that’s driving those is the want,” Dr. Moore says. “People want it—to not look old and to feel good. So, when I realized that this was a real thing, and there was real medicine and real science in it, I was like, ‘Oh, this is really cool.’”
This led to the birth of Defying Time. “When we started this place 7 years or so ago, we initially went and did some injector training… It started out as a hobby. I always tell people, ‘This is not my real job; this is my hobby job. This is what I do for fun.’ It’s very fun just because people come in happy, and they leave happy. There’s no urgency to it. Everybody just wants to look better. That’s a very normal part of life.”
Dr. Moore also drew inspiration to pursue aesthetics from her late mother. “My mom always wanted a facelift her whole life… As she was getting older, she definitely aged faster than some other people, and she really wanted a facelift. But she couldn’t really do the downtime because she was busy all the time, and she couldn’t take a month off, right? Most people can’t… She passed away; she never got a facelift.”
But she did leave a lasting legacy that helped change the lives of strangers across the world in a small village in West Bengal.
So, how does a small Indian village called Khatguria factor into the founding of a med spa in Willow Park? “My chemistry teacher in college—as he was getting close to retiring from being a professor—started a school in India,” Dr. Moore explains. “He had this little, tiny school that started educating these kids that had never, ever been to school. Their parents hadn’t, their grandparents hadn’t.”
Now, not only do the children of Khatguria receive a good education, but they’re showing themselves to be some of the brightest minds in the country. “In India, every year they take a national exam, and this school has some of the top scorers on that exam. They get these kids, and they educate them very well. It’s an amazing project.”
Dr. Moore and her husband were so impressed with the school that they planned to start a scholarship program in honor of Dr. Moore’s late mother. But as the educational needs were met, it became more apparent that there were now other pressing necessities missing from the village. They didn’t have a local health facility or the resources to tend to the medical needs of the children attending school. And though Dr. Moore intended to provide a scholarship, her professor had other ideas.
“I talked to my professor, and I sent him a check. He came back from his trip (to Khatguria) that year and sent me blueprints for the clinic. He’s like, ‘Here’s what we need.’”
In 2016, the village became home to a healthcare facility called the Louise Watkins Moore Wellness Centre, in honor of Dr. Moore’s mother.
Soon after, Defying Time was created, with all of the funds designated to support the wellness center in Khatguria. “When we set this place (Defying Time) up, we had already built this clinic in India for people who don’t have healthcare,” Dr. Moore says. “We had already built that clinic, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, well, if we make a profit doing this, I can just send it to this other clinic that’s taking care of patients who have no healthcare.’ So, that was the design of this clinic. I don’t take any money home from here. Profits go to fund that other clinic.”
With the addition of a school and a health facility, Khatguria’s entire economic structure has changed. Children who have completed school and gone on to pursue further education are now coming back to serve in their local community. Women who were once unable to work and feed their families can now take part in a training program that teaches them to sew, allowing them to supply uniforms for the school. With a paying job, some of these women have now become the breadwinners of their families.
So, while the people of Willow Park and the surrounding areas benefit from the anti-aging treatments Defying Time provides, the people of Khatguria can enjoy access to education, healthcare, and technology, leading to a much more sustainable lifestyle and a promising future.
“That’s why we named it Defying Time,” Dr. Moore explains. “We defy time for people here and the people in India. Their whole time has changed. They went from being way behind us to now they’re caught up.”
When it comes to aesthetics, the anti-aging treatments at Defying Time are some of the most tried and true when it comes to skincare. That’s what makes them so appealing to patients. “We have a lot of popular treatments,” Dr. Moore says. “Generally, people are looking for Botox. So, that’s one of our most popular, of course.”
Along with cosmetic injectables like wrinkle relaxers and dermal fillers, Defying Time also offers non-surgical body sculpting, IV hydration, and pelvic floor strengthening. The team can also provide expert advice on how to maintain a good daily skincare routine. In the lobby, you’ll see a selection of nutrient-rich supplements that help support skin health. These supplements are also great for patients who take part in one of the comprehensive weight loss programs.
“There’s an arsenal of weapons to use for weight loss,” Dr. Moore says. “We have some great ones now that we didn’t used to have, which has really helped that whole field.” However, as a trained physician, she is quick to stress the most important part of any weight loss program. “I want patients to learn a healthy lifestyle, to learn to do things to take weight off that’s going to keep weight off… So, I’m a little tougher on my patients about their exercise routines and things like that. They check in every week, and we talk about, ‘Are you doing your reps? Are you getting the resistance in? Tell me what you’ve been doing.’ And we keep on them a little bit harder.” Following her advice has been paying off. Altogether, Dr. Moore’s patients have lost—and managed to keep off—over 1,000 pounds.
When patients come in looking for weight loss support or a facial refresh, it’s important for them to have manageable expectations. The key, Dr. Moore says, is to help patients set realistic goals and recognize that an aesthetic journey is a process, not a one-and-done, quick-fix treatment.
“I think the nurses do a great job of managing expectations and letting people know, you know, there’s no miracle cure for aging. There are lots of things that we can do to stop the progression… You just have to have patience.”
As for Dr. Moore, she enjoys encouraging her team and patients, as well as problem-solving and helping patients figure out how to reach their goals. “My favorite thing to do, mostly, is to cheer everyone on… When a patient’s got a problem, I sit down and talk to them… If I can help them figure that out and accomplish it, whether it’s aesthetics, weight loss, or feeling better—that’s kind of my gig. That’s what I really enjoy doing.”
The Defying Time team also offers facials, chemical peels, and microneedling to help keep your skin refreshed and youthful. When it comes to laser procedures, like hair removal or skin resurfacing, Dr. Moore recommends considering the time of year when scheduling these treatments.
“All of our resurfacing is much better in the fall/winter months,” she says. “What we’re in now is what we call ‘laser season’ because you’re not in your bikini. It’s too cold for that. So, we have covered skin that we can work on because you’re going to keep it covered. If you’ve got an age spot (on your arm), we can laser that off. Now is the time to do that. The fall is great for that… Anybody who wants laser hair removal, a lot of times, they aren’t thinking about it now because they’re not in their bathing suit. But now is really the time to do it because you’re not in your bathing suit. There’s definitely a seasonality to it. In the summer, we do lots of summer facials, and we do Botox and fillers. We have some things that are definitely not sun sensitive that we continue to do.”
Although winter is ideal for laser procedures, patients can schedule the treatments at any point throughout the year, as long as they’re willing to take a few extra precautions to protect their skin.
“I’ve had teachers who want to come in and get procedures in the summer because they’re not working, and they have that downtime. So, we do summer procedures as well, depending on people’s lifestyles. But I have to tell them, ‘Hey, you’re not going to be in your garden. You’re not going to be outside at the swimming pool. This is what you’re going to be doing for this amount of time as you heal from whatever we’re doing.’”
As far as serving Willow Park, Weatherford, and the surrounding communities, Dr. Moore says, “It’s a great place to do aesthetics because we have beautiful people. Literally, they’re gorgeous… One of the best things about doing aesthetics in this community is how genuine and beautiful people are. We’re blessed. We have a great community. We love being in Parker County, and we love taking care of Parker County. It's a great place to work, live, and be.”
To learn more, visit defyingtimetx.com
“That’s why we named it Defying Time. We defy time for people here and the people in India."
"We love taking care of Parker County. It's a great place to work, live, and be."