On a recent afternoon, a doctor carefully brushed a laser over Jennifer Summers’ arm, gently erasing a tattoo that she never quite liked and which serves as a painful reminder of a friendship gone bad.
She drove two hours from Vermont to Boston for the 20-minute procedure at the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Dermatology Laser & Cosmetic Center.
To be rid of that unpleasant little chapter from her life, she will have to make the trip at least five times.
Summers could have had the procedure done closer to home.
But it was more expensive there and at Mass. General she feels assured about the quality of care.
“I hear the name Massachusetts General and I had the assumption that I would be in good hands and that the doctor would be competent,” she said.
Customers like Summers are driving up business at the center even as it faces growing competition from private, for-profit providers of cosmetic procedures.
The 20-year-old center moved into new digs last fall and is getting ready to add two new doctors. Business is up by more than 20 percent in the past six months.
“There is definitely a public fascination with cosmetic procedures and increasingly the public is embracing them,” said Dr. Matthew M. Avram, director of the center.
04-2-2006 
