Dr. Helena Vasquez, MD
Helena is a physician with a dermatology background who founded Saltgrass in 2021. She writes every laser protocol the nurses work to, performs the CO2 resurfacing herself, and is in the building during laser hours.
Saltgrass · Pacific Beach · since 2021
Saltgrass opened in Pacific Beach in 2021 with one rule: no laser touches skin that has not been read and tested first. Five people work here, and the one who starts your plan finishes it.
In figures
All fictional.
- Founded
- 2021
- People
- 5
- Physician on site
- 1
- Patch check
- 48 h
Pillars
01
Test before treat
Every course starts with the Skin Read and a test patch checked at forty-eight hours. The test patch is included, and it is the one step we never skip.
02
Built for San Diego skin
Skin type decides the device and the settings; the beach decides the calendar. We treat deeper skin tones with the right device and say so, and we publish which months suit which areas.
03
Medical, in writing
A physician who writes the protocols and is in the building, nurse practitioner and registered nurse clinicians only, the same clinician for your whole plan, photographs at fixed sessions, and a reaction protocol you receive before session one.
The team
Leila Haddad, NP
Leila runs every Skin Read: the exam, the skin typing, the sun history and the test patch. She writes the sessions-and-settings plan you take home and treats most resurfacing and IPL plans herself.
Kenji Watanabe, RN
Kenji fires the hair removal and vascular lasers under Dr. Vasquez's supervision. If your plan is his, every session is his, including the photographs at sessions one, four and final.
Danielle Brooks, RN
Danielle treats hair removal and pigment plans and leads the deeper-skin-tone protocols with the long-wavelength laser. She is the person who explains what a test patch should look like at forty-eight hours.
Mateo Cruz
Mateo is the first voice on the phone. He books your Skin Read, your forty-eight-hour patch check and every session with the same nurse, and he sends the sun calendar for your area before you leave.
Medical, in writing
01
Supervision
In California, lasers in a medical spa are fired by physicians, physician assistants and registered nurses under physician supervision, or by nurse practitioners. Dr. Vasquez supervises, writes the protocols, and is immediately available during laser hours. Aestheticians do not fire lasers here or anywhere in the state.
02
The exam
The good-faith exam before any laser plan is done by Leila Haddad, NP, or Dr. Vasquez, never delegated to a nurse or a technician.
03
The reaction protocol
What we do if skin blisters, darkens or lightens: who you call, how fast you are seen, what we apply, and when a dermatologist is involved. You receive it in writing before session one.
04
What we decline
Skin with recent sun or a tan, active infections or flares on the area, marks that need a dermatologist first, treatments that are the wrong tool for the skin in front of us, and anyone who wants a whole area treated on day one.
05
What we do not claim
Outcomes. Results vary. Lasers are cleared for permanent hair reduction, not removal; nothing on this site is a guarantee, and no photograph here is a real patient.
The rooms
Two treatment rooms with the lasers on articulated arms, a consultation room with the skin analysis screen, and a reception with a view of the water at the end of the street. Goggles on every tray, and no mood lighting.
Skin Read · 30 min · complimentary
Thirty minutes, complimentary, in Pacific Beach.